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you're a star

Whatever happened to the people who won You're A Star? An investigation

You have the theme song in your head now, don’t you?

BACK IN THE 2000s, you couldn’t pass through a small village or town in Ireland without stumbling upon You’re A Star campaign posters.

We as a nation were obsessed. 

But whatever happened to the winners of You’re A Star? Let’s take a look.

 

Mickey Joe Harte

Back in 2003, Mickey Joe Harte charmed the country with his Donegal lilt and green guitar. He represented Ireland in the Eurovision final and finished in a respectable 11th place.

Since then, he’s recorded and released several albums and appeared on television shows like Celebrities Go Wild.

He continues to gig around the country, most notably in DCU where he seems to be a constant presence  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

His Wikipedia also includes this dotey update:

In 2016 he played Louise Ryan & Úna O Boyle’s birthday party to a rapt audience of 60 friends and family on a boat on the river Liffey, Dublin. He also played surprise set for close fans such as Robert Smith in a local Dublin nightclub in late 2016.

All is going well, so.

Chris Doran

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Chris Doran was the pride of Waterford City when he won the second season of You’re A Star in 2004. Doran represented Ireland in the the Eurovision in 2004, and sadly finished 22nd.

Not to worry, though, because If My World Stopped Turning topped the charts here for two weeks. All in all, Doran enjoyed three top ten singles.

Unfortunately, he fell off the radar shortly thereafter and seems to have retreated from the public eye entirely. We’ll always have If My World Stopped Turning, though.

Donna and Joseph McCaul

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The brother-and-sister duo won You’re A Star in 2005 and went to Kiev with their song (read: banger) Love. Unfortunately, they failed to progress to the final and returned to Ireland to participate in shows like The Podge and Rodge Show, Fáilte Towers and Anonymous.

More recently, Joe McCaul attempted a comeback of sorts when he appeared on The X Factor in 2015. He still performs around his native Athlone, often in aid of mental health charities.

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Donna McCaul has stayed in the music business as well. She now performs with a band called Weekend Celebrity, who made their Electric Picnic debut last year.

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Let’s listen to Love? again, shall we.

Lucia Evans

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Since winning You’re A Star all those years ago, Lucia Evans has performed with shows like Heartbeat of Home, appeared on The Nathan Carter Show and starred in Fair City. She’s also a qualified vocal coach.

There she is hanging around with Bronagh Gallagher just because.

David O’Connor

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David O’Connor defied the odds to win the fifth season of You’re A Star. In doing so, he defeated a little band called 21 Demands, who you probably now know as Kodaline.

The former jockey and karaoke enthusiast released a single that failed to make much of a dent on the charts. (Irish Independent headline: “YOU’RE NO STAR: RTÉ ‘Talent’ show fails to produce a single chart success”.)

Afterwards, he returned to the world of horse racing — last we heard, he was working with horse trainer Colin Bowe.

O’Connor hasn’t completely abandned singing, though – he’s been known to perform in aid of organisations like the Irish Horse Welfare Trust. Good man.

Leanne Moore

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Leanne Moore scored a number one with On Wings after winning You’re A Star in 2008. She later served as a backing singer to Jedward and Ryan Dolan during their Eurovision performances, and also joined a girl band named Lillir.

These days, Leanne is better known for working as a personal trainer and blogger. She boasts nearly 23,000 followers on Instagram and has been featured on shows like Xposé.

Incidentally, she also dates David from Tallafornia. The more you know, eh?

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