Noel Kelehan is an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 musician, former conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra

RTÉ Concert Orchestra

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra is one of the two full time professional 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 Orchestra, has grown from a small studio-based recording group to...

 and former musical director of Radio Telefís Éireann

RTE

RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...

. He retired as conductor in 1998.

Bio

As well as being an accomplished jazz pianist, he is most famous for being the conductor of many Irish entries to the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

, beginning in 1966 and ending in 1998. He conducted five winning Irish entries, in 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, and 1996. The winning Irish entry of 1970 was conducted by the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 host conductor Dolf van der Linden

Dolf van der Linden

David Gysbert van der Linden was a Dutch conductor of popular music with a reputation which extended beyond the borders of the Netherlands....

. In 1994, the winning song was performed without orchestral accompaniment. Still, an entry rated 2nd that year, To nie ja! performed by Edyta Górniak

Edyta Górniak

Edyta Górniak is one of the most popular female singers from Poland.- Beginnings :At the age of 14 Górniak formed a band and was playing at private parties and evening dances. After taking singing lessons, in 1989, aged 16, she gave her first public appearance on a Polish television talent show...

 from Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 was conducted by him. In total, Kelehan conducted 29 Eurovision entries, 24 of them Irish. Incidentally in 1999, after Kelehan retired, the use of an orchestra was discontinued at the Contest.

Performance Credits

Kelehan has several records to his credit. Most notably, he wrote the string arrangements for U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

's 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire

The Unforgettable Fire

U2 feared that following the overt rock of their 1983 War album and War Tour, they were in danger of becoming another "shrill", "sloganeering arena-rock band". The success of the 1983 Under a Blood Red Sky live album and the Live at Red Rocks video, however, had given them artistic—and for the...

.