Shay Healy, the winning Songwriter behind “What’s Another Year” has passed away at the age of 78. RTE, the Irish national broadcaster, gave the following obituary:

“From Sandymount in Dublin, he originally worked in RTÉ as a trainee cameraman, but soon found himself on the other side of the lens. A lifelong love for music saw him present music programmes and he later appeared on light entertainment and comedy shows.

He was also a talented songwriter and his song ‘What’s Another Year’, sung by Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. Alongside writing, Mr Healy continued his broadcasting career most notably with the late night talk show ‘Nighthawks’. It covered entertainment and current affairs and made the news itself following an interview with former minister for justice Sean Doherty about phone tapping, which eventually led to the resignation of Charles Haughey as taoiseach.

Mr Healy later founded his own production company. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004, but continued working and performing. In 2018, he featured in a report for the Claire Byrne Live programme about his battle with Parkinson’s disease. He and his wife Dymphna had two sons, and she predeceased him in 2017.”

Author: Richard Taylor

Source: RTE