Ireland



=**Ireland Eurovision 2009 **=


 * __Artist Biography:__ **

Sinéad Mulvey is 21 years old, and according to the [|BBC], she began her professional singing career “at the age of thirteen when she was picked from hundreds of girls for the lead role of Cinderella in a Dublin pantomime”. Since then, she has performed in a number of stage performances and TV Shows in Ireland. Her day job is an Air Hostess with Aer Lingus, the national airline of Ireland. In 2005, she competed in “You’re a Star” and came in 8th. The songwriting team that would ultimately write “et cetera” (Niall Mooney, Jonas Cladnikoff, Christine Schilling and Daniele Moretti), ended up contacting Mulvey soon after her appearance on [|"You're a Star"]. Black Daisy is a (now) three-piece rock band from Dublin, and consists of Leslie-Ann Halvey (lead vocals and bass guitar), Asta Milleriene (drums) and Nicole Billings (rhythm guitar and backing vocals). Until late in 2008, there was a fourth member of the band – Steff Caffrey, who formerly played guitar and contributed backing vocals. According to an archived post from [|Spudshow] (an Irish music blog ), Black Daisy was formed in 2004 (though the band was not named Black Daisy at this time), by Halvey and Caffrey.the two met at one of Caffreys shows, and decided to form an all female pop-punk band. Within the first year of Black Daisy’s formation, they managed to land a spot on MTV’s “Breaking Point”, a show about unsigned bands trying to make it in the music industry. They were the only all-girl rock band and the only Irish band to be featured on the show. Also, one of their first shows was playing to an all-male crowd of prison inmates in Dublin’s [|Mountjoy Prison]. However, in early 2005, the band lost their original drummer(Audrey Bridgeman) and bass player (I couldn’t find out what her name was), and that incarnation of the band split up. However, Halvey and Caffrey decided to keep playing music together, and kept writing and recording new material, hiring various session musicians to fill out the sound of a full rock band. In 2006, they came up with the name “Black Daisy”. Around this time, the two girls starred in an independent film called “Scratch” (that also featured a lot of their music in the soundtrack, and one of their music videos) that was featured on the website [|www.stage6.com]. It was after the movie was filmed that Caffrey recruited Nicole Billings as a rhythm guitarist, and Halvey discovered Asta Milleriene, a Lithuanian drummer living in Dublin. In early 2008, Black Daisy competed in “You’re A Star”, a national singing competition. They were the only group in the series (all the other contestants were solo singers or singer-songwriters). Originally, “You’re a Star” was designed to select the Irish Eurovision contestants, but that idea was abandoned in 2005. Black Daisy made it to the final 15, but were eliminated in the following round. Leanne Moore ultimately won “You’re a Star 2008”, after which the show was cancelled. (http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0316/youreastar.html) In August 2008, Black Daisy released their ep “Disturbing New Fashion”. The same month, they played the Vibe festival in Enniskillen (in Northern Ireland). After this, there were no new developments on the bands myspace site or anywhere else that I have been able to find, until February 17th, when it was announced that the band was now teamed up with singer Sinead Mulvey, and that “Et Cetera” was in the running for Irelands entry to Eurovision. By this time, Steff Caffrey had left the band - for reasons I have been unable to uncover (although chronologically her departure from the band seems to almost suspiciously coincide with them teaming up with Mulvey).
 * Sinéad Mulvey**
 * Black Daisy**

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 * __Song Information :__

**The song that was entered this year by Ireland in the Eurovision contest is called "Et Cetera". The whole song is in English and was written and composed by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti, and Christina Schilling. The song's [|lyrics] are about romance and one of the main things that can go wrong with it. The song is from the viewpoint of a woman who was just cheated on by her boyfriend. She talk about how she's in love with him still and how the other girl knows that as well. She doesn't believe in his apologies and the use of et cetera is her belief that everything he says to her is meaningless and just excuses. The is very strongly a pop/rock sound. In the video the musicians are only seen playing electric guitar, electric bass, and a drum kit. It is obvious that synthesizers and electronica sounds are also used in the song. These are most likely being produced in the studio and are not being played by the group. The song is upbeat from a back beat being laid down by the drummer.

Stuart Heritage of [|Hecklerspray.com] succinctly said about Ireland's Eurovision entry: "What’s their song Et Cetera like? Rubbish. Next." The [|esctoday.com] author Russell Davies said this about Ireland's rehearsal on May 5, 2009: "Now we have a change of pace as Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy take to the stage for Ireland with their up-tempo pop/rock song Et cetera. Sinead provides a spirited performance as she sings about telling her lover, who yet again has cheated on her, that she doesn't want to hear the excuses anymore and that she won't fall for them again. This is a confident vocal performance from the lead singer Sinead, however she does look as if she if struggling with the sound balance at the start of the rehearsal."


 * __Narrative of Entry:__ **

After an unsuccessful entry in last year's Eurovision Song Contest, Ireland was perhaps looking to better their chances in 2009 with a fresh musical approach. Last year's //"Irelande Douze Pointe"// (a suggestion to vote "Twelve Points for Ireland"), a gag/political statement about geo-political Eurovision voting strategies was sung by hand puppet/TV personality Dustin The Turkey. It landed a disappointing 15th place in 2008's first semifinals, eliciting more than a few cringes and eliminating Ireland from the running in the process. Undaunted, the Emerald Isle is charging back this year in pursuit of an unprecedented eighth Eurovision victory with Black Daisy, a youthful change from the crooners of slow ballads that had traditionally been their strength, as Irish three-time contest winner Johnny Logan declined to represent after an agreement with officials couldn't be reached.

