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Brendan from Ireland has been dying to try his hand at Eurovision

14 April 2017 at 12:00 CEST
Brendan Murray will represent Ireland at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Lili Forberg
Brendan Murray is from Tuam in Country Galway and has been a member of the successful boy band Hometown since he was 17. He will represent Ireland in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with Dying To Try.

Brendan comes from a musical background and grew up busking on the streets of Galway in the west of Ireland as well as singing in local talent completions. He taught himself how to play the guitar at the age of 13. He later started vocal training and at the age of 16 left school to pursue a career in music. It was at this point that he got the chance to be part of X-Factor judge Louis Walsh's new Irish boyband HomeTown. 

Hometown's first single, Where I Belong, became the fastest-selling single from a debut act and the fastest-selling single from an Irish artist in 2014, reaching number one in the Irish charts. The band's second single, Cry For Help, was released in March 2015 in Ireland and also reached number one. Hometown have toured extensively in the UK and Ireland and have supported such acts as Olly Murs, McBusted and The Vamps.

Dying To Try is a love song, according to Brendan, the song starts small and builds then erupts "with a massive change and lifts everything off the ground". The song was written by Jorgen Elofsson, a Swedish songwriter. He has co-written hit songs like Kelly Clarkson's Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You), which was nominated for Song the Year and Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 2013.

Brendan is excited to be a part of the Eurovision Song Contest this year; "It is an amazing TV opportunity, I'm delighted and honoured to be representing my country and I hope I can do the people of Ireland proud."