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Takes a look at Irish successes at Eurovision through the eyes of its winners.
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Ireland’s winning streak began with a young girl from Derry, who went on to build both a television and political career on her Eurovision success. In 1970 Dana (Rosemary Scallon) beat international stars like Mary Hopkin and Julio Iglesias to win the Eurovision final in Amsterdam with All Kinds of Everything. Her win launched an internationally successful singing career. Twenty-seven years later Dana decided to enter politics. Although she didn’t win the 1997 Irish presidential election, she did spend five years as an MEP in Brussels.
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Before Linda Martin won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992, she was already a big hit in Ireland, working in show-business for over 20 years. Born and raised in Belfast, she joined her first band, Chips, in the early 1970s. But from the very early days of her career, Linda harbored Eurovision ambitions. Linda entered the National Song Contest on four occasions with Chips in the 1980s. Her first big break came as a solo singer in 1984, through the help of her manager Louis Walsh and his client, Johnny Logan. Linda came second in Luxembourg but still received a hero’s welcome back home. In 1992, Johnny Logan contacted Linda with a new song he had written called Why Me? And this time Linda got to sing the winning encore in Malmö.
Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan’s 1994 Eurovision win was the third-in-a-row for Ireland after Linda Martin’s win in Malmö in ‘92 and Niamh Kavanagh’s in Millstreet in ‘93. The winning pair had never even met each other before their Eurovision bid and came from completely different musical backgrounds. Charlie McGettigan was born in Ballyshannon and started his musical career singing in a rock band in the singing lounges of Donegal. He got involved in the folk scene while working for the ESB in Dublin. In 1973 Charlie got a job at the Arigna Power Station and when he moved to Drumshambo he formed a folk band called Jargon which enjoyed some early success. Paul Harrington grew up in a musical family in Killester in Dublin and like his older brothers, started performing in his teenage years. When he left school in 1979, he got a job in the Department of Labour.
In 1994, Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry met a Norwegian man at the Eurovision final in Dublin who changed her life forever. A year later Fionnuala and Rolf Løvland won the Eurovision for Norway with the largely instrumental Nocturne. Their win brought phenomenal international success for their group Secret Garden. But the pressure of the music industry and years of worldwide touring has taken its toll on Fionnuala. It has led to periods of depression and forced her to make tough choices. In 2005 Fionnuala had to take a career break but found time to fall in love.
Classically trained chorister Eimear Quinn is probably the unlikeliest Eurovision winner. In 1996 Eimear won the Eurovision final in Oslo with Brendan Graham’s The Voice. It was the fourth win in five years for Ireland. Eimear Quinn was offered several record deals after her win. But the 23-year-old music student turned them all down to produce and publish her own record. In this program Eimear Quinn talks about finding love at the Eurovision final, creating a new musical identity for herself and becoming a mother.
