IF YOU’RE IRISH, and you’ve ever been to a nightclub, you’ve definitely roared along to Mark McCabe’s Maniac 2000.

But have you ever thought about the woman singing the chorus? Who’s she?

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Well – her name is Shelly Buckspan, she’s a lecturer in vocals at Dublin’s BIMM college, and she had no idea that she contributed to an Irish phenomenon until three years after its took over the charts.

“I didn’t even know that Mark McCabe existed,” she told DailyEdge.ie.

Shelly recorded a dance mix of Maniac with musician Simon Fitzpatrick in 1994, which got a bit of radio airplay at the time. In 1997, Shelly moved to Israel to be with family, and thought nothing more of it.

Shelly Buckspan BIMM BIMM

Then she got a strange phone call:

Somebody called me and told me they’d heard me in Amsterdam, of all places, in some sort of big dance mixfor the year 2000.

Irish DJ Mark McCabe had chosen her vocals to sample in his mix of the track, which became a little thing called Maniac 2000.

Shelly returned to Ireland in 2003 and briefly spoke to Mark about the song, but says she didn’t understand the scope and impact of it until recently.

The pair met for the first time two weeks ago, when Mark asked Shelly to perform Maniac 2000 with him at Electric Picnic next week:

It’s very exciting. And my 800 students in BIMM, they find it very exciting too. That was the first time I understood what it means to people. I’m going to have my first experience of the phenomenon.

So if you’re heading to Electric Picnic next week, you can catch Shelly performing with Mark McCabe at Electric Ireland’s 90s Power Party – along with 2 Unlimited (we know) and the Vengaboys (WE KNOW). OGGY OGGY OGGY!

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