1. Niamh Kavanagh is an Irish singer who sang the winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993.
22 Facts About Niamh Kavanagh
1. 2.
Niamh Kavanagh sang "In Your Eyes" to clinch the second of a record three consecutive wins by Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest.
3.
Niamh Kavanagh performed at the semi-final on 27 May 2010, finishing 9th in a field of 17 contestants, thus qualifying for the Grand Final on 29 May 2010.
4.
Niamh Kavanagh often sang songs at family parties as a child.
5.
Niamh Kavanagh's influences include Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and Blood, Sweat and Tears, all of whom she listened to from a young age, as well as Bonnie Raitt.
6.
Niamh Kavanagh performed as a lead and backing vocalist on the film soundtrack for the 1991 film, The Commitments, in songs such as "Destination Anywhere" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man".
7.
In spite of this, Niamh Kavanagh was not prepared for the boost in recognition she received for her later entries in the Eurovision Song Contest.
8.
On 14 March 1993, twenty-five-year-old Niamh Kavanagh performed in RTE's National Song Contest, which selected the Irish entry for the larger Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Millstreet, County Cork, later that spring.
9.
Opening the show at Dublin's Point Theatre, Niamh Kavanagh performed "In Your Eyes".
10.
At the close of voting, Niamh Kavanagh had won the National Song Contest with 118 points from the ten regional juries, a 39-point margin over the runner-up.
11.
Niamh Kavanagh recorded an album in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, and this album was produced by John Jennings.
12.
Niamh Kavanagh later left music to spend more time with her children.
13.
Niamh Kavanagh was again representing Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with the song "It's for You".
14.
On Sunday 3 September 2000, Niamh Kavanagh performed at the homecoming ceremony for "the quiet man of the Big Brother household", Thomas "Tom" McDermott, from Greencastle, County Tyrone, who had just been evicted from the first ever series of the British version of Big Brother the previous week.
15.
Niamh Kavanagh appeared on The Late Late Shows Eurovision edition in 2006, to perform "In Your Eyes" along with Linda Martin, and other past Irish Eurovision contestants.
16.
Niamh Kavanagh was the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008.
17.
Niamh Kavanagh was the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023,30 years after she won Eurovision.
18.
In 2015, Niamh Kavanagh was a judge in the Irish national final to Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015.
19.
In 2018, Niamh Kavanagh took part in the music video for the Irish entrant for Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018, "IOU" performed by Taylor Hynes.
20.
Niamh Kavanagh portrayed the mother character, while 2018 Eurovision entrant Ryan O'Shaughnessy portrayed the father character.
21.
Niamh Kavanagh is married to her musician husband, Paul Megahey, from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, whom she first encountered in a recording studio.
22.
Niamh Kavanagh once planned to move to the United States to live there, but changed her mind following her success in the Eurovision Song Contest.