Latest news with #Flo
Sunday World
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
These two 80s Irish pop stars were protrayed as rivals - now they're best friends
1980s pop stars Flo McSweeney and Leslie Dowdall were often seen as arch rivals, but they since have become best friends. Leslie Dowdall and Flo McSweeney will be singing the songs of Linda Ronstadt and Carole King They were Irish pop pin-ups in the '80s as singers in their respective bands — and often portrayed in the media as arch rivals. Now Flo McSweeney — who fronted 1980s groups Toy With Rhythm and Les Enfants — and Leslie Dowdall of In Tua Nua are teaming up for a new show. In an exclusive interview with Magazine+, McSweeney today talks about their relationship and her life in music. Flo also looks back on her days as a co-presenter of RTE's popular Megamix TV pop show in the late 1980s with Kevin Sharkey, who is now a successful artist. She reveals how the celebrity pair went on holiday together to Lanzarote at the end of one series — and sent postcards to family and pals of a lookalike couple lying naked on inflatable pool lilos. Flo says: 'Kevin and myself had the best fun doing Megamix and after the first series finished we went off to Lanzarote for a two-week holiday and we had the best craic. Leslie in In Tua Nua 'On the first day we found these postcards of a dark-skinned guy and a white girl, with very short blonde hair like mine, lying face down on swimming pool lilos completely naked. It was like an aerial photograph. 'So we bought all the postcards and we sent them to everyone back home. My mother had a complete and utter conniption. 'Oh Jesus, it's Kevin and Flo naked in a swimming pool!' 'All I remember about that holiday is that we laughed for two weeks.' Looking back on her early Irish pop star days when she hung out in celebrity nightclub The Pink Elephant with UK bands such as Spandau Ballet and Def Leppard, Flo says she didn't strike up a friendship with Leslie Dowdall. Leslie Dowdall and Flo McSweeney will be singing the songs of Linda Ronstadt and Carole King News in 90 seconds - 11th August 2025 'We were in our 20s and we were both rockers, but we didn't know each other very well,' Flo tells me. 'We'd kind of skirt around each other when we'd meet in clubs like The Pink Elephant.' Flo, who is married to comic Barry Murphy of Aprés Match fame, says it was a decade later that they formed a close friendship. 'When Barry and I moved into a little mews on Baggott Street in the early 1990s, it turned out that Leslie was living around the corner. We bumped into each other one day in the supermarket, abandoned the shopping basket and went for Irish coffees…and we've been friends ever since. 'Leslie is great fun. The two of us are now women of a certain age and have we grown up? No! And nor do we intend to. Flo with Kevin Sharkey 'When you're in your 20s you look on others as rivals. Some of my closest friends now in my 60s are Jenny Newman, who took over as singer in Toy With Rhythm from me, and Karen Coleman, who I worked with in The Commitments touring band, and we would have all been rivals back then. 'There was never any real cattiness, but now it's just wonderful, it's supportive and it's friendships. We are not in competition with each other at all.' McSweeney has had a varied career in music that at one stage included the role as lead singer in Moving Hearts a couple of years after Christy Moore's departure. She replaced Mick Hanley and says: 'Mick Hanly had just left Moving Hearts, they decided they needed to change their image and I was offered the gig as singer,' Flo recalls. 'I hadn't a clue whose shoes I was stepping into I was so naïve at the time. It wasn't the greatest fit for me from a music point of view. I'm a sort of torch song singer and Moving Hearts was very, very different. 'It was hard for me as well. I remember when we did a gig in The Bottom Line in New York, which was a really prestigious gig to do, there was a guy down at the end of the room shouting 'Where is Christy?!' 'I ended up going off the stage after the gig in floods of tears. If that was now and there was a guy shouting at me I'd feckin' wipe the floor with him. I am a perfectionist but I'm not hard on myself anymore. 'At this age you have history and you've lived a life and I kind of think with the music that I like doing I have more of a right to sing those songs now in older age. It's life experience in all of those songs. 'Between 40 and 50 I didn't do much live work because Aprés Match had taken off (for Barry) and my kids were young. But at 50 I decided to go back to it, it was kind of like starting again and I said yes to everything and it has just been amazing.' It was promoter Pat Egan who suggested that she should team up with Leslie Dowdall to perform the songs of legends Linda Ronstadt and Carole King for a show at Dublin's Vicar Street next month. 'We're not a tribute band — there's no wigs or any of that nonsense,' Flo stresses. 'We are doing the songs between us and then a couple of songs each on our own and we have a great band. It's a real joy to perform these songs together.'
