Eurovision: From Dana to Linda Martin, the NI singers who won Europe's biggest song contest

Back in the '80s and '90s, Ireland was the standout country which dominated Eurovision - even managing a double win with Johnny Logan in both 1980 and 1987.

And down through the years many performers from Northern Ireland – not least Dana and Linda Martin - have helped it break through the crowd.

But it all began with Muriel Day from Newtownards, Co Down, when she represented Ireland on March 29, 1969 in the 14th Eurovision Song Contest which took place in Madrid. Her song 'The Wages of Love' written by Michael Reade was placed seventh in the competition out of 16 countries.

In 1970 Clodagh Rodgers from Warrenpoint was asked to represent the UK in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin.

According to John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History, part of the reasoning behind the BBC's invitation was their concern over the reaction the UK entrant would get on the stage from the Irish public. As a Catholic Northern Irishwoman, she received death threats from the IRA, who regarded her as a traitor, as a result of her appearing for the UK.

When 18-year-old Rosemary Brown from Londonderry, won the contest in 1970 with All Kinds of Everything, the schoolgirl, known professionally as Dana, became an overnight sensation.

The song, a sweet, sentimental romantic ballad, delivered by Dana with her teenage smile and no-frills perfomance, goes: ‘Wishing-wells/ Wedding bells/Early morning dew/All kinds of everything remind me of you’.

It became a worldwide million-seller and helped the girl from the Bogside carve out a long career, including singing the song for Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup campaign, performing as the opening act for Pope John Paul II in the New Orleans Superdome, serving one term as a Member of the European Parliament and making two failed tilts at the Irish presidency.

Up until recently, Wikipedia had stated that the writer of All Kinds of Everything was Londonderry musician Phil Coulter. However, it was, in fact, written by Derry Lindsay with fellow Dubliner Jackie Smith.

But Phil Coulter does have strong ties to the Eurovision, co-writing three entries- ‘Puppet on a String’ by Sandie Shaw, which won for the UK in 1967, ‘Congratulations’ by Cliff Richard, which placed second for the UK in 1968, and ‘Toi’ by Géraldine, which came in 5th place for Luxembourg in 1975.

Belfast’s Linda Martin took home the Eurovision trophy in 1992 for her song ‘Why Me?’ a powerful and wistful ballad, moving between major and minor keys, sung with emotion and simply staged. She had also achieved second place in the 1984 competition with the Johnny Logan-penned “Terminal 3”.

The 2022 Irish entrant was from north of the border too – Brooke Scullion from the Co Londonderry village of Bellaghy, with her fun pop song That’s Rich’. Sadly, Brooke failed to qualify for the Grand Final, finishing 15th in the second semi-final in Turin.