Brendan gets ready for live X Factor show

“Now” is Brendan Murray's time to shine, says the singer's proud dad Frank, after his son made it through to the live shows of the X Factor competition at the weekend.

“We're watching it here surely,” says Kildallan-native Frank, who himself use to sing with showbands in England. A frontman for the Leeds-based 'Shannon Showband', the group travelled the length and breadth of the country playing Irish dance halls across England.

 

Plumber-by-trade Brendan (21) is one of just four young men to make it through in the 'Boys' category for the popular TV singing competition.

 

The Galway-born lad had been hotly tipped to make the cut, having earned himself a ‘Safe Seat’ for Judges Houses at the previous Six Chair Challenge.

Despite the relative fervour surrounding his son on the show, Frank (72) remains grounded on Brendan's behalf, and is even comically philosophical about the whole thing.

“At my age it’s hard to get excited by much. We just wish him well and look forward to seeing him do the best he can. We're all very proud of him here,” says Tuam-based Frank, who worked for over 35 years with the former Quinn Group. “I said to him ‘if you don't have a crack at these things, you'll regret them for the rest of your life. So go where it takes you and, when you're finished with it, you can always come home and plumb. It’s as good a profession to have as anything else’.”

The talented Brendan is already well known in music circles, having represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017.
He is also a former member of the Irish boyband 'Hometown', which announced an indefinite hiatus in December 2016.

Frank accepts that the music industry is “a hard one to crack”, but like Brendan's friends and family here in Cavan and elsewhere, he still says: “We're all keeping our fingers crossed for him here.”

Brendan is the youngest of five, and his mum Julianne, a native of Ballyheigue in Kerry, is preparing to fly out to London this week to be with their son for the first of his live TV show performances.

“Of course we want him to do fairly well in it, and maybe get something out of it. He's a great singer, a great performer. He's been through it all and now is his time,” says Frank.

The live TV shows of the X Factor begin this coming Saturday evening on Virgin Media One from 8pm.