The Star
a day ago
- Business
- The Star
New Instagram location sharing feature sparks privacy fears
The Meta-owned image sharing platform added an option on Aug 6 which shares locations using an Instagram map, similar to a feature rival Snapchat has offered since 2017. — AP SAN FRANCISCO: Instagram users are warning about a new location sharing feature, fearing that the hugely popular app could be putting people in danger by revealing their whereabouts without their knowledge. The Meta-owned image sharing platform added an option on Aug 6 which shares locations using an Instagram map, similar to a feature rival Snapchat has offered since 2017. Some users have since been shocked to discover that their location was being shared, viral posts have shown. "Mine was turned on and my home address was showing for all of my followers to see," Instagram user Lindsey Bell wrote in reply to a warning posted by Bachelor reality television personality Kelley Flanagan to her 300,000 TikTok followers. "Turned it off immediately once I knew but had me feeling absolutely sick about it." In a TikTok video, Flanagan called Instagram's new location sharing feature "dangerous" and gave step-by-step instructions on how to make sure it is turned off. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri fired off a post on Meta-owned Threads stressing that Instagram location sharing is off by default, meaning users need to opt in for it to be active. "Quick Friend Map clarification, your location will only be shared if you decide to share it, and if you do, it can only be shared with a limited group of people you choose," Mosseri wrote. "To start, location sharing is completely off." The feature was added as a way for friends to better connect with one another, sharing posts from "cool spots," Instagram said in a blog post. Users can be selective regarding who they share locations with, and can turn it off whenever they wish, according to Instagram. Wariness regarding whether Instagram is watching out for user privacy comes just a week after a federal jury in San Francisco sided with women who accused Meta of exploiting health data gathered by the Flo app, which tracks menstruation and efforts to get pregnant. A jury concluded that Meta used women's sensitive health data to better target money-making ads, according to law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow, which represented the plaintiffs. Evidence at trial showed Meta was aware it was getting confidential health data from the third-party app, and that some employees appeared to mock the nature of the information, the law firm contended. "This case was about more than just data – it was about dignity, trust, and accountability," lead attorney Carol Villegas said in a blog post. Damages in the suit have yet to be determined. – AFP
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
New Instagram location sharing feature sparks privacy fears
Instagram says its new feature allowing users to share locations in real time is off by default, meaning people have to opt-in Instagram users are warning about a new location sharing feature, fearing that the hugely popular app could be putting people in danger by revealing their whereabouts without their knowledge. The Meta-owned image sharing platform added an option last Wednesday which shares locations using an Instagram map, similar to a feature rival Snapchat has offered since 2017. Some users have since been shocked to discover that their location was being shared, viral posts have shown. "Mine was turned on and my home address was showing for all of my followers to see," Instagram user Lindsey Bell wrote in reply to a warning posted by "Bachelor" reality television personality Kelley Flanagan to her 300,000 TikTok followers. "Turned it off immediately once I knew but had me feeling absolutely sick about it." In a TikTok video, Flanagan called Instagram's new location sharing feature "dangerous" and gave step-by-step instructions on how to make sure it is turned off. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri fired off a post on Meta-owned Threads stressing that Instagram location sharing is off by default, meaning users need to opt in for it to be active. "Quick Friend Map clarification, your location will only be shared if you decide to share it, and if you do, it can only be shared with a limited group of people you choose," Mosseri wrote. "To start, location sharing is completely off." The feature was added as a way for friends to better connect with one another, sharing posts from "cool spots," Instagram said in a blog post. Users can be selective regarding who they share locations with, and can turn it off whenever they wish, according to Instagram. Wariness regarding whether Instagram is watching out for user privacy comes just a week after a federal jury in San Francisco sided with women who accused Meta of exploiting health data gathered by the Flo app, which tracks menstruation and efforts to get pregnant. A jury concluded that Meta used women's sensitive health data to better target money-making ads, according to law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow, which represented the plaintiffs. Evidence at trial showed Meta was aware it was getting confidential health data from the third-party app, and that some employees appeared to mock the nature of the information, the law firm contended. "This case was about more than just data -- it was about dignity, trust, and accountability," lead attorney Carol Villegas said in a blog post. Damages in the suit have yet to be determined. © 2025 AFP
