Ireland: RTÉ announces Lesley Roy for Eurovision 2021

Ireland: RTÉ announces Lesley Roy for Eurovision 2021
Thursday, 17 December 2020

  • The Irish national broadcaster, RTE, has confirmed that Lesley Roy will represent Ireland at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next May,

    One more Eurovision 2020 hopeful is returning in the next edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, as Ireland's Lesley Roy will be coming back at Eurovision 2021, getting the chance to complete her Eurovision Journey that was interrupted by this year's cancellation due to the covid-19 pandemic. Lesley's comeback marks the 22nd Eurovision 2020 act that will be returning in 2021. 

    The 2021 Irish Eurovision entry has been written and composed by Lesley Roy herself along with Lukas Hallgren  (Switzerland 2019 producer), Philip Strand, Deepend and Emelie Eriksson.

    Lesley Roy comments on her return:

    "It was a real shame we didn’t get to showcase Story of My Life on the Eurovision stage, but had the show not been cancelled this new song would never have emerged. I’ve been working on new material 24/7 and this song was clearly the strongest out of all of the demos. I believe that it is even bigger than Story of My Life, and will reach an even wider audience. I am just so excited to finally get my shot on the Eurovision stage after months and months of work and can’t wait to reveal more information about our song in the New Year."

    The Irish Head of Delegation , Michael Kealy  says:

    "We were all very excited about bringing Lesley and Story of My Life to Rotterdam this year so it was a real shame that it wasn’t to be. However, Lesley’s new song is every bit as catchy as the last one and I can’t wait for her to perform it in Rotterdam next May to the biggest live music audience on the planet."

     

    Ireland remains the country with the most victories in the history of the contest, having taken the trophy home seven times. This year the country was set to be represented at Eurovosion 2020  by Lesley Roy and her entry “Story of My Life”. 

    A few words about Lesley Roy

    Lesley Roy (born 1987) is a singer-songwriter from Balbriggan in Dublin, Ireland. She was signed to an independent Irish label and in 2006, licensed to US label, Jive Records. She released her debut album, Unbeautiful in 2008, which was executive produced by Max Martin. Until switching her focus to songwriting, and attracting the attention of Marc Jordan, the manager credited for launching the career of Rihanna and owner of Rebel One Management & Publishing. As a songwriter Roy has experienced international success with releases for artists including Adam Lambert, Miss Montreal, Medina, Jana Kramer, and Marlee Scott.

     

    Ireland in Eurovision 

    Ireland is a country of records when it comes to the Eurovison Song Contest. It participated for the first time in 1965 and has won the competition 7 times, more than any other country. (1970, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996).It is the only country that has won the contest three successive years (1992, 1993, 1994) while Dublin is the only city to have hosted the event two consecutive years. (1994,1995).

    During the decade of 90’s the country had a row of 4 victories in a 5 year time  (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997) and Dublin became host city three times.Irish act Johnny Logan is the only one to have won the contest twice (1980, 1987).

    In 2018 the country selected internally  Ryan O’Shaughnessy to represent the country with his song Together, which finished 16th in the grand final. In 2019 internally selected  Sarah McTernan represented the country with her entry “22” which failed to qualify to the grand final.

    News Source: RTE/Eurovision.tv

    Image: Irish Sun