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Where Are They Now

Whatever happened to Colm Wilkinson?

1965 – Butch Moore was hugely popular in Ireland in the sixties. He moved to the USA in the early 70s where he did a bit of cabaret work and entertainment in the USA and Canada. He returned to Ireland from time to time to work and comment on Eurovision prior to his death. Butch died in April 2001 from a heart attack at his home in America.

1966 – Dickie Rock has been one of Ireland’s top entertainers in the 60s with countless hit records and has been successful ever since. He does a lot of top cabaret work and concerts all over Ireland.

1967 – Sean Dunphy was popular in the 60s and 70s with several hit records and successful tours. He went to the USA in the mid-70s, living and working there but occasionally returning to Ireland.

1968 – Pat McGeegan was successful for some years after his Eurovision appearance. He faded from the music scene in the 70s. He was the father of famous boxer Barry McGuigan. Pat died after a long illness at quite a young age.

1969 – Muriel Day was very popular around the time of her Eurovision appearance. She moved to Canada with her husband but made a visit to Ireland a few years ago jumping on the Eurovision bandwagon and made a few TV appearances.

1970 – Dana became a huge star in Ireland and also had success in the UK with a huge amount of TV appearances including more than one TV series of her own in Ireland and Britain. She has several very big hits in the charts across Europe in the 70s. She had a serious throat operation in the early 80s and her voice has never been quite as good since then. She married in 1978 and now has four children (2 of each). She did pantomime for a number of years specialising in playing Snow White before she moved to America and became involved performing on Catholic TV stations. Cashing in on her huge popularity in Ireland she recently returned to become involved in politics.

1971 – Angela Farrell was an unknown singer when she won the 71 Irish final. She was successful and made some records for a short time but faded from the scene quickly. She moved to Australia where she did some singing work.

1972 – Sandie Jones was very successful in the 70s with her own TV series and many records and live appearances. She married in the early 80s and moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband. She did some singing work there but may have returned to Ireland since then.

1973 – Maxi has a very successful career with the group Maxi, Dick & Twink. She also had a successful solo career after they split in 1971. Her 1973 ESC appearance was dogged by controversy over the musical arrangement of the song. It looked as if she would be replaced by the singer Tina in the final. Tina flew to Luxembourg but Maxi finally got to sing. It didn’t help her career but things took a change in 1978 when the group Sheeba were formed. Maxi became a hugely popular disc-jockey with

RTE and does a lot of TV work.

1974 – Tina Reynolds was one of Irelands top singers in the 70s. As a consolation for not getting to sing in 1973 she was chosen to sing all of the songs in the 74 Irish final. She had many hit records in the 70s. She moved to the UK in the early 80s where she did a lot of cabaret work and moved back to Ireland after some years. She still does some work in Ireland and makes the odd TV appearance.

1975 – The Swarbriggs were huge stars in the 70s and also sang all of the songs in the 75 final. They had many good years and decided to retire. They ventured into many successful businesses including fashion boutiques and shoe shops. They managed small bands and organised and promoted concert tours of Ireland for artists such as Smokie and Leo Sayer.

1976 – Red Hurlry was one of the biggest stars ever in Ireland. He had a string of number one hit records and was mobbed by adoring fans wherever he performed. He still does some live work, makes the odd record and does some TV work having his own series at one time. He takes things more quietly now but can still be found touring in his band.

1977 – The Swarbriggs Plus Two included the Plus Two who were Alma Carroll and Nicola Kerr. Alma did a lot of cabaret work for many years. She is now married and became head of one of Ireland’s top chain of department stores – Penneys. She also ran her own public relations business involving advertising and promotion work as well as continuing with a bit of singing. Nicola Kerr moved to London where she had small parts in some top stage shows. She continued as a top session singer, backing many top artists and returned to Eurosong in 1989.

1978 – Colm C T Wilkinson was a popular singer and songwriter in the 70s. After his Eurovision appearance, he went on to huge success in London in the West End in shows such as Phantom Of The Opera. He had one of the lead roles in the original West End production of Les Miserables. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice even named Colm as the best interpreter of their songs anywhere in the world. He went onto success in America and Canada and is still well known in the UK and Ireland.

1979 – Cathal Dunne was another successful singer and songwriter in the 70s and early 80s. He then moved to the USA where he did a lot of session work for recording artists as well as a live act. Married to an American he is no longer active in Ireland but his uncle was Prime Minister of Ireland at the time of his ESC appearance.

1980 – Johnny Logan was popular in Ireland before his Eurovision win. Immediately afterwards he had great success but then things went wrong. He became involved in a legal battle with two different managers who claimed he was under contract to them. By the time things were sorted out many months later, Johnny had lost the impetus of his ESC win. After his 1987 win Johnny became Mr Eurovision, the only person to have won it twice. This lead to a successful career of TV appearances mostly on Eurovision connected shows and he has had a big input into the Eurovisions held in Ireland plus his writing of Linda Martin’s Why Me gave him a third ESC victory. He records many albums and duets with leading European singers which are much more successful in Europe than in his native Ireland. Off note should be his collaboration with Nicole and his rock opera Which Witch with Dollie De Lux. He now lives in Germany.

1981 – Sheeba were a huge success from their formation in 1978. They could be seen regularly on British TV show name that tune with Maggie Moon who had been in the UK national finals. They were on the verge of a big international breakthrough in 1984. A top international record company and top European management had signed them up. Then disaster struck, on the way to a gig the girls were involved in a car accident. After many months of recovery, interest had been lost in them so they decided to split. Maxi became a media presenter, Frances Campbell also became a radio presenter but in Northern Ireland. Marion Fossett came from a circus family and went back to the circus life. She continued doing solo singing and presenting a circus and musical variety show on RTE.

1982 – The Duskeys had some success but broke up after their Eurovision appearance. One of the girls Sandie Duskey (now Sandie Kelly) became a big star in Ireland. She has had her own hugely successful 13 week TV series on RTE and many big concerts and successful records. She also staged a show based on the story and music of Patsy Cline. While doing this, she was spotted by the late Johnny Cash who brought her to Nashville where she recorded some very successful duets with him. She also recorded duets with Willie Nelson and made live appearances in Nashville, including the Grand Old Opry. Her sister Barbara continued in the cabaret circuit in Ireland. Cousin to the sisters Danny went to work as a session singer in England whilst his sister Nina retired from the music business.

1984 – Linda Martin was a big success as part of the group Chips who were formed in 1971. She has spent much of her life touring and performing around Ireland. She went solo in 1984 and onto big success. She went onto win the ESC in 1992. More live performances, a lot of TV appearances and some albums followed. She has returned to prominence as an authority on Eurovision and a guest judge on the RTE show You’re A Star.

1985 – Maria Christian had some success before and after her Eurovision appearance but faded from the scene very quickly. She did some pantomime and planned a comeback that never happened.

1986 – Luv Bug were a big success on the cabaret circuit before Eurovision and had released some fantastic records. They worked in the USA with some Fleetwood Mac people but have disappeared from the scene now.

1988 – Jump The Gun were very successful for a number of years in Ireland. They were spotted by a top American music executive and were brought to the USA. They were given a big contract and did some recordings and were to tour with the group Chicago. But the promises did not materialise and the group broke up and went their separate ways but continued in the music business.

1989 – Kiev Connolly had an unpopular win and has become completely forgotten.

1990 – Liam Reilly was a huge star as the lead singer of phenomenally successful group Bagatelle. He went solo in 1988 and had a very successful career in Ireland. He also spent some time writing and producing records for other people in America. A reformation of Bagatelle was a huge success with sell out concerts and the group being mobbed by fans.

1991 – Kim Jackson sang as backing singer for Liam in 1990 and was also in his live backing band at concerts. She failed to have any great commercial success.

1993 – Niamh Kavanagh left her job in the bank after her ESC win and achieved the best selling single of 1993. A follow-up was harder to come by and it took a long time for her album Flying Blind to make the shops. Although a critical success she has never really achieved the big time despite being a prominent name on the Irish music scene.

1994 – Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan have both had individually a highly acclaimed and successful career in the Irish music industry. Charlie McGettigan is particularly respected as a musician. Still in the music business, their output achieves modest success.

1995 – Eddie Friel from Belfast was prominent for a short while after his ESC appearance but has since faded from memory.

1996 – Eimear Quinn had had a lot of success with the celtic choir Anuna, having been in the interval act even before her ESC appearance. Anuna had several popular albums but a solo career for Eimear was not followed up. Instead she married an RTE producer she met at the ESC. 2002 saw the launch of her first solo album Through The Lens Of A Tear, a concept album written by Pol Brennan of Clannad (1973 national final). This was launched as a classical album to much critical acclaim and publicity but little retail reward.

1997 – Marc Roberts launched a successful album after his Eurovision appearance and went on to become a successful songwriter in his own right. He worked as the main songwriter for superstar Daniel O’Donnell and his recent work has been most associated with Daniel. He did tour solo himself in a tribute show (to John Denver) and released another album currently in the shops, in the style of a slightly harder Daniel O’Donnell. He also works part time as a radio DJ in the west of Ireland.

1998 – Dawn Martin has since disappeared.

1999 – The Mullans had a bit of prominence after ESC with much talk of a big career ahead. Their single Independent Woman written by themselves deservedly flopped and the have since vanished.

2000 – Eamon Toal – who?

2001 – Gary O’Shaughnessy has not made a big impact on the Irish music scene. His fellow Eurosong competitors had a bit more success with Emma Reynolds at least trying to launch her career with the release of her entry a number of years later. InFocus made a big noise for a while with little success and Femail actually made the charts, albeit the lower reaches.

2003 – Mickey Harte followed Simon Casey to the number one spot with his Eurovision song and made it the biggest selling record of 2003. Another number one and a big hit album followed leading to massive success for both him and Simon Casey in 2003.

Many thanks to Michael McGrath for the information.