She was Ireland’s first female singer to enter Eurovision and she is still performing today!

Ireland’s first female representative at Eurovision (1969) is celebrating sixty years of singing. The singer was born in Newtownards, County Down. Not only was she Ireland’s first female representative, she was also the first singer from Northern Ireland to represent the green isle at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Muriel made a great impression in the Irish showband circuit. She also appeared in the British film Billy Liar in 1963 miming to the song Twisterella after the original singer fell pregnant.

She established herself on Ireland’s showband circuit as a member of the Saint’s Showband and the Dave Glover Showband. ‘A petal from a faded rose’ remains one of her best-known tracks with the Dave Glover Showband.

Muriel was spotted by singer Butch Moore in the Starlight Hotel, Co. Cork in January 1969. Moore was Ireland’s first ever representative at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965. He arranged for Muriel Day to audition for the 1969 Irish final to select a song to go to the contest in Madrid.
Day was chosen as Ireland’s Eurovision contestant with the song “The Wages of Love” written by Michael Reade, in 1969. She fought off stiff competition from Moore himself and future Eurovision winner, Dana. The song was a great hit in Ireland, it only finished seventh internationally, in a year with four winners.

The 14th Eurovision Song Contest took place in Madrid on 29 March 1969. Day was backed by a girl group called the Lindsays. She sported an emerald green dress, with her hair styled into a black bob.
https://youtu.be/Oh8oVKo2xVw
While she was in Madrid, Peter Warne offered to record some songs with her. The result was the single ‘Optimistic Fool’, which was issued on the Page One label and which featured ‘Nine Times Out of Ten’ on the B-side. It was a huge success.

Muriel emigrated to Canada in 1971. There she performed for several years, before taking up medicine and working as a laser therapist. She returned to Belfast in the 1990s. As a guest on RTE’s The Late, Late Show Eurosong 2015 programme broadcast on RTE1 February 27th, 2015, Day announced she was about to release her first ever album, ‘Girls Night Out’. The album features an eclectic mix of Pop, Country, Showband and Nostalgia music.

You can check out our coverage of her return HERE 

Muriel is now 79 and works at a call center as well as continuing to play shows and pursue her music career.

You can find out more about Ireland’s first female singer at Eurovision on her official Facebook page.

Let’s bring on another 60 years from Ireland’s first female artists at Eurovision – Muriel Day!

Author : Hannah White

Source : Eurovision Ireland