In the late 1970s, Maxi applied to join the new girl group Sheeba. Though she was initially turned down due to her age (28), she eventually joined Marion Fossett and Frances Campbell as the third member of "Ireland's first sexy girl group." At Eurovision 1981, Sheeba came in fifth, singing "Horoscopes". After traveling to Holland and London to record tracks for a new album, the three women of Sheeba were hospitalized at Mayo University Hospital after a traffic collision in Castlebar; Maxi's head injury caused amnesia and needed more than 100 surgical sutures, Fossett received facial injuries, and Campbell had a collapsed lung. Sheeba were dropped by their record label after their recovery took too long, and though the three tried to succeed independently, the group ultimately broke up.