Tuam flies the flag for Euro contender Kasey

Date Published: 21-Feb-2013

Tuam people watching this Friday night’s Eurosong contest on RTÉ’s Late Late Show will have more than a little interest in one of the finalists, Kasey Smith whose mother hails from the town.

The whole Smith family are getting behind Kasey, one of the five finalists who will perform on The Late Late Show, when she sings Kiss Me There.

Twenty-two years old Kasey has toured with international acts like Olly Murs, Westlife and Boyzone and now there will be a contingent of Tuam fans rooting for her in her ambition to represent Ireland in Malmo, Sweden, in May.

Her mother Karina Smith was born in Tuam to Pat and Bernie Smith who used to live at 63 Gilmartin Road, but are now resident in Dublin, not far from Dublin City University. Karina also lives in Dublin.

Kasey’s grandfather, Pat Smith was the lead singer with the Johnny Flynn Showband who had a major hit in the mid 1960s with The Black and Tan Gun. The song is still very much requested on YouTube.

Tuam viewers of the Friday night show are asked to get behind Kasey who hopes to forge a musical career out of this performance of Kiss Me There, by representing Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden.

“We go down to Tuam every few weeks and I was down there about six weeks ago, writing songs with my uncle PJ in my grandad’s house in Gilmartin Road,” she said.

Kasey is a former member of the girl group Wonderland, which was managed by Westlife’s Kian Egan and Louis Walsh. As a member of Wonderland she released three singles and achieved a UK Top 10 album with the group, who also toured with Olly Murs, Westlife and Boyzone and recorded two of their music videos in California.

Sadly, the group’s contract with Mercury Records was not renewed for a second album, and so Kasey hopes that if she gets to Eurovision, it will give her another chance to achieve her musical ambitions.

Since leaving Wonderland, Kasey has recorded in Nashville, and had a major image change, replacing her short blond hair when in the band with long dark locks to become a Cheryl Cole lookalike.

Her grandmother Bernie Smith said the family still had their family home in Gilmartin Road and spent most of their weekends there. She said that Kasey visited a lot as well.

Kasey is hoping Galway will get behind her when she performs the fifth song of the evening on The Late Late this Friday.