Details

Written by Bob Tallent

Parent Category: Entertainment-Arts-Other News

Category: Music . . . . .

Created: 20 April 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

User Rating: 0 / 5

The King is Dead  -  Long Live the King

I have had requests to write about this guy, including a long-time friend John Walsh, who rang me this week, in fact, he sang into the phone.

He was born in Mississippi and was one of the originators of rockabilly, an up-tempo, backbeat-driven mixture of Country and Rhythm & Blues.  His genres in music consisted of Rock and roll, pop, rockabilly, country, blues, gospel and R&B.  His career started in 1954, and was associated with The Blue Moon Boys, The Jordanaires and The Imperials.  He was a singer, musician and actor, was known the world over by his first name and is simply known as The King.

Read more: Elvis Presley Biography

Details

Written by Ciara Tallent

Parent Category: Entertainment-Arts-Other News

Category: Music . . . . .

Created: 13 April 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

User Rating: 5 / 5

OMG – the BOYS are Lookin’ Good

Ciara TallentBy Ciara Tallent

John and Edward Grimes first appeared on our screens in 2009 on the talent show The X-Factor singing the Backstreet Boys song As Long As You Love Me. Described in the auditions as “two of the most irritating people” by Simon Cowell, they were voted through to bootcamp by the other judges. Mentored by Louis Walsh the duo became better known as Jedward. The pair had public opinion divided from the first live show when they performed the Robbie Williams hit Rock DJ. Viewers tuned in every week to watch their performances including Ghostbusters, Oops!...I Did it Again and Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby.

jedward

They found themselves in the bottom two for the first time in week 5 of the show but controversially were saved from eviction. Cowell made the final decision to save Jedward saying he would “prefer to see the boys again” and fellow contestant Lucie Jones was sent home. They survived two more weeks before being voted out of the competition.

The identical twins were born at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin on  October 16^th, 1991. John, who is older by 10 minutes, and Edward lived in Rathangan, Co Kildare, with their older brother Kevin and parents John and Susannah. They enjoyed singing, swimming and running from a young age and appeared in a stage production of Oliver. Aged 10 they moved to Lucan, Jedward stood out in school and were the victims of bullying. The twins however were and still are inseparable and helped each other through this difficult time. They pursued their two passions: performing in a school talent show and running in national competitions after joining Dundrum South Dublin Athletic Club. The pair never gave up their dream of becoming famous, and jumped onto our screens in matching suits and what are now their signature quiffs.

Getting voted off the X-Factor was only the beginning for the twins. They had many TV appearances after their departure from the show including The Late Late Toy Show in November 2009 and the Graham Norton Show on New Year’s Eve 2009. With Louis Walsh as their manager, Jedward released their first single Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby) featuring Vanilla Ice on January 31^st, 2010. The single reached number 1 in Ireland and number 2 in the UK. This was followed by the X-Factor Live Tour 2010 from February to April 2010 which saw some of the other finalists upset as John and Edward were given more performance time then some of the others.

Planet Jedward, their debut album was released on  July 16^th, 2010 and reached number 1 in the Irish charts. Their cover of the Blink 182 song, All the Small Things was also released in July 2010 and peaked at number 6 in the Irish charts. The twins ended 2010 on a high with their roles as Cinderella’s godbrothers in the sold-out pantomime in the Olympia Theatre, Dublin.

On February 11^th, 2011 Jedward were voted by the public to represent Ireland in Eurovision Song Contest 2011. They sang their song Lipstick on The Late Late selection show and were chosen to sing in Düsseldorf. Appearing in the second semi-final on May 12^th, 2011 they were voted through to the final where their performance saw them secure eighth place, Ireland’s best result in 11 years. Jedward released Lipstick as the first single from their new album, followed up by Bad Behaviour; both singles reached number 1 in Ireland. Their second album, Victory was released on August 5^th, 2011 and reached number 1 in the Irish charts. Due to their success at the Eurovision Victory was released across Europe and Asia in September 2011.

Wow Oh Wow was the third single from the album and was released in November 2011. In August-September 2011 Jedward finished third in Celebrity Big Brother. December 2011 saw their return to the Olympia Theatre with the pantomime Jedward and the Beanstalk.

Since their rise to fame Jedward have starred in several TV advertisements, including ads for Abrakebabra, Shake N Vac and Three Prepay. They have supported Westlife in Croke Park and performed at the Childline Concert 2010. Their first solo tour, Planet Jedward Tour was so popular they had to add more dates. They had a one-hour documentary on RTÉ called OMG It’s Jedward in 2010 and a second show OMG – Jedward’s Dream Factory in 2011. They were given their own fly-on-the-wall series, Jedward: Let Loose, which was a three-part show following their journey since their departure from X-Factor which aired on ITV2 in August 2010.

In 2011 Jedward had two tours across Ireland, their Bad Behaviour Tour in April and Carnival Tour in August and several performances abroad. Jedward are also regular guests on Celebrity Juice with Keith Lemon.

