Joe Duffy, Eurovision hopeful Emmy and NFL legend Tom Brady to appear on this week's Late Late Show
Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion widely regarded as the greatest American football player of all time, will reflect on his career on the field as well as his life off it.
He will also discuss his Irish roots and his connection to Ireland.
His appearance on the show will come just days before the announcement of the date and opponent for the Pittsburgh Steelers' NFL regular season game at Croke Park
Coming off the announcement of his retirement from RTÉ, Joe Duffy will join Kielty to look back on his 37-year career with the national broadcaster.
He will also be looking back on some of the memorable stories he covered during his 27 years as the host of Liveline and looking ahead to 'what the next chapter might hold for him'.
Ahead of carrying Irish hopes at the Eurovision in Switzerland next week, Emmy will also join the show to chat about her 'whirlwind journey' since being chosen as Ireland's entry for this year's Song Contest.
Also joining the show will be Girls Aloud singer Nadine Coyle, who will be talking about last year's reunion of the girl band, the legacy of Girls Aloud and her friendships with her bandmates.
Coyle will also discuss the impact of the loss of her friend and fellow Girls Aloud member Sarah Harding, who died in 2021 following a battle with breast cancer.
The Late Late Show audience will also get a sneak peak at Tina – The Tina Turner Musical ahead of its arrival at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre later this month with a live performance of a medley of classic Tina Turner songs.
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Irish Post
22 minutes ago
- Irish Post
Johnny McEvoy still singing at 80
JOHNNY McEvoy, from Banagher in Co. Offaly, has a unique place in Irish entertainment. Neither pure showband, folk, nor country, he occupies a space all of his own, somewhere between all three. And, unlike many of his contemporaries and those who followed in his footsteps, he has written much of his own material. In the early days, a lot of this was vaguely seditious: anti-war songs, protest songs—leading to frequent comparisons with Bob Dylan. Over the years, however, his songwriting developed strongly, and he can lay fair claim to having written some genuine classics: Long Before Your Time (a hit in 1976), Rich Man's Garden, You Seldom Come to See Me Anymore, and Michael, a tribute to Michael Collins. Johnny pictured at Killmainham in 1979 (Pics: Johnny McEvoy) But it was with a song of unclear origins (see panel) that Johnny scored his first hit. In 1966, he reached No. 1 in the Irish charts with the definitive version of Mursheen Durkin, instantly turning the song into an essential part of any ballad singer's repertoire. The air to which it is sung is Cailíní Deasa Mhuigheo (Pretty Girls of Mayo), a popular reel dating from the 19th century. The lyrics were added, it is believed, in the early 20th century by our old friend Anon. Whatever its origins, the song clicked with the public. But Mursheen was no overnight success—Johnny had a sackful of Irish ballads over his back. 'From the early sixties I was doing folk clubs and fleadhs. I was brought up on traditional music—I used to spend every summer at my grandmother's in Co. Galway, and I was virtually fed folk music and storytelling intravenously. It's one of the abiding memories of my childhood.' Johnny's Gaiety Show in the 1960s As Johnny reached his twenties, he fell under the influence of the wider contemporary folk scene—Hank Williams, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. In Ireland, the ballad scene was underway, and The Dubliners and The Clancys were beginning their steady trek to folk superstardom. It was against this background that Johnny achieved his first hit: 'In 1965 I recorded Today Is the Highway—which didn't do a lot. But the folk boom had begun, and I had a go with Mursheen a year later. It just clicked and sped up the charts. Getting to number one then was about the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me.' Two further massive hits followed—The Boston Burglar in 1967, and Nora in 1968. Johnny McEvoy was on his way—he soon had his own series on Ulster Television, played the Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall, and toured America, Ireland and Europe. 'They were great days, alright,' Johnny nods appreciatively. 'I even did a week at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin. I was the first singer to try a one-man show—and it was a roaring success.' With this background—hit records, telly shows, appearances at some of the world's greatest concert halls, plus an abundance of natural talent in writing, presenting and performing his material—the obvious question has to be asked: why isn't Johnny McEvoy today an international star of the same order as Christy Moore? Or why doesn't he sell records by the lorryload like Daniel O'Donnell? Johnny pictured in 1982 Johnny, a thoughtful man, has obviously pondered this question many times before: 'Well, paradoxically, it was the demise of the showband that really hit me. Up till then, there was a circuit of venues that could host an act like mine for forty-five minutes or so. But with the end of the showband era, and the closure of a lot of the big ballrooms, that circuit no longer existed. And it was then that I made a big tactical error. Instead of going solo as an out-and-out folk performer, I took the wrong course. 'I formed a country & Irish band and started touring what was left of the old ballrooms. I was never happy in that band—neither the material nor the format really suited me. In a way, I felt I had sold out.' But Johnny seems totally without rancour. 