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The IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Competition 2017 – Live Final
November 4, 2017 @ 8:30 pm - 11:30 pm
Free
The Christie Hennessy Song Competition takes place as a tribute to the life and music of one of Tralee’s most famous sons. The ten finalists below were selected from over 200 entries and they will perform their original song in front of a live audience and a panel of expert judges. The winning songwriter will be presented with a cheque for €1,000 on the night, courtesy of Tralee Credit Union while the runner up receives a cheque for €300.
Featuring a special guest performance from Bronagh Gallagher.
Finalists
Sinead Murphy – I’ll Wait For You
Sinéad Murphy is a young Cork-based songwriter and performer. Originally from Athenry, County Galway. She writes songs mainly in a folk and soul genre. The arrangements for her songs vary between full bands right down to acoustic settings. She is currently in the process of recording her first E.P which she hopes to release in early 2018.
Sinéad is an experienced troubador having performed in many venues around the country. Sinéad is influenced by artists such as Carole King right up to today’s charting musicians like Gavin James.
https://www.facebook.com/ShinMusic/
Megan O’Neill – Why I Need You
Irish-born singer/songwriter Megan O’Neill is one of the most exciting Americana artists on the UK – Irish scene. A long-time musician and song-writer, Megan has previously lived in Nashville but now resides full time in London.
She released her debut EP ‘Coming Home’ in May 2015, reaching #1 in Irish country charts & was awarded ‘UK EP of the Year’ (W21Music). In February 2017, Megan released a second record with her band ‘The Common Threads’ titled ‘Stories to Tell’ which was recorded at Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Studios with the legendary Guy Fletcher (Dire Straits, Roxy Music, Mark Knopfler) producing.
Megan has had her song ‘Don’t You’ featured on hit ABC TV Show Nashville, three slots at the O2 Arena London for C2C festival, a performance at JJ Abrams’ Oscar Wilde party in LA alongside Gavin James, multiple appearances at the prestigious Bluebird Café in Nashville, Harvest Festival and Nashville Meets London Festival. She has also been twice chosen as one of Time Out London’s Rising Stars (2016 and 2017).
2017 has seen Megan selected as one of the top 8 Americana songwriter’s in the UK, a performance at the Americana Music Awards in London and touring Ireland, America and the UK, sharing stages with such artists as Miranda Lambert, Kip Moore, Nathan Carter, Donna Taggart and Victoria Shaw. She’s also spent this year writing and recording her debut solo album. The first single (‘Why I Need You’) is due for release in October 2017 and the full album set for release early 2018.
Live radio appearances and performances include BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio London with Gaby Roslin, 2fm, Today FM with Ian Dempsey, BBC Radio Wales, Marie Crichton’s Country Show on BBC, Nevis Radio, Amazing Radio, Chris Country and many, many more.
Mirenda – Go
Singer-songwriter Mirenda Rosenberg (b. Washington DC) draws on Black American music traditions adding new textures from her adopted home North-West Ireland to create contemporary soul. Mirenda and the band innovate music traditions with original and personal songs. Dynamic sensual performances merge insightful and honest lyrics of love, loss, power and desire, providing an unparalleled night of soul, funk, jazz, and blues music. Mirenda has wowed sold-out audiences in Ireland, US, UK and performed on BBC, TG4, and RTE.
Curtis Walsh – Perfect Rain
Curtis has been attending vocal workshops with The Voice of Ireland vocal coach Dr.Trish Rooney as a result of winning The Una Healy Music Scholarship programme in 2016. Fresh from his Electric Picnic 2017 performance, and being the youngest act to be selected for Hard Working Class Heroes Festival in September, Curtis continues to develop his songwriting & performing skills with a number of shows and industry festival events scheduled until the end of the year. His debut EP is scheduled for early 2018.
www.facebook.com/curtiswalshmusic
Peter Doran – Voices
Peter Doran is an independent Singer-Songwriter from Mullingar in the Irish Midlands. Peter’s musical life started twenty years ago in a roar of electric guitars, distortion pedals and Marshall amps. But his musical direction took an unplanned shift into acoustic-territory after watching people like Damien Rice, Glen Hansard and Emmett Tinley, perform at The Stables, an intimate music venue just ten minutes walk from Peter’s Home. It was a new century and he had a new fascination: the singer and the song.
At the end of 2014, Peter’s fourth album, the self-produced “Outlines”, was released to critical acclaim in Ireland. It is the songwriter’s most sparse and direct work to date. The warmth of Peter’s acoustic guitar and voice creates an intimacy that draws the listener in, but it’s lyrics and language that are at the heart of his work.
Alongside his solo work, Peter is also one half of the songwriting Partnership The Great Trade with fellow Mullingar musician Brian Murphy. The pair have built up a catalogue of songs, and plan to start on their debut record this year.
