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OGAE SONG CONTEST 2001 - IRELAND QUALIFYING HEAT

  Enya

After a tentative step in 2001, the Irish pre-selection was launched with more gusto, attracting a superb collection of pop songs and resulted in very competitive voting by the fans, with the Brennan sisters fighting it out for top position. Wild Child had been nominated by 3 fans, and went on to the most successful position for Ireland in the OGAESC.

The Corrs are Jim (keyboards, guitar), Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle), Caroline (drums, bodhran) and Sharon (violin). Coming from Dundalk, they formed the band in 1990. Their manager John Hughes discovered them whilst searching for musicians for the film The Commitments. They signed to Atlantic and released their first album Forgiven, Not Forgotten in 1995. The album went four times platinum in Ireland as well as gold in Australia, Canada and Japan. Their 1997 album Talk On Corners has been a phenomenal world-wide best seller. It has gone 15 times platinum in Ireland as well as 6 times platinum in the UK. 2000 has seen the release of their new album In Blue which has sold more than 4.5 million copies world-wide, topping the charts in 18 countries.

Chris De Burgh was born in Argentina on October 15, 1948. His family settled in Ireland in a 12^th Century castle. After studying at Trinity College Dublin he began singing to earn a living and was finally signed by A&M records in 1974. He released a number of albums including Flying, The Getaway and Man On The Line which achieved international success. His major breakthrough was with the single Lady In Red which together with his album Into The Light became a world wide number one smash hit. He followed this up with several hit albums and singles.

Enya, born Eithne Ni Bhraonain in Gweedore, Co Donegall in 1961. Enya came from a musical family. Her brothers and sisters (including Maire Brennan) formed a folk group – Clannad – which had much success. Enya left in 1982 and teamed up with Nick and Roma Ryan. Her breakthrough was in composing music for a BBC television documentary – The Celts. The soundtrack was released as Enya and the main single I Want Tomorrow hit the top of the Irish charts. She signed with WEA and her second album Watermark made 10 million sales world-wide and launched the top selling single Orinoco Flow (No1 in UK). Enya released a number of successful international hit albums, Shepherd Moons in 1992 and The Memory Of Trees in 1997 and a compilation album Paint The Sky With Stars. 2000 saw the release of A Day Without Rain.

Stephen Gately was born in Dublin in 1976, growing up and going to school in the city. He left school before his final exams to join Boyzone in 1994 having made it through the auditions. After a year of rehearsing and hard work, Boyzone made a breakthrough with a cover of The Osmonds’ single Love Me For A Reason, reaching No 1 in Ireland and No 2 in the UK. There then followed a career of 4 number one albums and 16 top three singles and the boy band became a phenomenon world-wide. Their career included numerous music awards, the chance to perform with the Bee Gees and U2 and an appearance in the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997. In 2000 he went solo with a hit album and single called New Beginning. Two more hit singles I Believe and Stay followed.

Westlife were created in 1998 with 3 boys from Sligo (Shane Filan, Mark Feehilly and Kian Egan) and 2 boys from Dublin (Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden). Their management team and gurus were none other than Louis Walsh and Boyzone lead singer Ronan Keating. Originally touring the UK and Ireland with Boyzone in 1998, they recorded their debut album Westlife in 1999 using internationally renowned songwriters. Their first single Swear It Again went straight to the top of the British and Irish charts in April 1999, becoming the biggest selling single from a debut artist in their home country. Their next five single releases all went straight to the number 1 position in the UK putting them in the record books. Their second album Coast To Coast was released in 2000 but their Christmas single What Makes A Man was kept off the UK top spot by Bob The Builder. In March 2001 a cover of Uptown Girl gave them a world-wide hit.

Samantha Mumba was born in Dublin where she became a student at the renowned Billie Barry Stage School. Her first break into music came when she was cast as the lead in The Hot Mikado, a jazzy version of the opera, in 1998. She gained further recognition from performing live on television. On meeting Louis Walsh (manager of Boyzone and Westlife) she convinced him of her talent and potential and was immediately signed to Polydor. Her debut single Gotta Tell You became the best selling debut single in Irish record history and became a world-wide hit, being top ten in the UK and USA. Follow up singles Body 2 Body and Always Come Back To Your Love were also mega hits.

Marie Brennan (pronounced Moya) like her sister Enya began her music career with their successful family group Clannad. Clannad were Celtic and Gaelic music pioneers and sold over 15 million albums world-wide and had a huge hit with the theme Harry’s Game. Even whilst singing with Clannad, Maire began recording her own solo albums – Maire in 1992 and Misty-Eyed Adventures in 1995. In 1998 she combined Celtic and Christian music in the highly successful album Perfect Time. 1999 saw the release of another Christian album Whisper To The Wild Water on which she sang and played harp and keyboards. The album has brought her world-wide recognition. She completed her success in 2000 with a number 1 single in collaboration with Chicane – Saltwater.

Switch are a new all female band comprising Joanne Coughlan (piano and keyboards), Catherine Foley (guitar and vocals) and Denise Goggin (concertina and vocals). They had their break in the Digifone Headstart Competition, where the girls from West Cork saw off competition from some of the hottest new bands in Ireland to win the best band category. Among the judges were Westlife’s manager Louis Walsh. Their prize included a single release with Warner Music Ireland. The three girls are currently studying music at Limerick University and last summer they attracted a huge following in the Cork and Limerick region with their combination of self-composed rock/pop/traditional material.

Bellefire are a new all-girl pop band along the lines of B*Witched and are composed of Tara, Ciara, Kelly and Cathy (Ciara and Cathy are sisters). The girls met in Dublin at auditions and were soon signed by Boyzone, Westlife and Samantha Mumba manager Louis Walsh. Minutes before going on stage to support Boyzone at a concert they still hadn’t chosen a name but were able to come up with Bellefire at the last minute. They released their first single, Perfect Bliss, in Ireland in June where it made the top 5. Lots of promotion followed in the UK but the single was only a minor top 20 hit.

Iona were formed in 1988 being a collaboration of musicians David Fitzgerald, Dave Bainbridge and Joanne Hogg. The current line-up includes Phil Barker, Frank van Essen and Troy Donockley as well as Hogg and Bainbridge. The group fuse jazz rhythms, soul sax and Celtic aires to produce their distinctive sound on their instrumental and vocal recordings. Vocalist Joanne Hogg is from Ballymena, county Antrim and worked as a doctor in Belfast before joining the band. Their music is based on Celtic spirituality. Their first album Iona was inspired by the lives of early Celtic saints, their second album is based on the book of Kells and their 1994 album, Beyond These Shores, is based on the voyage of Brendan. Having released many albums over the years, Iona have become Europe’s best selling contemporary Christian band.

Wave After Wave is a track from Iona’s 2000 album, Open Sky and is written by all five members of the band.

Celtus are a 3 piece folk-rock band comprising John and Pat McManus and Dan Axtell. They released their first album Moonchild in 1998 which won them the Best Album category in that year’s Irish World Awards. Their Portrait album released in 1999 was hailed as having a much more commercial sound. A third album released in 2000 called Rooted consists of traditional and live tracks, this was followed by an album of new material What Comes Around.

Ronan Hardiman feat. Leslie Dowdall. In 1990 Ronan left his daytime job as a bank teller to pursue his dream of becoming an acclaimed composer. He wrote mainly for Irish television and film companies but also recorded with Leslie under the name Shannon on the Celtic Classics album. A big break came with Michael Flately commissioning Ronan to compose the music for Lord Of The Dance and Feet Of Flames. Lord Of The Dance sold over 1.5 million copies world-wide and went to No1 on Billboard’s World Music Chart. Leslie Dowdall is best known for being the lead vocalist with Celtic rock band In Tua Nua, until 1990 when the band broke up. She released pop orientated material in 1996, making it into the Irish charts. Ronan and Leslie combined their talents on Solas in 1997 and on their latest album Anthem which was released in 2000.

Kieran Goss was born and raised in Newry Co. Down. He qualified as a lawyer but turned his back on the profession to concentrate on song writing. Having released 5 albums, he has