Irish broadcaster RTÉ has announced that Ryan O’Shaughnessy will represent the country at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. Ryan O’Shaughnessy will perform his ballad, ‘Together’ in the First Semi Final of Eurovision 2018 Tuesday the 8th of May.
“Together” was purposefully written for the Eurovision Song Contest by writers working in The Nucleus, a new Irish songwriting team and hub, founded by Hamlet Sweeney, that brings the international model of collaborative songwriting to Ireland. The song will be available in the coming weeks.
About Ryan O’Shaughnessy
Ryan O’Shaughnessy was born in 1992 into a musical family, and became a student of Billy Barrie at the age of 4. When he was 8 years old, he started to play the character Mark Halpin in RTÉ’s Fair City. He matured as Damien Halpin’s younger brother and spent his teen years on the Irish screens. By the age of 17, music had become a priority for the North County Dublin native. He left Fair City to pursue a career in music.
While studying at BIMM Dublin as a songwriter in 2012, Ryan penned his first collection of songs. Prior to the release of these songs, Ryan appeared on the finals of both The Voice of Ireland and Britain’s Got Talent in the same year. In his opening audition on Britain’s Got Talent, Ryan performed his now well known, self-penned song ‘No Name’ which has had over 45 million hits on YouTube.
Internal selection for Ireland at Eurovision 2018
In August last year, RTÉ held a Eurovision Song Contest Forum and invited key industry professionals, songwriters and performers to come to RTÉ to gain a deeper insight into the present day contest from international Eurovision experts and key RTÉ decision makers. This forum was the direct consequence of Ireland’s weak performances in recent years.
Subsequently, over 300 songs were submitted to RTÉ for consideration for Eurovision 2018 before the November deadline. A panel of music industry professionals listened to and judged the shortlisted final entries.