Johnny Logan

Johnny Logan was born in Frankston near Melbourne, Australia May 13, 1954. He was given the name Seán Patrick Michael Sherrard. His father, the famous Patrick O'Hagan, was an Irish tenor who managed to perform no less than three times at The White House in front of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon respectively.

The family moved to Ireland when Johnny Logan was aged three. He started singing at the age of nine and by the time he was thirteen he had learned to play the guitar and was writing songs. He accompanied his father on tours in Australia and New Zealand as an assistant and dresser as his father suffered from a disease that prevented him from lifting his arms above his chest.

Johnny Logan has no doubt that his choice of profession goes all the way back to these tours where he and his father were killing time by singing together in the dressing-rooms of the great concert halls. Johnny Logan has been singing professionally since the age of fourteen.

He has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times. In the Netherlands April 1980 with "What's Another Year" composed by Shay Healy. He won for the 2nd time in Brussels May 1987 as a singer and composer with "Hold Me Now". No one else had ever won the Eurovision Song Contest twice as a performer. "Hold me now" rose to number 2 in the UK chart and the single sold six million copies. In 1992 in Malmö he won for the 3rd time as a composer with "Why Me" sung by Linda Martin.

Johnny Logan, known and respected for his great talent as a singer and songwriter; has released numerous albums during the years, performed for many heads of state counting The Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, won several awards and appeared on top Television shows throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.

One of the most successful individuals in the entire history of the Eurovision Song Contest, Johnny Logan first appeared at the event in 1980, when he was triumphant with "What's Another Year." He returned to the contest again in 1987, and proved victorious once again, this time with "Hold Me Now." Five years later, he was back again as the writer of Linda Martin's winner, "Why Me." A fourth Logan composition, "Terminal Three" (again performed by Martin) finished in the runner-up position in 1984, behind Herreys' "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley." Yet, while Logan is synonymous with Ireland's Eurovision history, the singer himself was born on May 13, 1954, in Frankstone, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. The erstwhile Sean Patrick Michael Sherrard was three before the family returned to its native Ireland, where his father, Patrick O'Hagen, was one of the country's best regarded tenors. Logan's own musical aspirations were evidenced early -- by age 13, he was writing and performing his own songs, and was soon a fixture on the County Meath folk circuit, although he would be 23 before his first "big break" arrived, appearing as Adam in the stage play +Adam & Eve.

It was Eurovision that established Logan's superstardom; when the contest celebrated its 50th anniversary, "Hold Me Now" was voted the third most popular song ever to win the event, while he was also the only performer to have a second song in the final 14, as "What's Another Year" crept in alongside it. His musical fame is by no means restricted to the contest, however. A chart regular in Ireland and a successful performer and writer across Europe, Logan has scored a string of non-Eurovision hits, including "24 Hours," "A State of Happiness," "Visions of Glory" (with Montserrat Caballé), "Back to Where We Started," "Celebrate and Win," "Das Herrlichste Geschenk" (a duet with Wencke Myhre), "I Love to Party" (alongside Kaye Styles), "Me and My Jealous Heart," "No One Makes Love Like You" (with fellow Eurovision champion Nicole), "The Only Thing I've Ever Wanted," and "Where Did the Love Go." He also scored a major hit with a 2001 update of his 1987 winner, appropriately titled "Hold Me Now 2001." ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide