Composer Shay Healy was a regular at the Castlebar Song Contest
by Tom Gillespie
EUROVISION Song Contest winning composer, Shay Healy, who died at the weekend at the age of 78, had strong Castlebar connections.
He had the unique distinction of having his Eurovision hit ‘What’s Another Year’ rejected by the adjudicators in Castlebar, only to go on to win the 1980 Eurovision with singer Johny Logan.
The organisers of the Castlebar contest were among the first people to congratulate Shay, singer Johnny Logan and arranger Bill Whelan on their Eurovision win.
Shay was a regular at the October contest in Castlebar as a composer, judge and guest artist.
In 1982 Shay was pipped to the post in Castlebar by international composer Barry Mason, who wrote the Tom Jones hit ‘Delilah’.
However, the following year he finally achieved his ambition by winning Castlebar with his composition ‘Edge of the Universe’, which was sung by Linda Martin.
In 2004 Shay, whose father Seamus was from north Mayo, was diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease.
Writing in Paddy McGuinness’s publication ‘Castlebar International Song Contest 1966-1988’, Shay said: “Castlebar was like Brigadoon. It would rise up out of the mist each October for a joyous week of camaraderie and craic, as singers, musicians, television crews and the people of Castlebar intermingled in great harmony.
“The real success of Castlebar was measured by the quality of the songs and the songwriters it attracted, including international names like Barry Mason, famous English composer Ed Walch and performers like Clifford T. Ward.
“When I think of Castlebar and the song contest, it is always with fondness for the citizens of Castlebar who worked selflessly to make it a genuinely major, international contest that along the way generated, in abundance, good times, goodwill and great music.”
Shay first met up with Johnny Logan in Castlebar: “When the party was glowing brightly in Breaffy House Hotel, I spent a long time inconspicuously throwing a side rule over Sean O’Hagan, son of the famous Irish tenor Patrick O’Hagan.
“Sean was using the stage name Johnny Logan and as the night wore on, we became good friends, to the extent that he offered me a lift back to Dublin the next day. By the time we finally got back to Dublin, I had made two decisions about Johnny, the first being that if I ever got a chance, I would ask Johnny to record one of my songs, so that I could enter it into the Castlebar Song Contest in 1980.”
About the second, he explained: “I made a decision to never again take a lift in a car from Johnny Logan. By sticking to my decision, I’m still alive.”