Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Mollie Quirk

RTE Voice of Ireland teen star who competed at Eurovision unrecognisable 10 years on

Ryan O'Shaughnessy is an Irish singer-songwriter who auditioned for Britain's Got Talent back in 2012 – but where is the hunky heart-throb today?

Looking completely unrecognisable from his teenage days on the big screen, the now-29-year-old singer is still strumming his guitar today.

Ryan shot to fame when he performed one of his original songs back in 2012 during the audition stage of Britain's Got Talent.

When he auditioned for the ITV talent contest, he sung No Name, a heart-melting song about a mystery girl that he had written himself.

Ryan was an instant hit with viewers at home – as well as the audience in the theatre, and the hard-to-please judging panel.

READ MORE:

The 19-year-old Irish singer received 'yes' votes from all three judges who were on the panel at the time – Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.

Shortly before his audition, he appeared on Ireland's The Voice of Ireland, and his audition for BGT aired after his elimination from The Voice.

Disqualified from Britain's Got Talent

One week before the live shows of The Voice of Ireland, the Britain's Got Talent call-backs were held and the judges were going to send Ryan through to the live shows – but they were unable to do so.

The reasoning behind this was because Ryan already had a spot in the live shows of The Voice of Ireland and contract with Universal.

This all led to him being disqualified from Britain's Got Talent.

But this didn't mean it was all over for the hopeful singer.

Ryan was briefly disqualified from BGT because he already had a spot in the live shows of The Voice of Ireland - but was later brought back (ITV)
Unexpected come back

It was later announced Ryan would appear in the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent after being released from his contract with Universal.

Taking to the stage in front of a live studio audience, he performed another original song that he had written, First Kiss.

Receiving an influx of votes from viewers at home, Ryan went through to the final where he he performed his hit track No Name a second time.

He did well in the competition and ended up placing 5th before forging out a name for himself in the realms of the music industry.

Success after BGT

Soon after placing fifth on Britain's Got Talent, Ryan signed a record deal with Sony Music and released his first single – much to the delight of fans.

The much-loved song that he performed for his BGT audition and final, No Name, was released as a single in August 2012.

As well as releasing the popular single, he also released his self-titled debut album days later.

The EP contained six original songs, and to promote his work he performed his single on ITV's This Morning.

He then went on to headline a tour in the autumn.

A couple of years later in 2015, the singer was back on the scene with two new songs – Fingertips and Evergreen, and 2016 saw him release She Won't Wait.

Signed to Dublin-based record label Bayview Records, in 2016 he also released his first studio album – Back to Square One.

Eurovision Song Contest stint
Ryan represented Ireland in the first semifinal of the 63rd edition of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest (Vyacheslav Prokofyev\TASS via Getty Images)

In 2018 Ryan represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Together.

Speaking at the time, the then 25-year-old singer's co-writers Mark Caplice and Laura Elizabeth Hughes were feeling confident.

Speaking about Ryan’s performance to the jury, Mark said: “We just felt so proud. It was a moment where everything came together, so many month of hard work.

“It was just like a moment in time where you could see it.”

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

Controversy loomed when during the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final, Ryan's performance was edited out of the show.

The song was censored due to two male dancers dancing together on-stage which led to the European Broadcasting Union terminating its partnership with the Chinese broadcaster Mango TV.

Ryan has been getting involved with the popular song contest more recently too.

Last year in 2021, Ryan was the Irish spokesperson and gave the results of the Irish jury vote.

Unrecognisable new look
Now 29 years of age, Ryan looks so different (ryan_acoustic/Instagram)

Ryan was only 19 when he auditioned for Britain's Got Talent, which means one decade down the line and he's now 29 years old.

Looking completely unrecognisable from his baby-faced days, Ryan now dons a full head of shaggy hair and beard.

Intimate gigs in Dublin

With more than 30,000 Instagram followers, Ryan often updates his fans on what he's getting up to.

From his fitness journey to when he's recording fresh music in the studio – he often garners hundreds of likes and tons of comments.

In August last year Ryan performed to an audience for the first time in two years and said that it was "the most enjoyable gig" that he had "ever played".

Posting some snaps and clips from the gig, he penned: "2 years without an audience can do strange things to a career musician and this group of beautiful souls really helped me to truly play from heart again and rediscover my medicine."

In the caption he later added: "We all have our own medicine. Finding yours can be a difficult part of the journey, but when you find it, nourish it and use it, you never know who might be in need of it along the way!"

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.