Ruby Murray: Blue plaque honour for 1950s pop icon

The Softly, Softly singer was one of the best-known stars in the British Isles in the 1950s.

Her distinctive husky voice brought her from humble beginnings to one of the most successful stars in the history of popular music.

However she is perhaps better known by younger generations through the Cockney rhyming slang, “going for a Ruby (Ruby Murray: curry)”, which she inspired.

Murray’s son Tim joked that he and his sister Julie are the only two people who can say they are “going for a mum”.

The pair travelled from England to unveil an Ulster History Circle blue plaque in memory of their mother on Belfast’s Donegall Road, close to where she was born on Moltke Street.

Speaking at the unveiling this morning, Tim Murray spoke about his mother’s incredible achievements and her struggle with alcoholism.

He said she never boasted about her career and “never lost touch with the values she learned” growing up on the streets of Belfast.

“She never saw herself as special, she just thought she was lucky,” he said.

Mr Murray said he was in his early 20s when he realised his mother had entered the London vernacular.

“I was sat in a flat in London watching Only Fools And Horses and of course Del Boy dropped the line in and my jaw hit the floor - that was the first time I ever heard it,” he said.

“But now it’s almost a cultural reference, so for the generation who don’t remember my mum as a singer, if I mention the phrase ‘going out for a Ruby’ is about my mum, they are just as excited as if they remembered her for her singing.

“She loved it, probably more than anything else, she had awards on the cabinet but that was one that really made her chuckle.”

He said the family was delighted with the plaque on the wall of the Greater Village Regeneration Trust.

“Over the years, she has slipped through the cracks, not forgotten but perhaps underappreciated for the achievements she had, so it’s nice to see that coming back,” he said, adding that Evermore is his favourite of his mother’s hits.

Speaking after the unveiling, Mr Murray said: “It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for us, but it was fabulous.

“It was a lovely thing and it was important that we were honouring her not just as a celebrity but also as a human being with the struggles she had.”

Murray’s life was recently chronicled by local writer Michael Cameron in a play called Ruby which is currently being performed at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.

He was also behind the nomination to install the plaque in her honour.

Chairman of the Ulster History Circle Chris Spurr described Murray, who passed away in 1996 at the age of 61, as a singing star who enchanted millions with her talent.

DUP leader Arlene Foster, South Belfast MP Emma Little-Pengelly and MLA Christopher Stalford were among those who attended the unveiling.

Mrs Foster said it was great to see the plaque installed on a busy thoroughfare where scores of motorists and pedestrians will see it every day.