So far in 2012 Jedward have had a show on CBBC, Jedward’s Big Adventure and have signed a deal to star in a Channel 5 reality TV show Jedward’s Weird Wild World. They have been voted to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 which will take place in May in Azerbaijan with their song Waterline.

They will compete in the first semi-final which takes place on Tuesday, May 22^nd. Waterline was released as a single in February 2012 and reached number 5 in the Irish charts. They have also recorded a song for UEFA Euro.

2012 called Put Your Green Cape On. The song was written by 2fm presenter Colm Hayes and will be released in May with all proceeds going to the ISPCA. Jedward will be performing at various events throughout the year including music week in Germany in July. They will also be returning to Christmas pantomime this year in Jedward and the Magic Lamp and making a second series of OMG – Jedward’s Dream Factory for RTÉ.

By Ciara Tallent

http://youtu.be/7MgDpG-8nhY

Copyright © 2012, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved

Details

Written by Administrator

Parent Category: Entertainment-Arts-Other News

Category: Music . . . . .

Created: 06 April 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

User Rating: 0 / 5

Five Irish Guys take the World by Storm

By Bob Tallent
4th April 2012
Dublin

WestlifeThis Irish “boyband” was formed in 1998 by Louis Walsh.  Originally they were five, now four. They are enormously popular in Ireland and the UK yet never really cracked America. Their number one hits have tied with Cliff Richard. They are credited as being the second largest selling artists and largest selling band of the decade.  Although they are on a high point in their career, they are due to disband this year, 2012, after a farewell tour.

I’m talking about WESTLIFE!

Westlife consists of Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Brian McFadden although Brian left the band in 2004.  Westlife evolved from a six-piece band originally called Six as One and later changed to IOYOU. It was formed by Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan. While performing in a stage version of the musical Grease in Ireland, the guys were spotted by pop manager Louis Walsh. Shane’s mother contacted Louis and invited him to check them out.  Louis was managing Boyzone at the time and was on the lookout for the next big band.  Essentially, Louis ‘manufactured’ the band. He groomed them and turned them into a hit-making machine.  Initially they were called Westside but that was changed to Westlife to avoid confusion and possible legal problems with a US group.

Louis brought the band to Simon Cowell for a record deal with his label BMG. Simon didn’t like the group and called them ugly so Louis made some personnel changes. After auditions he recruited Nicky Byrne and Brian McFadden.  Brian changed the spelling of his name to Bryan to make it easier to sign autographs.

Their first single to be released was Swear It Again which went in straight to number one in the U.K.,Ireland and numerous other countries. They followed it with If I Let You Go and Flying without Wings which also went to number one in many countries.  Then they produced an album called Westlife in 1999 which went to number one.  They have released nine singles altogether from their previous two albums, Westlife and Coast To Coast. Their next single was called Queen Of My Heart and it is on their album World Of Our Own. They have been entered in the Guinness Book of Records for having their first seven singles go straight to number one in the U.K. and for having five number one singles in Ireland.

Westlife never managed to make a dent in America’s pop scene where national acts like the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Britney Spears reigned supreme. They released Swear It Again with a brand new tacky video.  It didn't work so they focused on the rest of the world. Their trip to the States got them a duet with Mariah Carey. They recorded a cover of Phil Collins' Against All Odd, which reached number one. This song is part of Westlife's second album, Coast To Coast, which also reached.  They continued their massive record breaking suite of albums and singles with the most consecutive number of number ones.  Their Christmas single What Makes A Man didn’t reach the number one spot but got into the charts at no.2, right behind Bob The Builder with his Can we Fix It?

In February 2001 Westlife was the face of Comic Relief in the UK and released a cover version of Billy Joel's Uptown Girl for that.  To this day it is their best selling single ever. The single raised approximately a million pounds sterling.

In February 2001 they released their next hit: World of Our Own. The follow-up, Bop Bop Baby only hit no.5.  It was a failure in the eyes of Shane and Brian who wrote the song together. At the end of the year they released Unbreakable which is also the title of their first Greatest Hits album.  The single Queen Of My Heart from the same album was another no.1 single.

During their Christmas holidays (2001) both Shane and Nicky proposed to their girlfriends. In February Brian's second child is born and Shane is chosen to be Lily Sue's godfather.

Nicky married Georgina Aherne, daughter of Bertie Aherne – Taoiseach of Ireland and Kian announced his relationship with ex-Hollyoaks star Jodi Albert.

Their next single was Hey Whatever, a remake of Relish's Rainbow Zephyr. The song hit no.4 in the UK charts. That was followed by their version of Barry Manilow´s Mandy, which got them their 3rd Record of the Year Award (after Flying Without Wings & My Love). With those singles the new album, Turnaround appeared.

In December 2003 Shane Filan married Gillian, Kian’s first cousin. They got married in Ballintuber Abbey, an old abbey in county Mayo. This was another successful year for Westlife both personal and business.

2004: Another number one hit with Obvious and Bryan McFadden decided to leave the band because he wanted to spend more time with his wife Kerry and their kids Molly and Lily Sue.  They continued with their Turnaround Tour and were determined to make it their best yet.  That tour broke a few more records. They decided to change their style with a new Ratpack album, Allow Us To Be Frank.  They went to LA to shoot a few videos for Sinatra songs like Ain't That a Kick In The Head, Fly Me To The Moon, Smile and Mack The Knife. They were featured in their own tv show, called She's The One. They used that to find a female singer to sing on the album. Joanne Hindley was the winner and sang The Way You Look Tonight on TV.

2005: Shane and his wife Gillian had their first child in July.  Mark announced he's gay and that he's in a relationship with Kevin McDaid, former V member.  Their new single You Raise Me Up, was a massive hit all over the world.  This Josh Groban cover gets them back on the map in Australia and they get to number one hit over there. Face to Face, on which You Raise Me Up is featured, is also a major success.  At Christmas, they release a song with Diana Ross. They record When You Tell Me That You Love Me.

2006 to 2012:  They played their biggest gig ever in Croke Park, Dublin to a massive sold out crowd of over 83,000 people in 2008 and 2010.  In 2006, they appeared in two TV shows "The Westlife Show", broadcasted by ITV on December 16th and on December 21st they were in Dublin to record an hour long Westlife special for The Late Late Show – the world’s longest running chat show.

They were declared Ireland's ninth richest celebrities aged under 30. As a band they were worth €36 million.

They took a one year break in 2009

2010: They released their eleventh studio album, Gravity.  Safe, the first single released from the album, reached number ten in the UK charts.

Wayne Hector, who has worked with Westlife, said: "We've always thought the reason Westlife songs have been so successful is because it's about situations that everybody goes through."

Over the years Westlife had recorded and with some of the world’s most renowned music acts such as Mariah Carey, Lulu, Joanne Hindley, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Delta Goodrem, The Vards, Indonesian childstar Sherina and Amr Diab, Cristian Castro and Korean singer BoA.

Westlife has performed with some of the biggest names in the music industry including Sinead O'Connor, Donny Osmond, Mariah Carey, Secret Garden, Lionel Richie, Ronan Keating, Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries, Roy Orbison, Delta Goodrem, Raymond Quinn, Leehom Wang, Mary Black, Kevin Spacey, Do, various artists "All-Stars" and even their fathers.

Some of the famous music video directors who have had an opportunity to work with Westlife are as follows: Cameron Casey, Wayne Isham, Nigel Dick, Stuart Gosling, Phil Griffin, Antti Jokinen, David Mould, Alex Hemming, Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini.

People who supported them on tours include Shayne Ward, No Way Out, K-otic, Natural, Six, Totally Spies, D-Side and Lauren Waterworth, Bellefire, The Conway Sisters, V, Twen2y4se7en, Zoo, Kwest, Pop, No Way Out, Sub Bass 5, Traphic, Mark Dakriet, 4th Ba5e, Reel, Peter Andre, Girls Aloud, Eton Road, Gareth Gates, Roxanne, Alsou, The MacDonald Brothers, Billiam, Cushh, The Unconventional ls, Dyyce, Lady Nada, Code 5, Annabel Fay and Hope.

2011: they announced they had left Simon Cowell after 13 years due to his decision not to release a second single from the their most recent album.  Nicky Byrne said that Simon had been great in 1998 but the development of 'American Idol' and 'The X-Factor' had left the band feeling "unloved."  On 19 October 2011, they announced they would be releasing their second Greatest Hits album on 21 November 2011 and that their nine date tour of 2012 would be a Farewell Tour saying "The decision is entirely amicable and after spending all of our adult life together so far, we want to have a well-earned break and look at new ventures."

Their two final gigs will be in Croke Park Dublin on 22^nd and 23^rd June 2012.  The 22^nd is sold out so far.  They will be huge gigs and are supported by The Wanted.

Thanks to Ciara who got me the videos for this article.

Just hit the BLUE NEXT button below to go to page 2 & see 16 more videos and a list of songs and albums. Enjoy.

Copyright © 2012, DPNLIVE – All Rights Reserved

Details

Written by Bob Tallent

Parent Category: Entertainment-Arts-Other News

Category: Music . . . . .

Created: 05 April 2012

Last Updated: 05 January 2016

User Rating: 0 / 5

Heaven will have a Hooley when Barney McKenna meets Luke, Ronnie and Ciaran.

By Bob Tallent
5th April 2012
Dublin

Barney McKenna

This article is to commemorate the passing of one of Ireland’s greatest banjo players, Barney McKenna. Barney passed this morning 5^th April 2012 around 11am.  The word ‘legend’ is often misused, but in Barney’s case it is entirely fitting.  He was a superstar among musicians. I hope you enjoy these ten videos to your right that show Barney as as a master musician and singer. He had his own sense of humour. For example, when he was singing "I wish I had someone to love me" he said "for those of you who have never heard this song before tonight, this will be the first time". Barney, we miss you already.

Read more: BARNEY McKENNA Biography