Noreen,the above statement is true of singers, examples are luke kelly,donal maguire[through the critics group].
Dolores Keane was encouraged as a singer as was Christy Moore and Andy Irvine,Sean Cannon, the musician Packie Byrne, in the part of England I lived in.... East Anglia, musicians like John and Julia Clifford,
as were jackie Daly and Seamus Creagh in london clubs, lucy Farr used to be booked at swindon and islington.
the same applies to margaret barry and michael gorman singer and instrumentalist, also freddie mckay. sorry but thats quite a lot