The Voice of Ireland judge Kian Egan got a shock back in 2016, when he turned his chair around and saw the contestant singing for him was one of his old friends.
The former Westlife star was impressed by the female singer’s rendition of ACDC’s rock classic Highway to Hell, and span his chair to see the performer was Kelesa Mulcahy – who he grew up with in Co Sligo.
Egan and Mulcahy have been friends for years and worked together on numerous shows in their younger days.
Mulcahy was also part of girlband Minx, who once toured with Liberty X and Blue.
The 34 year old singer decided to audition for The Voice of Ireland but obviously didn’t tell her old friend.
All four judges turned their chairs before her performance was finished, signalling that they all wanted to take her on their team.
Egan laughed when he saw who it was singing, and turned to his fellow judge Una to say: “I know her!”
He explained: “She grew up with me, pretty much. Kelesa did loads of musicals with me, Shane and Mark from Westlife, we’ve known each other our whole lives and we see each other out and about every now and again in Sligo.”
With the choice of all four judges, unsurprisingly Mulcahy chose to be on Egan’s team. The former Westlife star will help her perfect her pitch in the coming weeks in a series of singing lessons. Take a look at her audition.
Another standout performer on the show was 50-year-old Co Louth native Maria Cuche. She represented Ireland at the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in a respectable sixth place.
Culche is blind and chose to audition for The Voice of Ireland to show that her disability will not hold her back.
She said: “I was at school and then all of a sudden I couldn’t see the board. In a couple of weeks I couldn’t see anything, it’s a very rare disease that wipes the retina. It’s a fight to do everything like normal people.
“Like I was told I would never have children, it would be too difficult, I said I’d prove them wrong and have seven.”
Her rendition of Beyonce’s If I Were a Boy earned her a place on Una Healy’s team.
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