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RTÉ HAS ANNOUNCED the five acts and songs that will compete to represent Ireland at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna this year.
The finalists are: Alex Saint and the MJs; Kat Mahon; Erika Selin; Nikki Kavanagh; and Molly Sterling.
They will perform their songs live at Eurosong on the Late Late Show on Friday 27 February.
Alex Saint
Zambian-born artist Alex Saint moved to London at the age of 15 where he learned his rapping skills. He moved to Belfast where he currently performs in many R&B clubs.
His track ‘She’s So Fine’ is written by Tony Adams-Rosa, who has been a Eurosong finalist many times. Alex is accompanied by the MJ’s, a young female vocal group from county Derry.
The Eurovision is a brilliant contest and this song is a real winner. I feel this is the year of the rap.
Kat Mahon
Kat Mahon (28) is from Newtownforbes but now lives in Drumlish Co Longford. She was one of the singers in the band Lilac Blues which made it to the semi-finals of RTE’s The All Ireland Talent Show and has played support for artists including Delerontos and John Spillane. She was also Longford’s 2014 representative in The Rose of Tralee. Kat sings ‘Anybody Got a Shoulder’, which was written by veteran singer-songwriter and previous Eurovision winner Charlie McGettigan.
Charlie McGettigan approached me to do vocals and I jumped at the opportunity to work with him. I am over the moon that it’s been selected as one of the final five songs and I’m now eager to get up a perform it!
Erika Selin
Erika Selin (23) is from Sweden, where she has participated in the talent shows Idols and Talang. ‘Break me up’ is an up-tempo pop song, composed by Gustav Eurén, Niclas Arn and Danne Attlerud.
I am very proud to be a part of Eurosong 2015 since Ireland is one of the absolute top nations in the Eurovision Song Contest with a tremendous track record, always producing great songs.
Nikki Kavanagh
In 2010 Nikki Kavanagh was part of the Irish Eurovision team headed by Niamh Kavanagh and in 2011 she missed out to Jedward to represent Ireland. She has toured Ireland and Europe extensively. Nikki’s song ‘Memories’ is written by Lee Anna James, Elena Morosanu, Simon Gribbe, Johnny Sanchez and Dimitri Stassos.
I’m a huge Eurovision fan; I’ve been there before and would love more than anything to go back as lead vocalist representing our country. As for our song, it’s current, it’s edgy and I think it will help us stand out against the rest of Europe.
Molly Sterling
Molly Sterling (16) is a self-taught musician from Nenegh in Co Tipperary. She and songwriter Greg French co-wrote ‘Playing with Numbers’ as part of her upcoming album. The song is about the risks people take every day in love and in life, and the experiences of taking the road less travelled.
As a performing artist it’s rare to get the opportunity to represent your country. To be selected to do so would be an honour and a great responsibility that I would proudly embrace.
All five songs will debut on the Ray D’Arcy Show on RTÉ Radio 1 this afternoon.
As was the case in previous years, Ireland’s Eurovision entry will be chosen by a combination of public and regional jury vote, after the acts perform on the Late Late Show on 27 February.
The Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Vienna, Austria. Ireland will compete in the second semi-final on Thursday, 21 May. The final takes places on Saturday, 23 May.
Michael Kealy, Executive Producer of the Eurovision, said that the selection process has “gone back to basics” this year.
“We did a call out to songwriters in October and got over 300 entries. The five that have been shortlisted represent a range of genres and styles. Eurovision is more than just a big entertaining extravaganza; it offers an exciting opportunity to up-and-coming performers to be seen and heard by millions.”
Any excuse to play this:
Does nobody value cheap flights? Why such snobbery over Ryanair? It does exactly what it says on the tin. I, for one, recall paying £379 to Aer Lingus in the seventies to fly one way to London from Dublin with no smiling air hostesses either as I well recall. I also remember the awful boat journeys between Holyhead and Dun Laoighre and the train journey to Euston for three times what you’d get a return Ryanair flight for now! Anyone who criticises Ryanair either wasn’t around in the bad old days or has a very short memory…
No they just cant help but put down the most successful airline in Europe, typical Irish attitude to slate and put down anything successful in Ireland by an Irish person.
