Special - Ireland: Meet the Eurosong 2009 finalists | Eurovision Song Contest News - Azerbaijan 2012 

Song 01: Flying - performed by M.N.A. 

M.N.A are 3 talented, young Irish women. Jenny Bowden and Shauna Buckingham are both from Dublin’s South-side, while Shauna Kavanagh hails from Derry City. Vocally powerful, their sound is pop with a rock edge.

22-year old Jenny has been singing and dancing all her life. She started Irish dancing at age 4 and went on to train in Tap and Modern at the Billie Barry Stage School.

At 16 years of age, Shauna B. is the youngest member of M.N.A. A versatile performer, she has trained for the past 5 years with the Adele King Theatre School and is currently studying voice and theory at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. A champion Irish dancer, she has also appeared in several pantomimes. In 2008, she made it through to the boot-camp stage of “X-Factor” in the UK, with all 4 judges saying yes!

Born into a musical family, 20 year-old Shauna K. demonstrated an early interest in the performing arts. Passionate about Irish dancing, she has placed second at the World Championships and has won both the North American and British National titles and in 2008 she toured Germany, Austria and Denmark with the stage production “Magic of the Dance”.

Songwriter, Ronan McCormack could be considered a Eurovision Song Contest veteran. In 1988 he was a Eurosong finalist with his Irish language entry, “Tar Liom Anois” and in 1994 he appeared as part of the original “Riverdance” troupe for the Eurovision Song contest in Dublin. Having graduated from the Waterford Institute of Technology with a B.A. Music degree, majoring in composition, he set off on tour with “Riverdance –The Show”. Not only did he dance with the show, he also played keyboards with the band.

The song “Flying” is an up-beat pop song with a rock edge. An anthem of independence, it has nothing to do with air travel, though Ronan was in an airport when he got the idea for the song!

Song 02: Out of Control - performed by Laura-Jayne Hunter 

Originally from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, writer and performer Laura-Jayne Hunter holds a first class honours degree in popular music from the Leeds College of Music and was crowned winner of the “Bright Young Things” songwriter/performer competition in Leeds city, United Kingdom in 2008. Laura-Jayne is lead singer of the band “Vibetown” which plays gigs as well as corporate functions all over the UK as well as being a member of novelty girl band called “Dollypop.”

Laura Jayne says, “I would be very excited and proud to represent Ireland at the 2009 Eurovision song contest, particularly with the song “Out of Control” that I firmly believe can win the competition outright”.

“As an experienced live performer, there is nothing I adore more than to connect emotionally with an audience which is actively enjoying my singing. I have been told on countless occasions that I “send shivers up the spine” when I sing, and I find it incredibly rewarding to entertain and to help people enjoy themselves throughout a set. I like to experiment with music. I’ve even been known to silence a noisy bar when performing songs solely composed with vocal loops using a Boss loop station, through which I record beats on the guitar, bass lines with my voice, riffs, melodies and harmonies, all live!”

Composer, 35 year-old Derry O’Donovan originally from Skibbereen in Co. Cork, now lives in Frankfurt, Germany where he works as a teacher.   He says that “Out of Control” is a true cross-border collaboration, twinning the extreme North (Coleraine) and the extreme South (Skibbereen) of the country.

Coming from a large musical family, he has been immersed in traditional Irish music from a very young age and plays the piano, accordion, keyboard, guitar and low whistle. 

Derry says, “Having observed the top five acts in the contest over the last a number of years, I decided to compose a song that had many of the features of these successful tracks. The song “Out of Control”, has a very distinct ethnic, tribal flair, with a fusion of haunting Celtic and eastern influence. This is all combined with an extremely catchy, modern dance/pop beat and a simple melody that gets into your head and sticks. All the features I believe are the hallmarks of a successful Eurovision song!”.

“To represent Ireland in the Eurovision song contest, would be both an honour and a childhood dream come true for me. I believe that “Out of Control” is a song that the Irish people can be proud of and that it is capable of restoring Ireland to the top of the scoreboard”.

Song 03: So What - performed by Lee Bradshaw 

28 year-old Lee Bradshaw has had a lifelong interest in music.  At just 17 years, of age Lee travelled the continent with the group “Men2B” who were contracted to President Records in London, UK.

A man of many talents, Lee is also and actor and model and appeared in the pantomime ‘Rocking Hood’ as well as several commercials.  He has modelled  for John Rocha and Louis Copeland and took part in the Brown Thomas Supermodel Fashion Show. Having grown up in Restaurants, Lee has become a restauranter himself and currently resides in Kerry.

Songwriters, Billy Larkin and Kevin Breathnach first met on the band circuit in the late eighties.  Since then they performed together in “Catwalk”, a covers band gigging all over Ireland.  They have collaborated on many musical projects from original songs, one of which, “Every Kiss Is A Lie”, performed by In Focus, finished in second place in Eurosong 2001. They also compose music for TV and radio commercials. 

