Thursday, 25 August 2011

"Why Me?" (Documentary about Johnny Logan - 1992)




Documentary about Johnny Logan from 1992. His composition 'Why me?' just had won the Eurovision Songcontest and so this was his 3rd win.

Johnny Logan (13 May 1954), is an Australian-born Irish singer and composer. He is regarded as "Mister Eurovision", having participated in the Eurovision Song Contest many times since the 1970s, and, since 1992, has been the most successful artist in Eurovision history. Logan has won the international contest on three occasions representing Ireland, twice as a performer (1980 and 1987) and twice as a composer (1987 and 1992). He also composed the second placed entry in 1984.

Logan was born in Frankston near Melbourne, Australia. His father was an Irish tenor, Patrick O'Hagan, who performed three times for three different U.S. presidents at the White House, for John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. The family moved back to Ireland when Johnny was three years old. He learned the guitar and began composing his own songs by the age of thirteen. On leaving school he apprenticed as an electrician, while performing in folk and blues clubs. His earliest claim to fame was starring as Adam in the 1977 Irish musical "Adam and Eve". Having adopted the stage name "Johnny Logan" after the main character of the film Johnny Guitar, he released his first single in 1978 and took part in the National Song Contest in 1979.

The following year, Logan entered the Eurovision Song Contest again with the Shay Healy song "What's Another Year". Representing Ireland in the Netherlands, Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest on April 19. The song became a hit all over Europe and reached number one in the UK.

Owing to a mix-up, two follow up singles were released almost simultaneously; "Save Me" and "In London". With confusion by radio stations over which to play, both singles flopped. Another single released in late 1980, a cover of a recent Cliff Richard song, "Give A Little Bit More" was a more concerted effort and although it narrowly missed the chart, the momentum from Eurovision was now lost. Logan blames his lack of success in the UK on poor management and his inexperience. In early 1983, Logan attempted a comeback in the UK with the song "Becoming Electric" with a new sound and image and promotional push, but was unsuccessful and again in 1986 when he rebranded himself Logan with the song "Stab in the Back".

In 1987, he decided to make another attempt at Eurovision and with his self-penned song "Hold Me Now", he represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgium. The song won the contest and again, Logan had a major European hit with the song and reached number two in the UK (although it outsold "What's Another Year"). Keen to continue this success, Logan released a cover of the 10cc song "I'm Not In Love", produced by Paul Hardcastle as a follow-up, and an album. Both single and album made the UK charts but were not significant enough to sustain a continued chart career. The following year, Logan released his next single, "Heartland" which became a hit in the Irish charts and from then on, concentrated on his career in Ireland and Europe.

Having composed the Irish Eurovision Song Contest 1984 entry for Linda Martin, "Terminal 3" (which finished in second place), Logan repeated the collaboration in 1992 when he gave Martin another of his songs, "Why Me". The song became the Irish entry at the finals in Sweden. The song took the title and cemented Logan as the most successful artist in Eurovision history with three wins. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in his book The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History that Logan is the only lead singer to have sung two winning entries and one of only five authors/composers (all men) to have written/composed two winning songs. (Source: Wikipedia)


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