Brendan has a great set of pipes for glory on the X Factor
Former Hometown star talks Cowell, Walsh — and why he’s not cut out for life as a plumber...
BRENDAN Murray is no stranger to the many hard knocks that the music business can dole out quicker than Simon Cowell’s heavily-Botoxed lids can wink.
As a teenager he thought all his dreams had come true when he made it past hundreds of perfectly preened crooners who auditioned to become part of Louis Walsh’s ‘next big thing’ Hometown. Despite the fact that they were signed to a British label and had managed to secure two Irish number one singles, record executives pulled the plug just two years after the band was formed and Brendan was on the musical scrap heap.
His career was given a brief reprieve when Walsh picked him to represent Ireland at the Eurovision song contest in 2017 with the pop song Dying To Try. But when the Tuam singer failed to make it passed the semifinal stages he was again discarded. He was forced to abandon his dreams and enrolled as an apprentice plumber in Galway.
But fast forward 12 months and it is a different Louis who is giving him a third bite of the cherry. The 21-yearold is back in the limelight and on The X Factor where he is being mentored by One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson. He previously earned the Golden X from Boys mentor Louis during the Six Chair Challenge, following his performance of REM’s Everybody Hurts.
Brendan’s performance prompted Cowell to comment that he was in a ‘completely different league’ to everyone else they had seen. Speaking about performing Sinead O’Connor’s classic Nothing Compares 2U for Louis and his fellow Judges’ Houses mentors Nile Rodgers and Liam Payne, Brendan confessed he had been very nervous.
‘I was the last to perform and there was a lot of pressure — the talent was so high,’ he says. ‘I had a lot to prove and a lot to bring to the table and I think I managed to do that. I’m really delighted with the way it went.’
Brendan revealed that the former One Direction star, who originally found fame on the show, took each of the acts aside individually for a chat and advice ahead of their vital performances.
‘The weight was taken off the shoulders a little bit when they did that,’ he said. ‘At Judges Houses, once I heard my mam on the phone after I got through, everything hit me at once.’
AND he credits his parents for his success. ‘They are the reason I’m here,’ he says. ‘They pushed me to do X Factor and I wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t pushed me. I had no intention of doing it in the first place until they kicked me out the door and said “You’re doing it”.’
During his time on the X Factor away from his family, Louis Tomlinson has been the person who has supported Brendan.
‘Louis Tomlinson has been unreal,’ he says of his mentor. ‘Honestly, he is so hands on; it is really cool and really impressive. He comes over to the X Factor house every day and we talk about where I am going. He really understands me and what I want to do and where I want to go. I feel he has been a real mentor to me throughout the whole process and I can’t thank him enough. It helps that he has gone through the competition as well and he knows what I am going through.’
Though he hasn’t heard from the other Louis (Walsh) in a while, he also has good things to say about the former Hometown manager.
‘He is a real gentleman and really looked after me when I was with the band and when I was in Eurovision,’ Brendan says. ‘I heard he wished me well in one of the papers and that means a lot. He is someone who always believed in me but I know that it will all come down to me and how I perform this weekend.’
The X Factor is a cruel mistress and it didn’t take long for Brendan’s lovein with the judges to end — even if it did make good television.
WITH fellow contestant Janice Robinson already eliminated, Sunday’s show saw Murray and the LMA Choir in a singoff for survival. The LMA Choir’s mentor, Robbie Williams, and show boss Cowell chose to save the group, with Murray’s mentor, Louis Tomlinson, choosing the Irish singer. Fellow judge Ayda Williams could not choose between the acts so she sent the vote to deadlock, with the LMA Choir going home because they received fewer public votes than Murray.
‘I got a bit of a shock the last two weeks to be honest’, he says. ‘It was a bit of a land to be in the bottom two. But do you know what? I sing every time like it is my last time on the show and I hope that comes across. But it is a blow.
‘And Simon Cowell said some things that were hard to hear. But you have to realise that he isn’t the one voting or any of the other panellists.
‘I have to impress the public and they are who matters in the contest. I do take what the judges say on board. You would be a fool to ignore that but I have in my head what I need to do for this week. I will sit down with my mentor Louis Tomlinson and we will come up with something that will hopefully wow the public and keep me in it for another week.’ For many wannabes getting pilloried on the biggest talent show in Britain and Ireland would reduce them to a quivering wreck. But this is not Brendan’s first rodeo, and it wasn’t that long ago that he was getting up at 7am to start work as an apprentice plumber in west Galway. ‘I did a year as a plumber and it was great but I suppose I did it because I hadn’t made it singing yet,’ he says. ‘I really believe that I can keep going and pursuing my dream of singing for a living on the back of this show.
‘It is one of the things that have given me an edge in the competition. And I know there are a lot of great singers that I am up against each week. It is a contest and someone has to win and someone has to lose. But I have gone through the knock of Hometown breaking up and I know what it is like to be on a stage like the Eurovision so that has to give me an edge.
‘But I also lost it all and went back to learn to be a plumber so that means I want it all that much more as well. I just need to put in a big performance this week above all.’
Vowing to bounce back, Brendan has already seen an increase in support from his now international fan base on Twitter and Instagram. He takes the time to respond to as many as possible but he gets thousands of messages a week and just doesn’t have the time to write back to everyone, but he does try.
Self-belief, he says, is his biggest asset in the contest and it is something he is going to draw upon when he takes to The X Factor stage on Saturday night. He adds: ‘In the past
people said I was done, I was finished and I know I shouldn’t have taken that on board and you’re going to get criticism from all sides but I thought it wouldn’t damage me. But it did damage me a little bit. It wasn’t a happy time for me, if I’m honest, as a lot of people thought my music career was over at such a young age. I went back to pub gigging and took up an apprenticeship for a year. That was my life for a year. Just because you get a knock, it doesn’t stop you from chasing what you want. Regardless of the result of X Factor, I’m going to keep going. This is exactly what I needed and it has given me the confidence to go further. Whatever happens this weekend, I have got the confidence back in myself and I will follow a career in singing no matter what happens.
‘I believe I am good enough so, fingers crossed, I can reach the people at home and they vote for me this weekend.’
Brendan is determined to ensure he makes no mistakes on the night. I can’t give the judges any reasons to pick holes in the performance.’
Thankfully for Brendan, Irish viewers can vote for him through the Virgin One website. Every single vote will make a difference and he hopes he can do the almost impossible and pull victory out of the jaws of defeat— like the Galway hurlers in 2017.
‘It is great that Irish people can vote on the show,’ he says. ‘And I know there has been a lot of really great support organised in my hometown of Tuam. They have all started campaigns it means a lot to know that people at home are watching and voting for me.
‘I really hope they continue to support me and take the time to go online and vote for me this weekend. I believe I can go all the way, I have to. Sure look Galway went and won an All-Ireland hurling final after nearly 30 years so I can look on that as inspiration.’
O The X Factor continues on Saturday and Sunday nights from 8pm on Virgin Media One.