RTÉ has officially announced the participants in Eurosong 2008. One of these finalists will represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. The show takes place on February 23rd and will be broadcast on eurovision.tv
The six songs and running order are:
- Double Cross My Heart – Donal Skehan (Joel Humlen, Oscar Gorres and Charlie Mason)
- Irelande Douze Points – Dustin The Turkey (Darren Smith, Simon Fine and Dustin The Turkey)
- Time to Rise – Maya (Maja Slatinsek and Ziga Pirnat)
- Not Crazy After All – Leona (Leona Daly and Steve Booker)
- Sometimes – Liam Geddes (Susan Hewitt)
- Chances – Marc Roberts (Marc Roberts)
SONG 1 : Double Cross My Heart
21 year-old Donal Skehan began performing at the age of four. In 2005 Donal beat off hundreds of auditionees to gain a place in the International boyband, Streetwize. Donal set off with the band on a worldwide search for its final member and during this time acted as spokesperson making several TV and radio appearances in the UK, Sweden and America.
After leaving the band in 2006, Donal went on to study TV presentation, production and direction and secured a producing and part-time presenting role in the music channel, Bubble Hits.
Donal says, “Music and Eurovision have always been a key part of my life and it was no surprise to my family and friends that I decided to submit a song for this year’s Eurosong. Ireland has an amazing history at Eurovision and I want to bring back that sense of national pride. Let’s show Europe we still have it!”
Oscar Gorres has previously collaborated with international hitmakers such as Bryan Todd (Josh Kelly, Ashley Tisdale) and Jörgen Elofsson (Westlife, Britney Spears). He has also written and produced tracks for Swedish singer Danny Saucedo’s number one album and for top-selling German popstars, Marquess.
A native of Sweden, 20 year-old Joel Humlén is singer, writer and producer and has co-written with artists and composers ranging from Swedish singer Danny Saucedo to KayJ and The Provider. While New Orleans native Charlie Mason has seen his material recorded and released by artists such as American Idol’s Sarah Burgess, Monrose (Germany’s No. 1 girl group), Danny Saucedo and Russian heartthrob Sergey Lazarev.
SONG 2 : Irelande Douze Points
Dustin has been a star since the 1980’s when he joined The Den with fellow puppets Zig and Zag. Dustin has already recorded six albums, and performed duets with artists such as Bob Geldof, Chris De Burgh, Ronnie Drew, Dervla Kirwan and the late Joe Dolan. He currently presents “The Once A Week Show” with Sinead Ni Churnain on Saturday mornings on RTÉ Two.
After a number of years in the wilderness Dustin The Turkey says he has decided to return to the recording studio in an effort to restore his nation’s position as the High Kings Of Eurovision. He says it’s a selfless act based on his desire to help his country as he believes there is a direct link between the recent downturn in the economy, his lack of musical output and our poor showing in the Eurovision over the last number of years.
Darren Smith, Simon Fine and Dustin The Turkey have collaborated on “Crazy Turkey” from Dustin’s bestselling album “Bling When Your Minging”.
SONG 3 : Time to Rise
22 year-old Maya is one of the most promising and esteemed singers in Slovenia and the surrounding region. She comes from a small remote village in Slovenia and began singing on TV when she was five years old and won several international children’s singing contests abroad. After her first appearance at the Slovenian National Eurovision selection in 2004, she was recognised as one of the most talented young singers in the country. She followed the success of many famous Slovenian singers when she went on to perform and win at the HIT Festival (The Festival of Slovenian Radio Station) later that year. Maya went on to perform at festivals in Slovenia and abroad while studying music at the University of Ljubljana. An accomplished performer, she was a backing singer for many famous Slovenian and European performers and in 2006 she was a backing singer for Slovenia’s Anzej Dezan at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.
Maya, who is well known in Eurovision fan community, performed live on TV many times. She sings with symphonic orchestras, big bands, as well as her young pop rock group Fish ’n’ Chips. Maya is also a great fan of Ireland and Irish music. She has always hoped for a chance to perform in Ireland.
The song Time to Rise was co-written by Ziga Pirnat. Maya and Ziga met in 2006 when he joined her group Fish ’n’ Chips as the keyboard player and this is their first joint project. Ziga, who was also raised in a village in the Slovenian countryside, started learning piano when he was very young and soon began composing and writing poetry. Ziga says he’s very enthusiastic about the project as he is a great admirer of Irish culture and language. His dream is to someday produce a song as Gaeilge. Maya and Ziga consider their selection for the Irish Eurosong competition to be their “greatest personal victory”.
