News - Update: Ireland Eurosong finalists | Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

SONG 3 : Time to Rise

22 year-old Maya is one of the most promising and esteemed singers in Slovenia and the surrounding region. She comes from a small remote village in Slovenia and began singing on TV when she was five years old and won several international children’s singing contests abroad. After her first appearance at the Slovenian National Eurovision selection in 2004, she was recognised as one of the most talented young singers in the country. She followed the success of many famous Slovenian singers when she went on to perform and win at the HIT Festival (The Festival of Slovenian Radio Station) later that year. Maya went on to perform at festivals in Slovenia and abroad while studying music at the University of Ljubljana. An accomplished performer, she was a backing singer for many famous Slovenian and European performers and in 2006 she was a backing singer for Slovenia’s Anzej Dezan at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens.

Maya, who is well known in Eurovision fan community, performed live on TV many times. She sings with symphonic orchestras, big bands, as well as her young pop rock group Fish ’n’ Chips. Maya is also a great fan of Ireland and Irish music. She has always hoped for a chance to perform in Ireland. 
The song Time to Rise was co-written by Ziga Pirnat. Maya and Ziga met in 2006 when he joined her group Fish ’n’ Chips as the keyboard player and this is their first joint project. Ziga, who was also raised in a village in the Slovenian countryside, started learning piano when he was very young and soon began composing and writing poetry. Ziga says he’s very enthusiastic about the project as he is a great admirer of Irish culture and language. His dream is to someday produce a song as Gaeilge. Maya and Ziga consider their selection for the Irish Eurosong competition to be their “greatest personal victory”.
Ziga says, “The song ‘Time To Rise’ is about unnecessary worries of our everday life. There are many people in the world with much worse problems than our own; with a life that we can hardly imagine. We should think of them when facing our ‘small’ problems and try to find and do those little things that make the world a better place”.

SONG 4 : Not Crazy After All
Dublin born Leona Daly’s career path has taken her from Dublin to Nashville by way of London. In Nashville, she won the respect and support of Oscar nominated Music Row songwriting giant Sharon Vaughan. Leona says ‘I kept going over and back. I love Nashville, it’s just all about music. It was a great place for me to learn my songwriting craft’ 
That led to a meeting with English songman Steve Booker, who has co-written ‘Not Crazy After All’. Steve’s compositions have been recorded by Stevie Nicks, Natalie Imbruglia, Jack Savoretti and most recently Duffy. Together Daly and Booker have formed a powerful songwriting bond, working with producer Jon Kelly (Kate Bush, Beautiful South, Deacon Blue)
Leona started singing when she was four and she achieved her first chart success when she recorded a cover of Cat Stevens vintage song ‘Where Do Children Play’ for a charity album. 
A confirmed Eurovision fan, Leona says, 
‘It’s a fantastic competition, and one that Ireland has tended to do well in over the years. I hope I can be a part of that success and do my country proud’

SONG 5 : Sometimes
At just 17 years old, Ballina native Liam Geddes is the youngest performer in Eurosong 2008. Liam has been singing and performing for a number of years in musicals, charitable events and as a guest soloist. In the past twelve months he has sung at the Green Glens Arena, Millstreeet to an audience of over 2000 people. Liam was the highest placed and youngest Irish competitor on X Factor 2007. Liam says, “It would mean the world to me to represent my country in Eurovision”. Susan Hewitt from Kilmore in Armagh, was born in Belfast and began her musical studies with piano lessons at 6 years old. She studied music at Queens University before becoming a secondary school music teacher and setting up her own private piano teaching practice. Now a full-time mother of three, Susan is studying classical violin and also enjoys writing. Entering the Eurovision has been on Susan’s “to do” list for quite a few years.

Liam and Susan’s entry is also the only cross-border collaboration in the competition. The song was written specifically for Liam for the 2008 Eurosong competition. They first met in November and the song was composed over the following months. Susan says, “‘Sometimes’ is a love song as all the best songs are”. 

SONG 6 : Chances
Talented singer/songwriter Marc Roberts is both the performer and composer of Chances. Originally from Mayo and now based in Galway, Marc is no stranger to Eurovision. He previously represented Ireland coming second in the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with Mysterious woman which reached number 2 in the Irish charts. Marc’s debut album was released in 1998 and featured six of his own original compositions highlighting his writing talent. “Meet Me Half Way” & “Once In Your Life” followed. Marc is currently working on his fourth album which will include co-writes with Jimmy MacCarthy and Winsten Sela from the USA. Marc’s albums are licensed to record companies in both the US and Australia, where he tours regularly. 

Marc was also selected to perform alongside Mick Hanly, Sinead Lohan, Charlie McGettigan, Eleanor McEvoy and Jimmy MacCarthy to represent Ireland in a showcase of best Irish song writing talent and impressed a specially invited audience of top music publishers and industry representatives in America. His shows have sold out the National Concert Hall and Cork Opera house amongst others. Marc plans to tour Ireland, Germany, America and Australia later this year. 

Eurosong 2008 will be presented by Ray D’Arcy will present the show, who Eurovision fans will remember as the presenter of "You're A Star", in the years it selected the Irish entrants : 2003 to 2005. The show will come from University Concert Hall Limerick on Saturday 23 February 2008. The live show will be broadcast from 19:00 to 20:00 (20:00 to 21:00 CET) and voting lines will open (phone and text) only after all six acts have performed. The public will then decide which song will represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest on 20 May. The winner will be announced in a live results show at 21:30 (22:30 CET). RTÉ is inviting members of the public to join the audience for Eurosong 2008 with tickets being made available on a first come first served basis from 09:00 (10:00 CET) on Monday 4th February from the UCHL box office. The tickets are free of charge and the phone number to call is +353 61 33 549.

Special thanks to allkindsofeverything.ie for this information.