Nicky Byrne and Aidan Power present a brand new six-part series The Hit. This exciting and original series, is a music competition that gives fledgling songwriters a chance to have chart success with an established star. This series will have viewers enthralled as each week songwriters showcase their talent to two established music stars with the hope that they will pick their song. The stars then battle against one another to find the perfect song and are under pressure to select one they can turn into a hit.
Shot in front of a live audience in the O2 Dublin, the artists then reveal which song they have chosen. But ultimately it’s the audience and viewers who decide; when – at the end of each show – the two songs are immediately released for download. The artist and songwriter whose song charted the highest across the following week will then go forward to the grand finale show in August.
For the grand finale of the series the five artists will return to perform their song live in the O2 with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. But which artist will have the ultimate Hit? Only the viewers can decide!
Artists:
This week Brian Kennedy and Ryan O’Shaughnessy compete to find the perfect song.
Episode 2: Songwriters Biographies
Songwriter: Yvonne McCarthy (26)
Song: You’re No Good For Me
Location: Limerick
Yvonne is a young single mum to one year old Daithi. She comes from a very musical family and works part time doing gigs around Limerick. Her dream job is to write, produce and record in a studio full time.
Songwriter: Sean Redmond (41)
Song: Try
Location: Co.Kilkenny
Sean is an accountant with the HSE like his father. He is happily married for the past 11 years to Natasha and is a proud Dad to six year old Calvin.
Songwriter: Gavin Doyle (19)
Song: Blush
Location: Tallaght
Gavin is currently a student at Pulse College in Windmill Studios, where he is studying for a BA Hons degree in Music Production. His love of music has been encouraged, and nurtured from by his former secondary school teacher, Mr Dempsey. This song has been inspired by those awkward feelings at the beginning of relationships. He wrote this song over two years ago when he got his first girlfriend. He is currently single.
Songwriters: Mark Graham (38) and Francis Mitchell (21)
Song: Who Do You Love
Location: Antrim/ Down
Mark is married to Julia and they have three boys. He works as a full time musician, mainly playing covers around bars to pay the bills but his main passion is songwriting. Francis is a recent graduate who just finished her three year degree in media production. She has a boyfriend of five years Tommy who she plays in a band with. Mark and Francis’ love of songwriting brought them together three years ago after they met at a gig in Lisburn.
Songwriter: Pat Silke (53)
Song: Dream be over
Location: Dublin
Pat is married to Bernie and has three grown up children. He started writing 20 years ago with his friends for a bit of fun. His goal is to have and leave a body of work that he’s proud of and inspire his children and grandchildren to keep real music alive. This song is about losing his mam, dad, brother and sister and wondering if he will ever see them again. He says singing and playing that song will always be special to him even if it never becomes a hit.
Songwriter: Paddy Sharkey (35)
Song: Falling
Location: Dublin – Originally from Donegal.
Paddy is married to Natasha and is a dad to one year old Clara. When he was 22, Natasha taught him a few chords on the guitar. That combined with his lifelong love of poetry and story writing saw him make the natural progression into songwriting. The dream is to be a professional songwriter so he can write songs from home in Donegal. The song was written eight years ago. He wrote it after a row he had with Natasha.