Andrew Mann
Dubliner Andrew Mann immersed himself in his beloved music as an antidote to school, which he hated. He spent hours in his room teaching himself to play the guitar and by the age of 15, he was already writing his own songs. In 2007 a serious accident nearly cost him his life when he fell from a 3-storey building. His recovery involved a long stay in hospital and months more in a wheelchair, uncertain whether he would ever walk again. Despite this, Andrew looks back on this period as a gift: it imbued in him a renewed zest for life and following his complete recovery he took to gigging six-nights a week, all over Ireland, and in London’s ‘100 Club’ and ‘Ronnie Scotts’. In 2010, he wrote and recorded his first album, Hidden in plain sight, in 2010. He is currently recording his second album for release this summer. Andrew is known to many people from his appearance on The Voice of Ireland in 2013, when he got to the quarter-finals of the live shows. This is not Andrew’s first foray into Eurosong: he entered in 2012 with the song Here I am, and came a close second to Jedward’s winning Waterline.
His mentor Cormac Battle is a presenter on RTÉ 2fm. Before joining the radio station he was the lead singer and main songwriter of the bands Kerbdog and Wilt. Both bands had Irish and UK hits across four major label albums. Cormac said: Andrew Mann is the real deal. He lives and breathes music 24/7, he gigs six days a week, every week. His level of enthusiasm is absolutely frightening. If he doesn’t go forward to represent Ireland nobody should. Andrew will put us back at the top.
