Mickey Jo Harte is a sensational singer and songwriter from Lifford, Co.Donegal in Ireland. He was brought to the attention of hundreds of thousands of Irish people when he won RTE's 'Your A Star' competition. He is now set to perform for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Latvia this June.
Mickey is living his lifelong dream. He joined band Kryptic with Gary Porter from Lifford on drums, Finn Drumm from Lifford on keyboard and John McGrath from Salthill in Galway on bass/drums and has toured around Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Holland. He has also travelled to Nashville in Tennessee to gain singing experience inspiration for his songwriting and it is there at the 'TIN PAN SOUTH' music writers festival that he met his current manager Shea McNeils of 'The Agency'
Mickey is 29 and lives with his wife Louise and two children Kayleigh (11) and Kyle (7). He's 5 foot 9 and has dark hair and grey eyes. He likes cycling and swimming. He supports Liverpool and Irish Soccer Team goalie Shay Given is an old school friend of his. He is against war and dislikes US President George Bush. Mickey loves to laugh!!!
Mickey signed up with the label Sony and has already written up to 100 of his own songs. In Latvia, he will perform 'We've Got The World' which was written by Keith Molloy and Martin Brannigan. He brought out the song as a single including two other songs 'Without You' and 'Missunderstood' on Friday, 25th of April 03. It enjoyed widespread success in Ireland going straight to the top of the Irish Charts and staying there for many weeks. On July 4th 03 he brought out his second single 'Never Wanna Let You Down' which has 2 b-sides 'Just Wanna Let It Linger' and 'Total Love' He will bring out an album entitled, 'Sometimes Right. Sometimes Wrong' sometime at the end of July.
His cheeky smile and emerald greeen guitar have given him nationwide recognition. 1.3 million 'Your A Star' viewers voted for him and Simon Casey in the 'Your A Star' final. Hopefully, Mickey will stun the Eurovision viewers as much as he did to us. Bring the Eurovison back to Ireland!
[Find out what happened at the Eurovision by going to our Eurovision page]
Some Facts about Mickey from the www.rte.ie/yourastar website
AGE: 29
HEIGHT: 5' 7"
EYE COLOUR: Grey
HAIR COLOUR: Black
STAR SIGN: Virgo
FAMILY: Mickey lives in Strabane with his wife Louise and two children, Kayleigh (11) and Kyle (7).
Mickey with his wife Louise, his daughter Kayleigh & his son Kyle.
SINGING BACKGROUND: Mickey is a full-time singer/songwriter and has been gigging in pubs since the age of 15. With about 100 original songs to his credit Mickey has recently recorded a five track EP called 'Sometimes Right Sometimes Wrong' and it is due for realise in January.
PRESENTLY: Mickey is living the superstar lifestyle after winning the Derry result show. The whole of Donegal are banging on his door trying to get autographs already. Mickey was over the moon with his win; "Great. Delighted. You know it was kinda a bit nervous there towards the end, the last five or ten minutes as the votes were coming in, waiting on the results it was a bit hectic. It's just a relief I'm delighted. Thanks to everybody that voted."
COMPETITION: A member of IMRO Mickey has won many awards for his singing. Most notably he reached the final of the Hot Press unplugged Song of the Year two years ago. He has also appeared on TV and you would have seen him on "Go For It" and "Live @ 3" with his band Kyrptix and this is just the tip of the iceberg so far!
HOBBIES: When not singing and gigging all over the country, Mickey likes to keep active. He loves swimming and cycling even though as a child he nearly drowned when his two friends threw him into a pool knowing he couldn't swim. While he was in the water he remembers having an out of body experience. Spooky!!
MUSICAL IDOLS: Mickey's eardrums are tickled and inspired by U2, Sting, Paul Brady, Radiohead and Damien Rice.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: Mickey first started playing the guitar when his older brother's friends used to play in the garage and taught Mickey a few chords and it went on from there.
FAVOURITE COLOUR: If you haven't guessed it already Mickey's favourite colour is RED. Not only did he wear red at the Derry auditions and at the results show, he also dressed Kyle his son in a bright red T-shirt to. When asked about his passion for red fashion Mickey stated: "My dress sense? Me? Oh very casual. I just like something very casual and I like to be comfortable. I kinda like colours like red!! As you can see." YOU DON'T SAY MICKEY.
FAVOURITE EUROVISION SONG: Mickey loves Johnny Logan's winning song "What Another Year".
LIKES: Mickey loves people who can make him laugh especially the comedian Billy Connolly. He also likes head massages, kebabs and clothes.
DISLIKES: On a serious note Mickey dislikes the American President George Bush. Mickey is very much against war and disagrees with the actions Mr Bush has taken since September 11. Mickey is hoping that a war with Iraq will never materialise.
SPORTS FANATIC: A big soccer fan, Mickey likes nothing better than watching Liverpool play in the Premiership. He also is a massive fan of the Irish Team as Shay Given is a school pal and when he's home in Lifford he likes nothing than a big sing song with Mickey down the local.
MUSICAL MISHAP: Mickey has had quite a lot of musical mishaps including falling off the stage. He has also managed to lose all of his bands equipment whilst returning from a gig because he left the trailer door open.
FAMILY MAN: He also loves nothing more than spending time with his family. At the moment he is trying to wean the two kids off their self-enforced Westlife diet. Good Luck there Mickey.
WEBSITE: If you want to get the latest gossip on Mickey then just go to his website www.mickeyharte.com/
