February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Eileen Murphy
Those of you who dismissed Dana’s campaign for the Irish presidency as a fluke should think again. The winner of the 1970 Eurovision song contest, who has carved out a nice career as the pope’s favorite singer (well, favorite next to Sinead O’Connor, anyway) is apparently quite serious about holding office in Ireland.
Dana, who ran for president under her real name, Rosemary Scallon, has been spotted house hunting in County Donegal. The singer has been living in Nashville with her husband and four children, where she hosts a talk show on a Christian television station.
Insiders say that Dana will likely run as the Fine Gael candidate for John Bruton’s sear in North East Donegal, which is quite close to her native Derry City. There’s a good chance that she will win, given her surprisingly strong showing in the presidential election — she received 7 percent more votes than the Fine Gael presidential hopeful.
We can only hope that her political career doesn’t prevent Dana from serenading her fans with, you guessed it . . . all kinds of everything.
Boy Zone
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They’re getting a little long in the tooth to be called Boyz, which is probably why the lads from Ireland’s favorite bubblegum band have decided to branch out. Movies, modeling, marriage, babies — hey, a little more chest hair and they’d be the Spice Girls!
Three of them got married, two had babies, you know, the whole lark. This leaves two still up for grabs, to the relief of young girls everywhere. Head Boy Ronan Keating, who married himself a real, live Irish supermodel named Yvonne, has started managing his own pop band, as well as taking the odd modeling gig with the missus. Shane did a song for the animated Disney movie "Hercules."
But the Boy with by far the most exciting extra curricular activity is Mikey Graham. The singer plays a drug dealing, kidnapper type in an Irish martial arts movie, "Fatal Deviation."
Mikey’s character is named — surprise! — Mikey Loughlin, and he’s the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to bring home to meet the parents. We hear that he’s always shooting people, kicking their teeth in, or uttering his trademark phrase, "Get the [very bad word] down!" Mikey (the character, that is) always dresses in black, and always carries a gun. And just in case you thought the movie was a total downer, there’s a bit of humor in it, too: Mikey apparently flashes his hairy bottom. (He swears it’s nicer than Minnie Driver’s . . .oh, only kidding).
It will be interesting to see if Mikey’s fans can accept him as a big screen bad guy, or if "Fatal Deviation" described his career decision as well.
Briefings
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Phil Coulter’s marriage have been greatly exaggerated. The Irish composer was amused by media reports that he and longtime partner Geraldine Branagan were planning to tie the knot this week in Ireland. Coulter told a mutual friend that he and Geraldine were planning to get married, but had not set the date. Yet. Keep the champagne on ice.
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Irish singer Colm Wilkinson is returning — for a limited time only — to the role that made him an international superstar. He will reprise the role of Jean Valjean in an Irish production of the musical "Les Miserables" from Feb. 25 through May 15. Those lucky enough to be planning a trip to Dublin next spring will want to stop by the Point Theater to hear Wilkinson sing "Bring Him Home." That is, if you can get a ticket . . .
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We hear that The Corrs, who recently finished a successful U.S. tour, will be interviewed by Sarah Ferguson for a spread in Hello! magazine. Just in case you weren’t sure, yes, that’s Sarah, the duchess of York, also known as Fergie. Is it just us or has Fergie done more work in the last five years than the rest of the royals have done in the last five centuries?