In the last years Peter has played headline shows in Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and New York, and has opened for artists like Mick Flannery, Declan O’Rourke, Duke Special and Fionn Regan.
Robert Grace – Close My Eyes
‘Talk To Me’ may have been Robert’s debut solo release, however, this all rounder from the beautiful town of Graiguenamanagh in Co. Kilkenny is no stranger to the studio, or the charts!
In recent years Robert has developed into a songwriter/producer/performer of note. Robert wrote three and co-produced four tracks on (Louis Walsh – boyband) Hometown’s chart topping album released on Sony Music. He has also co-written with some of the best-known songwriters in the UK including: Dan McDougall (The Wanted, The Shires), Blair MacKichan (Paloma Faith/Sia/Lily Allen), Phil Thornalley (Natalie Imbruglia/Pixie Lott), Josh Wilkinson (One Direction / 5 seconds of Summer)
and David Munday (Tina Turner/Pixie Lott/Belinda Carlisle)
In his capacity as writer and producer, Robert has helped other artist’s music achieve chart success.
Robert released his debut single ‘Wanna Love’ in April 2017. The track is performing well at radio with over 600 plays on 2FM, Beat FM, Today FM & iRadio combined. Niall Power Head of Music at Beat – “It’s a cracking pop song – as good as any of the international artists on our playlists”. Robert was No 1 on the Beat FM charts (Top 7 at 7) for ten days in a row.
The title track from his debut EP ‘Talk To Me’ was the most played track on RTE Radio 1 in June 2016.
Robert has previously had songs on hold with Maroon 5 and with Craig Kallman at Atlantic.
https://www.facebook.com/RobertGraceMusic/
Nile St. James – Fell For You
Nile St. James is a 24 year old singer/songwriter from Limerick City, Ireland.
Raised on old-school soul/funk music and later developing a fondness for Stevie Nicks, Joni Mitchell and Jeff Buckley, St. James began exploring music at a young age, taking to school choirs and local music venues to fuel his passion.
With vocals and melodic styles that show the clear influences of classic soul, funk and blues of the 1960’s and ’70s, Nile brings to the stage a performance of profound emotional depth. Complimenting soulful vocals with raw and heartfelt lyrics, Nile St. James and his six piece band (The Vibes) have been touring Ireland for the past year, garnering a reputation as an emerging artist to watch.
Nile St. James premiered his debut single ‘Fell for you’ on August 18th 2017, having established a sturdy national following through a year of touring, the single debuted at No.1 on the Soul/RnB charts and No.6 on the Irish Charts. As well as currently being featured on playlists RTE Radio 1, RTE 2FM, and Today FM.
https://www.facebook.com/nilestjames/
KARMS – All I Want
KARMS are a thundering indie rock 4 piece from Dublin made up of brothers Colm and Stephen O’Loughlin, and friends Danny Farrelly and Jay Maleney.
Following on from the success of their huge debut single ‘We Always Lose’, KARMS recently released their much anticipated debut EP and massive lead single ‘River’.
Recorded in Attica Audio, Donegal with Scottish producer Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian), the EP was part of 10 tracks recorded over 5 days consisting mostly of live performances to capture the most pure form of their relentless, towering energy. The River EP combines bone crushing anthems like ‘River’, ‘We Always Lose’ and ‘She Said’ with the delicate ‘Beautiful Magic’ making this another tasty introduction to KARMS.
https://www.facebook.com/karmsmusic/
NC GREY – Toxic Love
NC Grey is a rising British-Nigerian singer and songwriter. She was inspired to sing and write her own material melding influences from jazz, soul, Motown and hints of gospel born
of her days singing in church choirs. Listing greats like Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone, Sade Adu, and Stevie Wonder among her influences, Grey has studied the best and has developed her sound; the perfect blend of Soul, Jazz and R&B. An avid performer, NC has delivered mesmerising performances at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, Body & Soul Festival and several venues across
Ireland. Following a string of single releases, Grey released her debut project ‘Magic the EP’ on September 29th and it has received immense support from Ireland’s biggest tastemasters
including RTÉ2 FM and Hot Press Magazine.
Lorraine Nash – Snowflakes
Lorraine Nash is a 18 year old singer songwriter born and raised in County Kerry on the west coast of Ireland. Performing since she was 7 years old, Lorraine’s talents lie in Traditional Irish Music as well as songwriting. A skilled guitar, piano, harp, flute and violin player, Lorraine became interested in writing and performing her own music through her love of songwriters such as Bon Iver, Paolo Nutini and Damien Rice. Her uniquely deep and soulful singing voice sets her apart from the crowd making her a truly exciting new talent. She received an honourable mention for one of her songs in the 2015 ”Unsigned Only Music Competition” and was in the top 2% of 7000 entries worldwide. Lorraine is currently studying music in college and is continuously writing in the hope of releasing some of her music in the near future.
