Photo Courtesy of the Connolly Family
“The Connolly Sisters in Quarantine”: Rachel (l. to r.), Joanna, and Shannon, prepare for Saturday night’s performance.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The Connolly sisters live in Howard Beach.
Howard Beach lives in the Connolly sisters.
So it came as no surprise that the talented trio—Rachel, Joanna, and Shannon—with virtuosic voices would be there in a Howard Beach heartbeat for their beloved community in its time of need. Last Saturday, the siblings volunteered vocals in a livestream event on Facebook for Our Lady of Grace Church that has garnered thousands of dollars in donations and been shared all over the world. “The Connolly Sisters in Quarantine” has been viewed by former OLG parishioners now living in Ireland, London, Florida, California, Arizona, and Hawaii, to name a few of the far flung locales that tuned in to hear Rachel, Joanna, and Shannon sing.
Asked how the idea came together, the girls pointed to their parents, Gerard, who has been working 12-hour shifts as a hospital administrator at Brookdale Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn since the COVID-19 outbreak, and Joanne, a pair that have been the sisters’ musical inspirations for years.
File Photo
The talented trio performs at a 2012 show at Our Lady of Grace.
“We’ve always had music in our lives—we were singing before we could talk,” Joanna said. “Once my dad, who’s a very talented musician, heard the suggestion, he was like, ‘You’ve gotta do this!’”
“Singing has always our form of expression,” Rachel added. “We’re not doctors or nurses, so we thought, ‘What’s another way to give back?’”
Shannon noted that even though Howard Beach is in Queens, part of the center of the world, for all intents and purposes, it is still a small-town community—to which they have always envisioned giving back.
“[The concert] was basically borne out of our desire to help,” she said.
Asked if they’d do it again, the sisters said the reaction to Saturday night’s show has left them open to the idea of another virtual performance.
“Honestly, I was surprised,” Joanna said. “I didn’t realize: 1. How much the community needed it. And 2. How much I needed it. I woke up the next morning feeling rejuvenated. It was actually a gift for me—and here I was thinking it was a gift for the community.”
The Connolly sisters live in Howard Beach.
