Are you based in Dublin during your time on Dancing With The Stars ?
I’m based in Dublin for as long as I need to be. It would be impossible to commute to Dublin from Donegal every day. I’ll be based here for as long as I’m in the competition.
What do your family make of you signing up?
They think I’m mad! They’re very supportive, as you can imagine. I’ve two older kids and two younger kids and the younger kids weren’t around during my You’re A Star days. They were born around that time and of course they’ve seen videos and they know all about it, but they didn’t experience that buzz. My older kids, Kayleigh and Kyle, really enjoyed it – they were eight and 11 at the time. We’ve two little granddaughters now, so they’ll get a buzz out of me being on the show. Everyone is looking forward to the fun of it and they’re all supportive.
Read more: Rhys McClenaghan on life with girlfriend Emilee, their dream holiday, and buying a house together
Read more: Mickey Joe Harte lifts lid on family life with four kids, two granddaughters and home in Donegal
What’s life like as a grandfather? Less responsibility and more fun?
That’s it. It’s the old cliché, you love when they come and you love when they go. They bring so much energy to the house. But they’re exhausting at the same time, there’s a reason you have kids when you’re young. We’re enjoying the newness of it all.
How are you finding the training so far?
Intense – that’s the best word I could use. It’s full on and intense. There’s a lot to take in. December was really busy for me, so I was trying to manage gigging and rehearsing and I had a new single out. I’m exhausted.
How are you getting on with your partner Daniela?
She’s new this year, she’s one of the four new pros. She’s half my age and she’s fantastic. She’s so together and she’s an absolute pro for such a young age. I was nowhere near being so together at 25. She’s very focused and she’s got a great work ethic, so I’m just trying to keep up with that.
You’re no stranger to Dancing With The Stars , you sing on the German franchise of the show, Let’s Dance .
Yeah, I do vocals for some of the dances on the show. I’ve been doing that for a good few years now. A friend of mine is a producer and his team put together the music for the show. It started as a bit of fun, he would get me to record the tracks that suited my voice. Ever since Covid, I’ve been putting down the vocals from home. It’s cool to see your voice on the live shows during the routines.
We’ve Got The World was released in 2003 after you won You’re A Star and people still love the song and go wild for it. Does it still bring you joy or do you roll your eyes at it?
The song is really well received. It finds its own new fanbase every now and again. Younger people are singing it and they shouldn’t know the song because they weren’t around when it was released. The 2 Johnnies embraced it and that helped a lot. They play it at their shows and on their podcasts. I’ve done live shows with them and we played it together. I did a version of it
as gaeilge with Cathal Minogue from Today FM and we performed it at Electric Picnic last year. The song also went to No1, it was great to do an Irish version 20 years on. The song keeps finding its own audience, I’ve little to do with it. I don’t mind riding that wave. I’ve been able to do incredible things off the back of it.
Rolling back to You’re A Star and Eurovision , what was it like being part of that buzz?
Looking back, I can see how big it was. It happened so fast at the time. I had been gigging since I was 15 or 16, playing in bands, writing songs and doing the circuit. I had been in the industry for 10 or 12 years before the show, so I had a good bit of experience. That stood to me a little bit. It was in my late 20s when it happened for me and I just rolled with it. You can’t prepare yourself for that type of thing. You just navigate it as best you can. There were loads of requests for gigs and personal appearances and people were asking me to go to events and open shops. I tried to do as much as I could, but the problem with that is I ended up spreading myself too thin. That was one of the lessons I learned. We did a lot of quantity instead of quality. I made mistakes along the way, but I was just propelled into the middle of it. Looking back, I handled some things well and other things I didn’t. That’s par for the course, I guess.
Have you any regrets?
Lots of small things. I should have learned to say ‘No’ so I could focus. I’ve just had my busiest month since that time after You’re A Star , but I was able to manage things better. Before I would have tried to fit everything in. I was signed with Sony and I should have stayed with them for my second album. But I wanted to be independent, that was a very trendy thing at the time. A lot of artists were going independent. The offer was there, so I should have stuck around and done one more album with them.
Are you still friends with anyone from your You’re A Star days?
I was Brian Ormond’s best man and we’re still great pals. I was chatting with him on the phone last night. We chat once or twice a week and sometimes we hook up for a pint or a bit of grub. If I was passing by I’d stay at his house for the night. Simon Casey and I are still mates and we keep in touch. We’ve a lot of mutual friends with the music circles we’re in. We do the odd gig together when we’re on the same bill. We came through something massive together that most people would never understand.
Read the full interview and see our Dancing With The Stars special in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine
To get more Dancing with the Stars news join our Facebook group - Here
English (US) ·