The live final of the 2014 IMRO Christie Hennessy Song Contest takes place this Saturday, 22nd November at Fels Point Hotel, Tralee. Ten finalists selected from hundreds of entries will compete for this prestigious prize and a cheque for €1,000 courtesy of IMRO, Tralee Chamber Alliance and Tralee Credit Union. Doors open at 8:00pm
To celebrate the final, IMRO will be featuring two separate pieces focusing on the finalists in our Member News section today.
Bobby Lee
Bobby Lee 
is an award winning guitarist, producer and writer lives in the south of Ireland . Bobby is a multi-instrumentalist and spends most of his now time in the company of young people teaching and tutoring them in a fully kitted out music club in his hometown. Bobby is a veteran to the way of the music and has rubbed shoulders with the best of them over the years recording touring and gigging extensively in Ireland and overseas with various bands and artists most notably Hooky ,Open Kitchen and Kila. Recording and helping people produce music has become an integral part of his life and he seeks out young talent and records them frequently to a very high level at Claycastle studios in his hometown of Youghal , raising funds through music shows and events as he goes.
Colm Lynch
Colm Lynch
is a singer songwriter from Killiney in South County Dublin. He has previously released two Studio Albums, “A Whisper in a Riot” (2006) and “Tickety Boo” (2008). Both releases received very favourable reviews and the latter led to his being nominated for the “Best Newcomer” award at the Meteors in 2009. He also won “Best Male Performance” at the 2007 Balcony TV awards. Lynch has enjoyed several daytime, radio airplay listings with the most notable being “It’s coming down”. It was on high, daytime rotation on 2 FM, playlisted on RTE Radio 1, Top 40 on Today FM playlist charts 2 weeks running, and song of the week on FM 104 Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Colm Lynch’s new musical project is called Watson ACE. Consisting of some of the top musicians in Ireland, they have recently recorded an album, “Backbone”, which was produced by renowned, Swedish Producer, Adam Kviman (Wannadies, Eagle Eye Cherry…..).
www.facebook.com/LynchColm
Liz Madden, Katie Carpenter and Gary Burke
It has 
been one year since these three songwriters struck up a long distance musical relationship and began collaborating across the pond. Both born in Ireland, Katie Carpenter and Liz Madden began working remotely on a brand new batch of songs with Katie based in Meath, Ireland and Liz in Albuquerque, New Mexico. From this unique partnership, 15 new songs were born and have since been signed to GMP (Gulliver Music Publishing) One of these songs, ‘Southern Fire’ : selected as a finalist for this years Christie Hennessy song contest, is a collaboration between the duo and fellow singer-songwriter Gary Burke from Dublin. All three are IMRO registered songwriters and solo artists in their own right, bringing their own diverse influences and experiences to this partnership.
Paul McDonnell, Dave Molloy & Cathleen Flynn
Through his 
writing/production partnerships with great people in Ireland and USA Paul McDonnell has built a body of work that is finally getting some solid recognition. In 1994 Paul teamed up with producer/writer David Molloy. Dave is also the director/producer at Cellar Club Studios (www.cellarclub.com). Recently their songs – Superman, Heartbreak Pier, Funny Road, Welcome To The Real World, Life Like Mine and Pray have been recorded by multi platinum selling artists Tommy Fleming, De Danann and up and coming artists Richie Hayes, Valerie Armstrong. In June 2012 They wrote a song ‘Take A Look Around You’ for The Quays Shopping Centre – Newry. It ran on major TV and national radio for 6 months. Paul’s other main collaborators include Scott Maher (www.scottmaher.com) Gavin Murphy (www.gavinmurphy.ie) Della Mannion (www.facebook.com/della.mannion). Scott and Paul co wrote “Home To Me” with Ruby Amanfu (Grammy nominated Artist from Nashville – currently touring/guest vocalist with Jack White – (www.rubyamanfu.com)). They are building a strong body of work – samples to be found on music page include – If You’re in My Heart, Storm Chaser, Home To Me. In 2013 Paul started writing with orchestrator/pianist Gavin Murphy (Van Morrison, Sinead O’ Connor, West Life). – Samples of their work – “ Somebody Tell Me Why. Della Mannion is one of Ireland’s best vocalist/writers. She is currently recording her debut album with Dave Molloy.
Sive
Sive is 
a musician/songwriter hailing from Kildare. A multi-instrumentalist, she has been honing her unique style of writing since she was in her teens and has opened shows for the likes of Gemma Hayes, Jerry Fish and Kila. Sive released her debut album We Are Moving to critical acclaim in 2012, followed by an EP titled Turn Down the Silence last year. When she’s not busy with her own music, you’ll find her giving music workshops or working as a session musician/vocalist. 2014 so far has seen her appearing on RTE’s Other Voices, being invited to support John Spillane in the London-Irish Centre and beginning work on new material recording in Windmill Lane recording studios.
To attend this year’s event please email membership@nullimro.ie confirming your reservation. Doors open at 8:00pm
is the pseudonym of folk-troubadour Mick McCullagh. Having reared his head at the start of the year with his debut single, Captain of This Ship, the Omagh singer-songwriter has just released the touching trad/folk of Leave All Your Troubles With Me.