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
New Instagram location sharing feature sparks privacy fears
Instagram users are warning about a new location sharing feature, fearing that the hugely popular app could be putting people in danger by revealing their whereabouts without their knowledge. The Meta-owned image sharing platform added an option on Wednesday which shares locations using an Instagram map, similar to a feature rival Snapchat has offered since 2017. Some users have since been shocked to discover that their location was being shared, viral posts have shown. "Mine was turned on and my home address was showing for all of my followers to see," Instagram user Lindsey Bell wrote in reply to a warning posted by "Bachelor" reality television personality Kelley Flanagan to her 300,000 TikTok followers. "Turned it off immediately once I knew but had me feeling absolutely sick about it." In a TikTok video, Flanagan called Instagram's new location sharing feature "dangerous" and gave step-by-step instructions on how to make sure it is turned off. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri fired off a post on Meta-owned Threads stressing that Instagram location sharing is off by default, meaning users need to opt in for it to be active. "Quick Friend Map clarification, your location will only be shared if you decide to share it, and if you do, it can only be shared with a limited group of people you choose," Mosseri wrote. "To start, location sharing is completely off." The feature was added as a way for friends to better connect with one another, sharing posts from "cool spots," Instagram said in a blog post. Users can be selective regarding who they share locations with, and can turn it off whenever they wish, according to Instagram. Wariness regarding whether Instagram is watching out for user privacy comes just a week after a federal jury in San Francisco sided with women who accused Meta of exploiting health data gathered by the Flo app, which tracks menstruation and efforts to get pregnant. A jury concluded that Meta used women's sensitive health data to better target money-making ads, according to law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow, which represented the plaintiffs. Evidence at trial showed Meta was aware it was getting confidential health data from the third-party app, and that some employees appeared to mock the nature of the information, the law firm contended. "This case was about more than just data -- it was about dignity, trust, and accountability," lead attorney Carol Villegas said in a blog post. Damages in the suit have yet to be determined.
The South African
3 days ago
- The South African
Instagram may know where you live! Turn OFF location sharing
Instagram users are warning about a new location sharing feature, fearing that the hugely popular app could be putting people in danger by revealing their whereabouts without their knowledge. The Meta-owned image sharing platform added an option which shares locations using an Instagram map, similar to a feature rival Snapchat has offered since 2017. Some users have since been shocked to discover that their location was being shared, viral posts have shown. 'Mine was turned on and my home address was showing for all of my followers to see,' Instagram user Lindsey Bell wrote in reply to a warning posted by 'Bachelor' reality television personality Kelley Flanagan to her 300 000 TikTok followers. 'Turned it off immediately once I knew but had me feeling absolutely sick about it.' In a TikTok video, Flanagan called Instagram's new location sharing feature 'dangerous' and gave step-by-step instructions on how to make sure it is turned off. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri fired off a post on Meta-owned Threads stressing that Instagram location sharing is off by default, meaning users need to opt in for it to be active. 'Quick Friend Map clarification, your location will only be shared if you decide to share it, and if you do, it can only be shared with a limited group of people you choose,' Mosseri wrote. 'To start, location sharing is completely off.' The feature was added as a way for friends to better connect with one another, sharing posts from 'cool spots,' Instagram said in a blog post. Users can be selective regarding who they share locations with, and can turn it off whenever they wish, according to Instagram. Wariness regarding whether Instagram is watching out for user privacy comes just a week after a federal jury in San Francisco sided with women who accused Meta of exploiting health data gathered by the Flo app, which tracks menstruation and efforts to get pregnant. A jury concluded that Meta used women's sensitive health data to better target money-making ads, according to law firm Labaton Keller Sucharow, which represented the plaintiffs. Evidence at trial showed Meta was aware it was getting confidential health data from the third-party app, and that some employees appeared to mock the nature of the information, the law firm contended. 'This case was about more than just data – it was about dignity, trust, and accountability,' lead attorney Carol Villegas said in a blog post. Damages in the suit have yet to be determined. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
