YOU’RE NO STAR: RTE ‘Talent’ show fails to produce a single chart success
ATTEMPT: You're a Star finalist Robyn Kavanagh
Tuesday March 11 2008
The news, which will come as a heavy blow to the supposed future ‘stars' of Irish music, will come as another blow to the flagging show, which has failed to produce a genuine star since it first aired in 2003.
Programme bosses had hoped for some charttopping success after last year's finalists, 21 Demands, raced into the number one slot when their debut single Give Me A Minute was released by the show.
The band from Swords in north Dublin had made Irish pop history by scooping the first Irish number one solely through sales of downloads.
Other finalists – including Scuba Dive, Maeve O’Donovan, and eventual 2007 winner David O’Connor – also broke into highly sought-after top 30 positions after all four released download singles last March.
But instead of joining the successful group in their one minute of fame, what You're a Star bosses have claimed are the cream of the crop this year may now see their music careers ending as soon as they began.
Tracks released by this year's finalists Robyn Kavanagh, Sharon Condon, Deirdre Archbold, Leanne Moore, as well as eliminated contestants Fauve Chapman and Pat Fitzgibbon all saw their sales slump far below the top 50 chart list.
And with show insiders accepting that “the show is just not generating the same buzz as it did last year”, the contestants can be certain to receive a lashing from acidtongued judge Brendan O’Connor over the failure.
RELEASED
You're a Star bosses released all six singles as downloads from the show's website and 7Digital, advertising them throughout the programme.
Every sale of the tracks, which cost just €2 each, are eligible for the charts.
But despite a captive audience and a prime weekend TV slot, none of the six pop ‘stars' have made the slightest dent on the top 50.
