Linda Martin

For the British Olympic fencer, see Linda Ann Martin.

Linda Martin
Birth name	Linda Martin
Born	13 April 1947 (1947-04-13) Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Origin	[Northern Ireland]]
Genres	Pop, pop-rock, MOR
Years active	1969–present
Labels	CBS, Polydor, Rex, Spider, WEA

Linda Martin (born 13 April 1947) is an Irish singer and television presenter. She is best known in Europe as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992, with the song "Why Me?", and in Ireland as a member of the 1970s/1980s band, Chips.

Career

Chips

Martin started off her musical career when she joined the band Chips in Omagh in 1969. They quickly became one of the top bands in Ireland on the live circuit and released hit singles "Love Matters", "Twice a Week" and "Goodbye Goodbye" during the mid to late 1970s. In 1972, Martin broke away from Chips to be a vocalist with new band Lyttle People, but rejoined Chips the following year. The group appeared on Opportunity Knocks in 1974 and appeared a number of times on British television promoting their singles, but never scored a UK hit. With multiple entries to the Irish National finals of the Eurovision Song Contest, the band carried on into the 1980s. They scored a final Irish hit in 1982 with "David's Song", after which Martin broke away when she won the Castlebar Song Contest with "Edge of the Universe" in 1983. From this point she concentrated on a solo career as well as occasional live appearances with Chips until they recruited a new lead singer (Valerie Roe) in the late 1980s.

Eurovision Song Contest

She participated in the National Song Contest four times as a member of Chips, however they did not score successfully. She participated another four times in the contest as a soloist and once more as part of the group "Linda Martin and Friends". With nine participations, she has been the most frequent entrant in the National Song Contest's history. She won the contest twice, going on to represent Ireland twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. The first of these victories was in 1984 with the song "Terminal 3", written by Johnny Logan (under his real name Séan Sherrard). The song came 2nd in the final, being beaten by 8 points. "Terminal 3" reached No.7 in the Irish charts. The second victory was in 1992 when her song "Why Me" (also written by Logan) went on to win the final in Sweden. This became Ireland's 4th victory in the Eurovision Song Contest and the song reached No.1 in the Irish charts as well as becoming a hit in many European countries.

According to John Kennedy O'Connor in the book, The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, Martin was, at the time, one of only three artists to finish both first and second at Eurovision, behind Lys Assia and Gigliola Cinquetti. Since then, only Elisabeth Andreassen and Dima Bilan have achieved this, raising the number to 5.

Television

She has presented the RTÉ quiz show The Lyrics Board, one of the broadcaster's more popular formats. She served as one of Louis Walsh's behind-the-scenes team on the first series of ITV's The X Factor.

She also served as a judge on the first, second and fourth seasons of RTÉ's You're a Star and on Charity You're a Star in Summer 2005 and Summer 2006. She was dismissed from the 2007 season, however, speaking on Saturday Night with Miriam on RTÉ television on 28 July 2007, she insisted that she was "open" to being invited back on to the show. Martin has not ruled out a return to Eurovision following Ireland's dismal performance in the 2007 contest finishing last with only five points.

She was a guest performer at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005. Martin was also the Irish spokesperson for Eurovision Song Contest 2007 and was one of the five judges for Eurosong 2009 (Irish Selection for Eurovision).

In 2012, she will be the mentor of Jedward in the irish Eurovision final "Eurosong 2012".

Twitter Controversy

On the 3rd of January 2012 it was reported in the Irish Independent that Linda Martin called in Gardai after a bogus Twitter account was set up in which the person behind the fake account verbally abused Sinéad O'Connor. The user posted a message on O'Connor's Twitter saying "We've been through it all and back again and stayed close, I do be worried you've gone off the rails, fame does that, I'd know x," O'Connor unaware it was not the real Linda Martin responded with ""Would u ever shove your RTE attitude to what is 'sanity' where it belongs. She's calling it 'help' but it's actually abuse." The bogus user replied "It's not my marriage which ended in the blink of the eye, it's no wonder your still single with that attitude Sinead". Ms O'Connor tweeted to claim to have "woke up to more abuse from Linda Martin" and "It's the RTE make-up department. It messes up the presenter's heads. "The awful orange foundation. The lip-liner. It's hell in there. The 1970s orange foundation turns the presenters' minds boring," she wrote. The fake Twitter account was then removed and Sinead O'Connor apologized to Linda Martin.

Theatre

Martin has also appeared in pantomime, in Dublin. She starred in Cinderella as the Wicked Stepmother, Snow White as the Evil Queen and Robin Hood as herself, at the Olympia Theatre.

She toured Menopause the Musical with Irish entertainer Twink. While on tour, Twink described Martin as a "cunt" during a tirade in May 2010. The two had been friends for 30 years but both said afterwards that they had no plans to speak to each other again.

Selected discography

Singles with Chips

Date	Single	Irish Charts
1971	"Today I Killed a Man"	-
	"Sock it To 'Em Sister Nell"	-
1973	"Open Your Eyes"	-
1974	"King Kong" (as Lily and Chips)	-
	"My World"	-
1975	"Love Matters"	6
	"Twice a Week"	13
1976	"I'm a Song, Sing Me"	-
1977	"Shine a Light"	-
	"Goodbye Goodbye"	2
1978	"Here in My Arms (Or It's Over)"	-
	"The Sooner the Better"	-
1980	"Automobile"	-
1981	"New Romance (It's a Mystery)"	-
1982	"David's Song"	13
	"Hi-Lowe"	-

Singles (solo)

Date	Single	Irish Charts
1983	"Edge of the Universe"	20
1984	"Terminal 3"	7
	"Body Works"	19
1988	"Hiding from Love"	22
1989	"Impossible to Do"	-
1990	"Where the Boys Are"	19
1991	"Did You Ever" (with Mick McCarthy)	15
1992	"Why Me?"	1

• "Why Me?" also reached #59 in the UK Singles Chart and #29 in the Dutch Singles Chart.

See also

• List of people on stamps of Ireland (1997)

External links

• Linda Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• "Why Me? lyric
• "Terminal 3" lyric

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Carola with "Fångad av en stormvind"	Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1992	Succeeded by Niamh Kavanagh with "In Your Eyes"
Preceded by The Duskeys with "Here Today Gone Tomorrow"	Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984	Succeeded by Maria Christian with "Wait Until The Weekend Comes"
Preceded by Kim Jackson with "Could It Be That I'm In Love"	Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992	Succeeded by Niamh Kavanagh with "In Your Eyes"
Preceded by Gay Byrne	Eurovision Song Contest Ireland Commentator 1985	Succeeded by Gerry Ryan