IRELAND: Nicky Byrne goes to Stockholm with ‘Sunlight’

IRELAND: Nicky Byrne goes to Stockholm with ‘Sunlight’

 RTÉ has confirmed that Nicky Byrne is the next Irish representative at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Westlife’s singer Nicky Byrne is the 50th representative for Ireland to perform on the Eurovision stage with the song Sunlight.

The song is written by Wayne Hector and Ronan Hardiman.  Wayne Hector has written hits for leading international artists such as One Direction, Britney Spears, Nikki Minaj and Jason Derulo. His songwriting credits also include seven of Westlife’s number 1 singles including Flying Without Wings, Swear It Again and World Of Our Own. Ronan Hardiman has worked as a musician, composer and producer since 1990. Nicky Byrne in 2013 presented the votes for Ireland.

Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne, Jr. was born on 9th October 1978 and is also a radio and TV presenter, dancer, and former semi-professional footballer, but he is best known for being a member of Irish music band Westlife. In June 1998, Byrne attended an audition for new Irish boyband, where Boyzone manager Louis Walsh approached him to join his new venture, Westlife. Byrne joined Westlife along with Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden. Byrne revealed in Westlife: Our Story that he had wanted to change the name of the band to West High but the others preferred Westlife. With Westlife, Byrne has had 25 top ten UK singles, 14 of which, were number one, 7 number one albums and has sold in excess of over 45 million records worldwide. It is certified that Westlife have sold 20.2 million records and videos in the UK across their 14-year career – 6.8 million singles, 11.9 million albums and 1.5 million videos. He was the band’s oldest member.

Before his music career, he played professional football, representing Republic of Ireland at several junior levels. Since then he has had a successful TV presenting career. His wife Georgina is the daughter of former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and they have twin sons called Rocco Bertie Byrne and Jay Nicky Byrne and a daughter called Gia. On 7 September 2012, it was announced that Byrne would be a contestant for the tenth series of Strictly Come Dancing. Last but not least, he was ranked number two on Ireland’s Sexiest Man of 2014.

 

George Michail

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