Last December Eurovision.tv sources reported that Irish broadcaster RTE would be televising a concert to select the Irish entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. Like the past two years, the competition would be open to the general public. By the submission deadline on February 2nd, some 300 songs from Ireland and other countries had been entered, and on February 13th it was announced that the judging panel, which was led by former contest winner Linda Martin, had selected six songs to be performed for the Irish national selection on February 20th. Broadcast live as a special edition of the popular entertainment show //The Late Late Show//, the six acts performed for a panel of three experts including Martin and American talk-show host Jerry Springer. The winner was decided by 50% regional jury vote (based in Cork, Limerick, Silgo and Dublin) and 50% public televote. At the end of the night, Ireland unanimously delegated the winning combination of singing talent Sinead Mulvey, Dublin all-girl rockers Black Daisy and their upbeat song entry, "Et Cetera" which was written by an international team of songwriters from Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Italy. The final standings were:

1. Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy - Et Cetera 2. Kristina Zaharova - I wish I could pretend 3. Laura-Jayne Hunter - Out of Control 4. Lee Bradshaw - So What 5. Johnny Brady - Amazing 6. M.N.A. - Flying

Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy are poised to give their homeland a fighting chance in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. They are scheduled to compete for Ireland in the second semi-final in Moscow on Thursday, May 14th.


 * The songwriting process:**

The team of songwriters behind "et cetera" is fairly diverse, with Niall Mooney from Ireland, Jonas Gladnikoff from Sweden, Daniele Moretti from Italy, and Christina Schilling of Denmark. According to [|an interview], Niall (an accountant who does music only as a hobby) has only met the other songwriters in person a handful of times, and most of the songwriting process took place online. In [|another interview], (with him an Gladnikoff) he described the process in greater depth: "it took roughly six years, Jonas emailed me the chords, I wrote a version, emailed him back, then we hooked up with Danielle in Italy. It has English lyrics with an Italian melody. The chorus and name //'Et Cetera'// comes from the Latin/Italian in pronounciation. We we're actually going to submit this song to San Marino but they withdrew from the Eurovision Song Contest this year."

Jonas Gladnikoff and Christina Schilling also wrote, with two other songwriters, a song called "Someday" (performed by Hera Bjork) that was almost selected as Denmarks Eurovision entry for 2009.

The song was written for the Eurovision contest, but without any specific country in mind. However, when Niall saw Sinead Mulvey's performance on "You're a Star" in 2005, he took note: "I was avidly following You’re a Star for years after that and we spotted Sinéad in the year of Donna & Joe. And it was specifically the two rock songs I heard her sing that year that made me take a mental note. I thought ‘that is the girl for that type of song." (http://www.eurovisionary.com/node/2093).


 * __Ireland's Eurovision History:__**

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Ireland made its Eurovision debut at the 1965 contest in Naples. The performer was Butch Moore performing “I’m Walking the Streets in the Rain”, which earned Ireland a 6th place finish. Ireland would first win Eurovision in 1970 with Dana performing “All Kinds of Everything”. In a sense this started the train rolling for Ireland as they have won a total of seven Eurovisions, which is more than any other country. Ireland also is tied with the United Kingdom for the highest average score at 72 points per contest. Four of Ireland’s first place finishes came between the years of 1992 and 1996. Interestingly enough three of those first place wins occured when the contest was being hosted by Ireland. Another noteworthy accomplishment in Ireland's Eurovision history is the performer Johnny Logan. The only Irish performer to win first place in Eurovison and then return to achieve the feat again. Johnny Logan performed "What's Another Year?" in 1980 and "Hold Me Now" seven years later in 1987. Ireland has sent 41 entries, and they have competed in each subsequent contest since 1965 except for 1983 contest and the 2002 contest. The 1983 absence was caused by a strike at the Radio Telefís Éireann, the public service broadcaster of Ireland. The strike resulted in the broadcaster not supporting an Irish participant due to financial issues. In 2002 Ireland was absent from Eurovision because they were relegated for a one year period.

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Despite Ireland's strong performances of the last 40+ years of Eurovision, the country's recent history has strayed from the high standards set by previous performances. Since 2001 Ireland has only broken the top ten once, and that was a tenth place finish by performer Brian Kennedy with "Every Song Is A Cry For Love". To make matters worse in 2007 the Irish participant, Dervish, placed last in the final, only reaching the finals thanks to a guarenteed bid. Finally in 2008 Ireland competed with a puppet. That is not a typo or a joke. In 2008 the Irish competitor was Dustin the Turkey performing "Irelande Douze Pointe". The reaction of the Eurovision community was laughter, however more at Ireland than performer Dustin the Turkey. [|BBC's Fiona Pryor] summed up the ridicule saying, "I was very disappointed to see Ireland's Dustin the Turkey fail to qualify (not)". With any luck Ireland will return atop the Eurovision standings, or at least represent Ireland better than a puppet could.

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