It was her husband who got Carter-Wells into singing, a “part-time’’ job that takes her away from her full-time gig as a sergeant detective in Cambridge’s major crime unit, in charge of domestic violence and sexual assault cases.
“It started when we got married on July 4th, 1998,’’ she said. “According to my husband, we were dancing to our wedding song — ‘The Summer Wind’ — and I was singing in his ear. He thought my voice sounded pretty good, so he bought me singing lessons.’’
They’d met in 1993 when he was her firearms instructor at the Police Academy. They didn’t start dating for another three years, when they met again at an Irish music festival.
Richard Wells isn’t a singer, but he plays the bass drum with the Gaelic Column, a bagpipe and drum corps affiliated with the Boston Police Department. It was on a visit to Ireland with the group that Carter-Wells first sang in public — at a pub in Cork.
It was through her husband, again, that she started singing with Devri, an Irish music group based on the South Shore. Richard Wells had booked the group to play at Doyle’s in Jamaica Plain, at a party for the New York Police Department’s pipes and drums band, who were in Boston for the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
“One of the police officers came up and asked if we would let a lady get up to sing,’’ said Declan Houton of Braintree, Devri’s mandolin player and a Donegal native. “As soon as Pauline started singing, I knew she wasn’t just another singer. She had a beautiful voice, but there was just something about her. She’s an attractive, tall lady, but very honest and unassuming.’’
Carter-Wells, a contralto, sings with Devri at Irish bars like Mr. Dooley’s in Boston, and at charity events — including an upcoming Veteran’s Day salute at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston.
In fact, she donates all the proceeds from her singing to charity and has given more than $50,000 to the Jimmy Fund, Cops for Kids with Cancer, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and the Leukemia Society, her husband said proudly.
