Yesterday the Mooney programme, aired on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1, had 2 very special guests Stuart O’Connor and 27 year old singer Ryan Dolan. Last Friday on the Late Late Show Eurosong special Ryan won the Irish ticket to Malmö for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Stuart was his Mentor in the selection process.
The host, Derek Mooney, asked Stuart how he found out about Ryan. His reply was that he had heard him singing twice, supporting Jedward, on a couple of events in Ireland. When he was approached to be a Mentor for the selection process he thought about Ryan and discovered that he was a writer. He approached the young Strabane singer and was thrilled with the song that Ryan sent him.
Ryan was asked about his career and said that he has only been singing for about the last four years publicly. As I also found out when talking to him on the day before the show, he admitted that he is a shy person. On the radio programme he said that he has suffered from a lack of confidence. Doing well in a few local competitions boosted this and his success with posting youtube videos of cover songs by Bruno Mars, Adele and others, helped even more.
To hear the whole interview, including a chat with fellow guest Louis Walsh click here. Select 11:41 on the time bar.
This is the official video of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rNQNdHV279w
This is Ryan Dolan’s winning performance on the night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C5OHGoSmI_s
This year Ireland is taking part at the first part of the 1st semi-final, on 14 May.