Ziga says, “The song ‘Time To Rise’ is about unnecessary worries of our everday life. There are many people in the world with much worse problems than our own; with a life that we can hardly imagine. We should think of them when facing our ‘small’ problems and try to find and do those little things that make the world a better place”.
SONG 4 : Not Crazy After All
Dublin born Leona Daly’s career path has taken her from Dublin to Nashville by way of London. In Nashville, she won the respect and support of Oscar nominated Music Row songwriting giant Sharon Vaughan.Leona says ‘I kept going over and back. I love Nashville, it’s just all about music. It was a great place for me to learn my songwriting craft’
That led to a meeting with English songman Steve Booker, who has co-written ‘Not Crazy After All’. Steve’s compositions have been recorded by Stevie Nicks, Natalie Imbruglia, Jack Savoretti and most recently Duffy. Together Daly and Booker have formed a powerful songwriting bond, working with producer Jon Kelly (Kate Bush, Beautiful South, Deacon Blue)
Leona started singing when she was four and she achieved her first chart success when she recorded a cover of Cat Stevens vintage song ‘Where Do Children Play’ for a charity album.
A confirmed Eurovision fan, Leona says,
‘It’s a fantastic competition, and one that Ireland has tended to do well in over the years. I hope I can be a part of that success and do my country proud’
SONG 5 : Sometimes
At just 17 years old, Ballina native Liam Geddes is the youngest performer in Eurosong 2008. Liam has been singing and performing for a number of years in musicals, charitable events and as a guest soloist. In the past twelve months he has sung at the Green Glens Arena, Millstreeet to an audience of over 2000 people. Liam was the highest placed and youngest Irish competitor on X Factor 2007. Liam says, “It would mean the world to me to represent my country in Eurovision”. Susan Hewitt from Kilmore in Armagh, was born in Belfast and began her musical studies with piano lessons at 6 years old. She studied music at Queens University before becoming a secondary school music teacher and setting up her own private piano teaching practice. Now a full-time mother of three, Susan is studying classical violin and also enjoys writing. Entering the Eurovision has been on Susan’s “to do” list for quite a few years.
Liam and Susan’s entry is also the only cross-border collaboration in the competition. The song was written specifically for Liam for the 2008 Eurosong competition. They first met in November and the song was composed over the following months. Susan says, “‘Sometimes’ is a love song as all the best songs are”.
SONG 6 : Chances
Talented singer/songwriter Marc Roberts is both the performer and composer of Chances. Originally from Mayo and now based in Galway, Marc is no stranger to Eurovision. He previously represented Ireland coming second in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with Mysteriouswoman which reached number 2 in the Irish charts. Marc’s debut album was released in 1998 and featured six of his own original compositions highlighting his writing talent. “Meet Me Half Way” & “Once In Your Life” followed. Marc is currently working on his fourth album which will include co-writes with Jimmy MacCarthy and Winsten Sela from the USA. Marc’s albums are licensed to record companies in both the US and Australia, where he tours regularly.
Marc was also selected to perform alongside Mick Hanly, Sinead Lohan, Charlie McGettigan, Eleanor McEvoy and Jimmy MacCarthy to represent Ireland in a showcase of best Irish song writing talent and impressed a specially invited audience of top music publishers and industry representatives in America. His shows have sold out the National Concert Hall and Cork Opera house amongst others. Marc plans to tour Ireland, Germany, America and Australia later this year.
Eurosong 2008 will be presented by Ray D’Arcy will present the show, who Eurovision fans will remember as the presenter of "You're A Star", in the years it selected the Irish entrants : 2003 to 2005. The show will come from University Concert Hall Limerick on Saturday 23 February 2008. The live show will be broadcast from 19:00 to 20:00 (20:00 to 21:00 CET)and voting lines will open (phone and text) only after all six acts have performed. The public will then decide which song will represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest on 20 May. The winner will be announced in a live results show at 21:30 (22:30 CET). RTÉ is inviting members of the public to join the audience for Eurosong 2008 with tickets being made available on a first come first served basis from09:00 (10:00 CET)on Monday 4th February from the UCHL box office. The tickets are free of charge and the phone number to call is +353 61 33 549.
Special thanks to allkindsofeverything.ie for this information.
