Blast from the past: Ireland 2003

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Back to 2003, we will talk about the Irish entry, “We’ve got the world”, sung by Mickey Harte. 

You’re a star

In the days when Pop Idol was one of the most popular shows in the world, with national versions in every country, it was Ireland that decided not to have a regular national final. The Irish entry was chosen by a Pop Idol-like show called “You’re a star”. It all started with 13 artists: Azi Jegbefume, Brian Ormond, Catherine Yore, Catriona McGinty, Joanne Fahy, Lisa Bresnan, Michael Leonard, Mickey Harte, Sarah Brophy, Shauna & Coaoimhe McElhinney, Simon Casey, Susan McFadden and Susan McGowan. One by one, they got rejected every week. 

On february 24, four artists left presented a potential Eurovision song:

1.”I couldn’t love you more“, Michael Leonard (co-composed by Ronan Keating)
2.”I’ll still be right here“, Lisa Bresnan
3.”We’ve got the world“, Mickey Harte
4.”A better plan“, Simon Casey (written and composed by Brian McFadden)

Lisa Bresnan had to leave the show. On March 2nd, there was a semifinal. Now it was Michael Leonard who had to leave. The Irish audience now had to choose between Mickey Harte and Simon Casey. On March 8th it was Mickey who got the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in Riga.

Mickey Harte

Mickey Joe Harte was born on August 21, 1973 in Lifford, County Donegal. He started playing the guitar at the age of 13. When he was 18 years old, he wrote his first song, “Candlelight”, inspired by the first Gulf War. However, as a singer/songwriter in the 90s it was hard to get a real breakthrough in Ireland, at that moment the country of the boybands. The success finally came when he participated in the 2002/2003 season of “You’re a star”. As the winner of this contest, he got the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest. The song, “We’ve got the world”, reached the number one spot in the Irish charts. An album followed.

In 2006, Mickey released his 2nd album “Live and learn”. A year later, he could be seen in a reality television show called “Celebrities go wild”.

It took a few years before Mickey’s third album “Forward to reality” was released. In 2017, we saw the release of the single “For the broken hearted”.

We’ve got the world

The song “We’ve got the world” was a love song. “We’ve got the world tonight, let’s hold on together. And we’ve got a love that’s right so open your heart ’cause we’ve got tonight”, Mickey sang. The song was not written by Mickey himself but by Martin Brannigan and Keith Molloy. You can read the full lyrics here. On stage in Riga, Mickey was joined by 3 backing singers, all participants from “You’re a star”: Sara Brophy, Susan McGowan and Catriona McGuinty.

Results

This was the last year without semifinals. So Mickey was placed directly in the final. The United Kingdom awarded the song with 12 points, both Portugal and Cyprus gave it their 7 points. With a total number of 53 points Mickey became 11th. That was enough for Ireland to be placed directly in the 2004 final.