The song “So What” is a ballad, which was inspired by a relationship break-up of a mutual friend. 

Kevin says, “The song was composed specifically for Eurosong. We spent a long time looking for the right singer and were delighted when Lee Bradshaw tried the song and was perfect for it”.

They are delighted to be involved in Eurosong 2009 and would like to thank anyone in advance who votes for “So What”.

Song 04: Amazing - performed by Johnny Brady 

Belfast born Johnny Brady is a professional singer and musician and has toured extensively in Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands and America.  Johnny has being performing in bands for over 10 years was lead singer in the band “Tatu” and more recently in the band “Gravity” which played their own material at venues throughout Ireland.  In 2007 Johnny performed in the Irish Rock Legends tour.  Johnny lives in Antrim town, Northern Ireland.

Songwriter and musician Tony Adams Rosa was a National Song Contest finalist in 1992 when his song “Feel the Pain” came second to “Why Me” written by Johnny Logan and performed by Linda Martin which went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992.  Tony is hoping that his song will hit the number one spot in this year’s contest!

Song 05: I Wish I Could Pretend - performed by Kristina Zaharova

Kristina Zaharova (19) is a Latvian singer born in Aluksne, Latvia.  She graduated from the Aluksne Children’s Music School as a pianist and later studied choir conducting.  Kristina has been a winner of several performer’s contests in Latvia and abroad including “Latvijas Talants”(similar to “Idols”), LNT TV show Zvaigznu Lietus (Rain of Stars) and the International Festival “Russkaja Pesnja” in Moscow, Russia.  She was also a Latvian Eurovision Finalist in 2008.

Kristina says, “When Lauris called me to say that I was going be singing in Ireland, I couldn’t believe it! This is a great opportunity for me and I will put my all into my performance. I really like “I wish I could Pretend” because it is a very romantic, dramatic and true song.”

Songwriter, Lauris Reiniks, born in Dobele, Latvia is one of the most popular, successful and awarded pop music singers, songwriters and Television stars in Latvia, having recorded 5 solo albums. Many of Lauris’s songs have become hits in Latvia. His legendary song called “Sirds Sadeg Neparasti” received all major music awards in Latvia in 2002 and was recognised as song of the year. The song “Tell Me”, which he performed in a duet with the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 winner Marie N (Marija Naumova) received a prestigious award from the Latvian Copyrights Agency AKKA/LAA as the most played song on radio and television in 2003. 

Lauris Reiniks has been closely associated with the Eurovision Song Contest since 2001 when he was appointed to announce the Latvian televoting results, and in 2003 he represented Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest with the group "F.L.Y".

 In 2005 The British pop music magazine “Top Of The Pops” awarded Lauris with a title of “Latvian National Megastar 2004”.

Lauris says, “As a writer I am very excited and honored to be a part of the Irish Eurosong Final this year. Ireland has always been famous for ballads and I love composing ballads. I hope people will like our song and understand its message."

Songwriter, Gordon Pogoda is an American composer, lyricist, and producer based in Los Angeles. In the past five years, he has signed publishing deals with EMI Music, Universal Music and Warner Chappell Music. Pogoda has had songs featured in several media. In film, he had two songs featured in the Academy Award winning picture Little Miss Sunshine one in the film Josie and the Pussycats one in the Disney film Get a Clue starring Lindsey Lohan and several others. In television, Pogoda's songs have been featured in Hannah Montana, Sex and the City, CSI Miami, ER,  Will and Grace,, King of the Hill, and most recently Samantha Who.

Pogoda wrote the number two song of the year in Russia for pop/rock artist Sergey Lazarev and a hit for Tereza Kerndlová in the Czech Republic, which was selected to represent the Czech Republic in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest.

Song 06: Et Cetera - performed by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy

Sinead Mulvey is from Dublin (Clondalkin). Sinead came very close to representing Ireland in the Eurovison Song Contest 2005 and that desire has stayed with her.

Currently a flight attendant with irish airline, Aer Lingus, it would appear that Sinead’s music career is really about to take off! After being approached by several writers to enter Eurosong, Sinead decided to team up with long standing writing collaborators Niall Mooney (Galway) and Jonas Gladnikoff (Sweden) .

Songwriters, Jonas and Niall have clocked up a staggering 7 National Finals around Europe in the last 5 years. Niall and Brendan McCarthy came third in You’re a Star, the Irish National selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 with their song “Summer rain”.

Jonas Niall and Christina enlisted Daniele Moretti (Italy) to complete the writing team and Black Daisy joining Sinead on stage.

Jonas says, “Sinead’s song is loud, it’s fast, it’s really catchy and it could really rock  Russia!”