We have grown to know and love Eurovision over the years and since its debut way back in 1956, when Lys Assia took home the very first trophy in Switzerland,we have seen many artists come and go through the contest all enjoying their time of glory in front of an audience of both the live shows and on European and world-wide TV . However, once the show is over and they return home to their home country , hopefully having made their country proud, what happened after that for them? Did taking part in Eurovision become the stepping stone to much bigger things for them ? Or was it a journey into obscurity, never to be seen again ?

In this new series ,under the title Here Today, Gone tomorrow , Eurovision Ireland will each week take a look at a former Eurovision star and look at the path they took after taking part in the contest and where they are now . This week, we kick off with a past Irish winner……….

Eimear Quinn

It all seems a long time ago now but way back in 1996, the contest was held in Oslo, Norway, with Norway having broken Ireland’s run of back to back wins the previous year with Secret Garden and Nocturne. Few would have expected Ireland to win again so soon and RTE , from a financial point of view, having already hosted three contests in a row,may have been praying that another victory wouldn’t come quite so soon but the composer of Ireland’s 1996 song ” , Brendan Graham discovered Eimear when she sang for a choir, Anuna, at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin during Christmas 1995 and asked her to sing his song for Ireland’s Eurovision entry in 1996. Eimear had already toured Spain , France and the UK with the choir .Eimear won the Irish National final and went on to take the seventh and last victory to date for Ireland at the contest in Oslo with her performance of the “The Voice”

What happened after Eurovision ….

Following her victory in Oslo, Eimear went on to tour solo all over Europe and Australia, USA ,also making many television appearances and presented for television and radio programming for RTE 3 and TV3. She also collaborated with a number of international composers on several musical and television projects.In 2008, she presented a Christmas special , A Christmas celebration with Eimear Quinn on RTE 1 . In 2011 , she performed for the Queen’s state visit to Ireland and has also performed at other state visits, including the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland in 2019 and the Prince of Wales at the London St Patricks Day celebrations in 2019 .She has also produced singles and albums.

Although not participating in Eurovision again, Eimear has from time to time made an appearance at the contest to give the Irish votes and she also took part in the 50th Anniversary show in Copenhagen in 2005.

Now aged 47 ,Eimear is living in Switzerland with her husband Noel Curren, who is a radio and television producer and who is also the former Director -General of RTE and is also the current Director- General of the EBU. They have two children .More recently Eimear re-released her winning song “The Voice” performed with a live orchestra at the Het Grote Song festival feest in December 2019 .Here she is performing “The Voice 2020 “

What do you think of the new version of The Voice? Do you think it could do as well in the contest now ?

Author : Sarah Rudman

Source : You Tube ESC today