Ireland At Eurovision 2014. Photograph courtesy of gregcantyfuzion

RTE (Irish National Broadcaster) earlier this week announced that they would be selecting their Eurovision 2014 Representative via the mentor system that they have used for the past 3 years. For our global readers you may not be familiar with the mentors, so we written up a brief profile for you.

Hazel Kaneswaran:

Hazel Kaneswaran. Eurosong 2014 Mentor. Photograph Herald,ie

For many readers the surname “Kaneswaran” will be very familiar. Yes Hazel is the big sister to Siva Kaneswaran from the highly successful band “The Wanted”. However Hazel was highly successful in her own right here in Ireland. She was a member of the Irish band “Dove” who were by far the funkiest Irish band around at the time. She was also a contestant on “Pop Stars The Rivals”.

Hazel is a larger than life character and has been writing material while she took a sebatical from performing to start her family. 4 children later and a famous brother to keep a watch over – Hazel is back and we hope she will bring some of her “Dove” music to the table.

”I am really looking forward to mentoring my act for the Eurosong. I’ve always loved the Eurovision Song contest ever since I fell in love with Johnny Logan as a young child! Every year the Eurovision winner is different, so it’s hard to know what the public want but I’ll give it my best shot.

Artists and songwriters can contact me by clicking on: www.hazelkaneswaran.ie.

Billy McGuinness: 

Billy McGuinness Eurosong 2014 Mentor. Photograph Independent.ie

Billy is a member of the legendary Irish rock band Aslan who have been in the music industry for over 30 years now. People will know Aslan from classic like “Crazy World” and “This is”. Billy is the rhythm guitarist and harmonica specialist in the band and nowadays along with singer Christy Dignam are the spokespeople for the band.
Billy has toured the world playing in venues across the USA, Australia and Europe. We will certainly be hoping that he brings some of that Aslan rock to the Eursong Final.

”Normally I wouldn’t have had the time to be involved as a mentor for Eurovision, but with Aslan on a break I feel I can commit myself to finding a great song and singer to represent Ireland.

If there are songwriters out there who want to send me songs please email: billymcguinness@gmail.com.

Cormac Battle: 

Cormac Battle – Eurosong 2014 Mentor. Photograph courtesy of RTE.ie

If you are a radio listener in Ireland then you will be very familiar with Cormac Battle. He is a radio presenter on 2fm where he has his own rock show which is broadcast every Sunday.He has been involved on RTÉ’s show “The Hit” which brought Johnny Logan back to the Top 3 in the Irish Music charts – and not before time. Cormac previously wrote, recorded and toured worldwide with his bands “Kerbdog and Wilt”.

I always thought of them as a great American College rock band – so we will hope for some of that at Eurosong 2014.”I thought they were joking when they asked me to be a mentor for Eurosong 2014 but on reflection I have been heavily involved in the music making process for a long time albeit in a different sphere – so why not? A brilliant song is a brilliant song no matter what. And this is one of the most exciting and challenging projects I have ever taken on. I am in it to win it.”

If anyone would like to contact me please email: eurobattle@rte.ie.

Valerie Roe:

Valerie Roe – Eurosong Mentor 2014. Photograph Independent.ie

Valerie was once a member of the highly successful band “The Dooley’s” in the 80’s who had vast success in the Uk and Asia. She sang in the Tokyo Song Festival coming 2nd to Dionne Warwick (if you are going to come second to anyone then Dianne Warwick is a worthy competitor?
Valerie provided backing vocals for the Maltese entries Eurovision when staged in Dublin in the 90’s. She managed girlband “Chill” and also did A & R and PR for boybands “D’Side” & “Zoo”.Valerie is currently managing the band “Out Of The Blue”, who people will remember from this year’s X-Factor in the UK where they made the Bootcamp stages of the contest.

Might we be seeing “Out of the Blue” in the Eurosong Final? We will have to wait and see. However I have high expectations for Valerie’s act and hope she brings a great pop song to the table.
“Music is my first love and my vision for Ireland this year is to go back to our roots with a powerful song and an exceptional singer with strong production and the inimitable artistic style that Ireland is famed for worldwide.

Artists and songwriters can contact me via my email: valerie@valerieroe.com.

Mark Murphy: 

Mrk Murphy with Olly Murs – Eurosong 2014 Mentor. Photograph courtesy of ollymursdaily.tumblr

Mark has been working in the music industry for over a decade now. He is the tour manager for Olly Murs and also a tour manager for X Factor acts. Mark won an award affiliated with the Brits (Music Matters) for “Unsung Hero of the Year”, which celebrates people behind the scenes in the music industry.

It is obvious that Mark knows what goes into making a good live performance a GREAT live performance. No doubt Olly Murs will lend his tweeting support to Mark’s Act.
”I got involved to find a great song and singer to represent Ireland. I feel there is so much musical talent out there that it’s the right time to get involved and find the perfect song for Eurovision.

I would love to hear from songwriters and artists and they can contact me via email: markmurphyeurosong@gmail.com.

So there you have your 5 mentors for this year’s Eurosong Final in Ireland. Each of them should offer much in the way of variety to their chosen acts – whomever they will be.

You have all their contact details should you wish to reach out to them. Let the games begin.

Full rules and submission details are on the RTE website here

Author/Website co-founder and Editor in Chief Garrett Mulhall

Source : Eurovision Ireland and RTE