'Yeah, there were a lot of mistakes. At the end of the sixties there was, as they say, a time and a tide—and I didn't catch either of them. But I can't complain. I've had decades doing what I love—and I'm not finished yet; not by a long chalk!' The more lenient hours of the concert circuit mean that Johnny has time to indulge in his hobbies—particularly reading. 'I've always been especially interested in biographies and history—especially the Second World War and the American Civil War.' Evidence of this is obvious in his songwriting. His 1977 hit Leaves in the Wind is a poignant anti-war song. 'I am a committed pacifist, and have been since my twenties. And I've always stayed true to those ideals.' By the 1970s it looked like Johnny would provide much of the soundtrack for the rest of the century. That he didn't emulate the likes of The Dubliners or Christy Moore is probably due to a combination of the vagaries of the entertainment business, the fickleness of Madam Luck, and ill-judged career moves. But Johnny remains indomitable. In 2014, he recorded his first album in over ten years, Basement Sessions 1, and it broke the Top 30 in the album charts. As he said himself, 'Not bad for a folky like me.' The singer pictured in 2020 He followed that up in 2015 with Basement Sessions 2—second in a series of five studio albums to be recorded and released over a five-year period. Into the Cauldron was his third studio album, with the hit recordings of My Father's House and Every Night I Dream of Being a Cowboy. While celebrating 50 years in the business, Johnny became part of Trad Nua's exclusive limited edition The Signature Series, with the first edition of his book My Songs, My Stories, My Life in Music. In April, Johnny celebrated his 80th birthday and a career spanning 60 years. He has a brand-new album entitled Both Sides—a collection of 14 songs and six audio stories, recorded and read by Johnny. These delve into the things that are important to him. 'I may not always have stayed true to my music,' he concludes, 'but I've always stayed true to myself.' Mursheen—a music hall song or folk tradition? MURSHEEN DURKIN could be a product of the Irish folk tradition — or a relic of the 19th-century music hall. Like many popular ballads, its history is somewhat murky. Some scholars trace its roots to the stage: a comic music hall song from the 1880s titled Digging for Lumps of Gold, penned by English songwriter Felix McGlennon, shares a strikingly similar storyline — right down to the Irish emigrant heading west in search of riches. A dispute even arose in 1885 when McGlennon sought damages after the song was performed without permission in a Gravesend music hall, allegedly by Irish comedian Pat Harvey. That version features a character named Corny (or Carney), lending weight to the idea that the stage may have shaped what we now recognise as Muirsheen Durkin. On the other hand, the tune has been collected and preserved within Irish folk tradition. It appeared in Colm Ó Lochlainn's More Irish Street Ballads in the 1960s and is often sung to the air of Cailíní deasa Mhuigheo (The Pretty Girls of Mayo), a traditional Irish reel from the 19th century. This gives the song strong roots in oral transmission and suggests it may have evolved as a folk pastiche of existing melodies and emigration themes. See More: Irish, Johnny McEvoy, Singer
Irish Daily Mirror
25 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Shauna Bannon: "With the good and the bad days, I still have my son"
Irish UFC fighter Shauna Bannon has cited her son Jayce as her biggest motivator as she pushes for success in the UFC strawweight division. "Mama B" is 7-1 in professional MMA, with the 31-year-old's only loss coming in her UFC debut against Bruna Brasil. She told the Irish Mirror: "I thought I was motivated before I had him, but now it's just on a different level. I could be having such a bad day, a bad training session, or I'm injured or whatever, and I still get to go home and he's there, making me laugh and joke. "I remember when I lost my debut, I felt like s***. And then I got to go home to him, and he just put a smile back on my face. "With the good and the bad days, I still have him, and that's huge to me." While providing for her son is now Bannon's biggest motivation, it was her father who sparked her love for kickboxing. "Only the other day, my main kickboxing gym, Tallaght Martial Arts, my Dad's gym, was moving to a new location and clearing up, and I was looking at the collages on the walls of photos from all over the years. "I actually got so emotional seeing those photos. I was crying because I was thinking that I don't know where I'd be today if my Dad had never got me into kickboxing. "Normally young girls go into dancing or singing or something completely different. So, I'm so grateful that my Dad put me on that journey, and it led me to the path that I'm on now. "I can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't do kickboxing. I literally get to live every day doing what I love. And I couldn't imagine it being any different. "My Dad is still in my corner now when I fight in the UFC and it's really special to have him there." Bannon is unsure whether kickboxing or jiu jitsu is her main discipline, as she practised so much jiu jitsu during her early career that she is now used to both styles. She explained: "When I first started, I soon realised that I needed to learn how to do jujitsu, because I had no background in it. I'd never even watched it. So, it wasn't like I even had a slight idea about it. I had to learn everything from scratch. "I remember my first sparring session, I was like, kick, kick, kick, and I just got double-legged [a jiu jitsu takedown]. And then I was on the ground and I didn't know what to do there. "So, I spent a good chunk of the first, probably year and a half, just doing jujitsu. I actually stopped doing striking completely. "Sometimes I'd take a half day from work