A Bray musician has spoken of his delight after he had the chance to release a stunning rendition of a classic Bagatelle song alongside the legendary band.
'Summer in Dublin' by Bagatelle was recently crowned as one of the top 10 greatest Irish songs ever written by RTE 2fm listeners. The hit song, which was released in 1998, was revived for Bagatelle's 44th anniversary this year in a fantastic collaboration with Tapped's Leigh O Reilly.
Leigh, 28, told Dublin Live: "After Liam Reilly died in January this year, everyone was doing a rendition [of Summer in Dublin]. I hadn't put anything out in two years so I didn’t qualify to put my name in the hat for a song for the documentary."
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Bagatelle was looking for a singer so Leigh decided to jump on the opportunity and auditioned for the role. "I auditioned to be the singer to go on the road and cover the song because Ken [Doyle] is dying to get back on the road."
Leigh worked with Ken, who is the only living founding member of Bagatelle, to create the soul-stirring rendition of "Summer in Dublin" as part of the band's 44th anniversary. Leigh said: "Ken had some great ideas as well. Me and him worked on the arrangement.
"I wouldn’t be as gifted on the piano, so I stuck to the production and vocals and stuff. Ge did the fiddle solo, and I loved it.
"[The band] was shocked I could sing in the original key. Everyone else who covered it and is in this documentary like Tommy Fleming, the High kings, and Nathan Carter all had to sing five keys down."
The band was delighted after the newest rendition amassed an impressive 80,000 views. Leigh also took over their social media and got them verified.
For Leigh, who first picked up the guitar at 14, it was a dream come true. Speaking about his musical journey, he said: "As soon as I hit secondary school, I had to find a new group of people. I pretty much just fell into this group of lads on the first day.
"I was at one of their houses at the weekend and one of the guys played me Nirvana’s Nevermind and after that, I was absolutely hooked."
He added: "Then I picked up the guitar when I was 14 and I got good at that and then I started a school band. By 16, I had my own school band.
"I had my own album when I was 16. I bought a little 8-track thing and we put down a record. It was absolute dogs*** but it is what it is," he laughed.
Now Leigh is working on his debut original single from his album 'Bury Me an Irishman' which is set to come out at the end of the month. You can find his music on Spotify and Youtube.
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