John William "Noel" Kelehan (26 December 1935 – 6 February 2012) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

musician, former conductor of the

RTÉ Concert Orchestra The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is one of the two full-time professional radio orchestras in Ireland that are part of RTÉ, the national broadcasting station. Since its formation as the Radio Éireann Light Orchestra in 1948, the RTÉ Concert Orchestr ...

and former musical director of Radio Telefís Éireann. He retired as conductor in 1998.

Life and career

As well as being an accomplished

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist, he was most famous for being the conductor of many Irish entries to the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

, beginning in 1966 and ending in 1998. He conducted five winning Irish entries, in 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, and 1996. In 1994, the winning song was performed without orchestral accompaniment. However, an entry rated second that year, " To nie ja!" performed by

Edyta Górniak Edyta Anna Górniak (; born 14 November 1972) is a Polish pop singer with a career spanning 3 decades. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated ...

from

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, was also conducted by Kelehan. He also conducted the entry from

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in 1993. In total, Kelehan conducted 29 Eurovision entries, 24 of them Irish. In 1999, after Kelehan retired, the use of an orchestra was discontinued at the Contest. He died at the age of 76, in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

on 6 February 2012, after a long illness. His funeral took place in Dublin on 9 February 2012.

Performance credits

Kelehan had several records to his credit; most notably, with the Noel Kelehan Quintet he recorded the album "Ozone" in 1979. In 1984 he wrote the string arrangements for songs ''

The Unforgettable Fire ''The Unforgettable Fire'' is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and released on 1 October 1984 by Island Records. The band wanted to pursue a new musical direction following the har ...

and '' Bad from U2's album ''

''.Interview with Noel Kelehan, published in EA-Nieuws (magazine of www.eurovisionartists.nl), 2007–2008, no. 2

References

1935 births 2012 deaths Disease-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland Eurovision Song Contest conductors Irish conductors (music) Irish jazz musicians Irish pianists Mainstream jazz pianists RTÉ Performing Groups 20th-century Irish pianists 20th-century conductors (music) {{Jazz-pianist-stub