to make the lunchtime class. I was sometimes doing jujitsu three times a day, because I just felt like I really needed to catch up. But now, to be honest, if you had to make me choose, and I got paid the same for striking or jujitsu, I'd probably do jujitsu." She revealed that by the time she turned pro, the Dubliner had a multitude of suitors for promotions, before settling on Invicta Fighting Championships, which is an all-women's series. She said: "I had one from Ares, I had one from Cage Warriors, I had one from Oktagon, I had one from KSW. And then I had one from Invicta. And there was PSL [as well]. "I had to do the pros and cons, and I wrote out. It wasn't even about the money at that stage because I had to think long term, you know, I was offered more money with different promotions. "But I went with Invicta because I did see it as the stepping stone to get into the UFC. And luckily it worked out. "I was originally offered an opportunity for the Contender Series, and then they actually just contacted me again, said they watched more of my fights and they wanted to sign me straight away. "Then they had an opponent for me and then I fought on the UFC London, so it all happened very, very fast. "There wasn't a lot of time to kind of digest it, but I'm so grateful for the opportunity that the UFC has given me and Invicta because they were an amazing promotion to fight with as well. Bannon thanked OnlyFans for the ability to pursue a fighting career as funding can be limited without sponsorship, especially at lower levels. "The sponsorship that I have with OnlyFans has given me that financial security because fighters don't get paid a lot, especially at the start. "And since my last fight and the partnership with OnlyFans, I'm financially secure, which takes a huge weight off my shoulders because I'm a single mother. I still have bills to pay. "It's a good way of getting closer to my fans as well because sometimes on other platforms, I wouldn't be able to connect with them in that way. "So it kind of gives that other connection with the fans as well that you're not normally able to give." She is hoping for two more UFC fights before the end of the year. "I'm hoping to fight again this summer. I'm just waiting on confirmation. And then if I do fight in the summer, I'd love to fight again before the end of the year. "I like to keep the momentum going and be active, as active as I can." OnlyFans has a huge range of sport creators offering exclusive behind the scenes content and insights into their training, including boxers, tennis stars, and MMA fighters. Fans can check out Shauna Bannon's OnlyFans at:
Irish Daily Mirror
25 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Phil Mickelson's thinly-veiled dig at Rory McIlroy as he slams PGA Tour
Phil Mickelson believes that Rory McIlroy's decision to skip last week's Memorial Tournament is evidence of the failure of the PGA Tour model. Mickelson, 54, was part of the first wave of golfers to join the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour in 2022. Many big names, including Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton, have since joined the six-time major champion in signing for LIV. And despite the breakaway tour struggling to attract big crowds or television audiences, Mickelson believes that its model, which requires players to tee it up in every event, is superior to the PGA Tour. Mickelson said: "I think that LIV has made some incredible strides on where we want to be, and it will get there, I just don't know the exact timeline. "We want all the best players in the world to compete against each other more often and on a global scale. "The model I was a part of for decades just didn't allow for that. We never played against each other. We didn't have elevated events or times when all of us played against each other outside of the majors. "It was not able to move internationally, when they did have tournaments like the WGC, a lot of players didn't play, and that's disappointing from a sponsor's standpoint and from a fan's standpoint. "When you are paying for these events on television and you don't know what you're buying that's frustrating, and when the fans don't get to see the best players play, that's difficult. The model that is on LIV is what is needed to be successful." In a bid to compete with the huge prize money on offer on LIV, the PGA Tour has substantially increased its own prize funds, particularly for its eight Signature events, which also have limited fields. But Mickelson has cited McIlroy's decision to skip the Memorial Tournament - the third Signature event the Masters champion has missed this season - as evidence that the PGA Tour needs to rethink its strategy. "We saw even on last week's signature event [The Memorial Tournament], players will do what's good for them and not necessarily play unless contractually obligated. "Like in the NFL and baseball and every other professional sport, LIV has made professional golf a global sport and has allowed countries that have not seen the best players in the world see the best players in the world compete, and it's driving a lot of interest in these countries. "I understand in the US we've always had the PGA Tour and many of the best players playing here for decades, so we don't know what it's like to want that and not be able to have a model to do that. We're well on our way and not that far away from making that happen. "When you look at the good young players from different parts of the world like Jose Ballaster and Tom McKibbin, who are really interested in coming to LIV and getting what it's about. "Over time that is going to continue to grow just like it has exponentially in the last three years, and we're not that far away from having it be the way we want it to be, where it's all the best players in the world playing against each other."