Fair comment John.
My concern, would Ryanair consider moving HQ from Dublin if they had an interest in Stansted. This would remove one obstacle to buying Aer Lingus if technically they were a British airline.
They recently issued a warning regarding Irelands current corporate tax rate.
2009 Six of us being charged €550 each to fly from Krakow to Dublin by Ryanair, and you think that’s cheap? What would you call expensive?
Ryan air will switch off the lights and sell the public torches as they enter the terminal
And he’ll either rent out the seats for people to sit or, or make them bring their own, make them bring their own food, and charge them for rubbish collection.
To be fair I doubt they could do anything to ruin Stansted that hasn’t been done already.
Agreed, stanstead is one of the nastiest modern built airports iv ever experienced! I mean Heathrow is bad but stanstead is like a cow shed with windows!
I agree with you Tony, but it is one airport that i never really had problems with. Your in and out really quick. The Stansted express always has problems.
He should be running the country , your ticket is a fraction of what you paid in the 80′s ,he’s brought efficiencies punctuality cost savings value for money huge profits ( nothing the unions have ever done) new routes 1000′s of jobs and still pays all his taxes in Ireland .lastly it’s an irish success story nnWhy the whining ???
couldn’t agree more!
They do have form challenging monopolies – think Aer Lingus in the 1980s.
Plus they would only be part of a consortium and have large cash reserves built up so might as well invest them.
Hopefully there’ll be greater competition between Irish airports soon.
No flies on O’leary and if there were they would be paying rent.
He has a mush you’d love to take a penalty with.
I read an article once in which Michael O Leary said he would have people go straight from the car park onto the planes.
Obviously thats not going to happen but that is the lines in which he thinks.
Taking out all the waiting around… It sounds great! You could arrive 15 minutes before your flight rather than two hours!
Actually I think his thinking would be the opposite. If you get out of the car and on to the plane where is he going to make money on the airport? More like keep you waiting to check in for an hour or two and in the mean while why not avail of the over priced facilities. That’s the game plan that he would be looking at.
I’d reckon ryanairs aim would be to reduce their costs from the airport, and thus pass on reduction to passengers, they want bums on seats. Having a say in how stanstead operates the more say the better really, if they don’t compete with other airports they will fail so I couldn’t see this as anything but positive for customers. London has plenty of airports and they can compete. As said earlier stansted isn’t a shining light as it stands. BAA obviously prefer Gatwick (maybe that has been their plan ironically)
They sold Gatwick back in 2009. They sold it for £1.5 billion to an Investment group than control London city airport.
Seems to make perfect sense to me. Having a major airline as a shareholder (and presumably a board member) would surely help focus the airport’s efforts on efficiency etc. I think its typical scaremongering, all these comments about MO’L charging to use seats….
Why the whining he should be running the country- he’s brought value for money cost savings punctuality new destinations ( they are irish ) and he pays all his taxes in Ireland . nnWhat do people want ? He gets you to your destination what more do you want for €20 including tax nIf ye can’t go to Spain for a week with cabin baggage fair play to them for charging you extra
went to England recently. My suitcase was 14.4kg going over and mysteriously 16.6kg coming back. The only difference in my bag was a bottle of shampoo. Must have been a 2.2.kg bottle.
What airports do they control???? Comfort ? What do you want ,they bring you to your destination cheaper than anyone else. Convenience? They want to make travelling more convenient bag less check in print your own boarding pass- they are changing how we travel? Service? Ye want a coffee €2:50 ye don’t want one then don’t pay for it , they are the biggest airline in Europe and don’t get me started on the ferries Jesus!!!!!
You mean Irish ‘Latvian’ Ferries??
One of Stansted’s biggest problems is transport, especially if you are coming from North or West London.
If Ryanair take it over, I probably won’t use it again. Their facilities are appalling in any airport they control. They don’t care about comfort, convenience or service. The day will come when they start paying the price for that in lower numbers as people switch to other airlines and ferries.
only for ryanain stanstid would not exist s much ad i heat flying with them they made that airport when they left luton
I read that in my head like the policeman in ‘allo ‘allo
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