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Ireland is the most successful country in Eurovision Song Contest history! They have managed to win it a record number of seven times so far. The Irish know very well how to write and produce popular music that is appreciated all over Europe. Most of the times they have won with ballads - so there is no surprise that Ireland hardly ever sends up-tempo songs to the contest. Besides the many winning songs there are also a lot of other unforgettable ones like "It's Nice To Be In Love Again" by The Swarbriggs Plus Two (London 1977), "Terminal 3" sung by Linda Martin (Luxemburg 1984) or "Take Me Home" by Jump The Gun (Dublin 1988).
This years song was chosen via a TV format called "You're a star" - a sort of Irish "Pop Idol" - and this years winner was 23 years old Chris Doran with his song "If The World Stops Turning". He even managed to leave his strongest competitor James Kilbrane behind him in the final round. Chris was born in Waterford and will represent Ireland in Istanbul with yet another ballad. The song was written by Bryan McFadden (ex Westlife soloist) and Jonathan Shorten. Due to the fact that Ireland did very well last year, they qualified automatically for the grand final on Saturday May 15th.
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