What's Another Year?

I'm thinking of starting a Johnny Logan Appreciation Society. OK, I'm not going to go that far but I do think the man is unfairly slagged off in general. It's not cool to like Johnny Logan, especially in Ireland. It's certainly easy to slag him off. (Just search his name on Twitter and you'll see what I mean). A week ago, I wasn't particularly interested in him either. But he's popular in Norway, and other parts of Europe, where he sells lots of CDs and performs often. And so he was invited to be the Grand Marshall at this year's Oslo St Patrick's Day Parade. He lead the parade and then afterwards, on Karl Johan, sang three songs, the first being his first Eurovision winner from 1980, 'What's Another Year.' He was fantastic. His voice is amazing. With so many mediocre performers out there making big bucks (Kylie? Cheryl Cole?), it was a real treat to hear someone who could sing brilliantly live, only accompanied by a guitar. Not only did he sing well, he came across as lovely, quite frankly. I spoke to him afterwards and he told me his mother was from Kilkenny. He also said he had a great fondness for Norway as he had spent several months working here after his father died many years back. He was gracious, genial and patient with the stream of children and their mothers who approached him after the parade.
I feel bad that I didn't have a higher opinion of the man before as I really am too old to care about what's considered cool or not cool.
I'm at an age now where along with empathy, hard work and good manners, I respect talent above much else. I'm not a fan of ballads, but I do love a great voice. Johnny Logan really has a great voice.

Have a listen: