Castledaly man wrote Ireland's Eurovision entry 40 years ago this week
by David Flynn
Forty years ago this week Castledaly native Kevin Sheerin represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest with his composition, You Can Count On Me.
At the time, in 1986, 'Dallas' was the number one programme on Irish television, but it was pulled from its Saturday night slot on RTE One to make way for the Eurovision Song Contest and Ireland’s entry, which was written by Kevin and performed by the group Luv Bug.
Kevin is a member of a well-known musical family, and is the second-youngest of ten siblings raised in Castledaly. He was a household name since founding The Hillbillies in 1969, along with Ray Lynam, and the group became known as Ray Lynam and the Hillbillies.
Along the way, he wrote classic Irish songs, In My Father’s House and Nancy Myles, among others. In recent times, he has played steel, electric and acoustic guitar in Daniel O’Donnell’s band.
Speaking about the 40th anniversary of his Eurovision involvement, he said: "I always loved the Eurovision and wondered what kind of song I could write for it. What gave me an idea was listening to the Abba song, Why Did It Have To Be Me?
"I said to myself, Why Not Me? and then I said You Can Count On Me. So, I thought the opposite side to the Abba song! It didn’t take me long to write it, and once I got a few ideas it was great to be able to write the song, and to send it in and see it picked."
Kevin’s niece, Janette Sheerin, sung the demo of the song, and John Ryan from the Hillbillies helped with production, along with Noel Kelehan who conducted the song for Luv Bug.
Another Hillbillies legend, drummer Billy Burgoyne had suggested Luv Bug to Kevin as the group that should sing the song.
At the National Song Contest, Kevin and Luv Bug were up against huge competition; Johnny Logan, Brendan Graham (who won with Rock and Roll Kids eight years later) and Maxi.
"What I think gave me the advantage in the voting of the national contest was the seven or eight juries in different parts of the country," said Kevin.
"Most of them gave me the top marks, because we were well known around the country with the Hillbillies. They were also very pleased with the song."
Kevin found it an enjoyable week when he and his wife Mary went to Bergen in Norway for the 1986 Eurovision. They travelled to the rehearsals every day and, by the time the week was out, Kevin liked every song because he had heard them so many times.
He said in the Eurovision Song Contest up that stage, the songs were played by live bands, and it was more of a live event.
"My song was played live on the night and that doesn’t happen nowadays," said Kevin. "It's all backing tracks now. The voice might be live, but all the rest of it is done beforehand."
You Can Count On Me ended the night in fourth place out of twenty countries, and the song peaked in Ireland’s top five.
"It’s hard to believe that I wrote a song that represented Ireland in the Eurovision,” said Kevin, laughing.
"Forty years! Well, the years have flown by very fast, but it's a nice memory. I'm glad I'm still over the ground. I have my health, and I’m enjoying life still."