Hall of Fame Award for Nenagh’s Brendan

The President of the Tipperary Association Dublin, Tom Sherlock, announced the award winners at a function in Dublin this week. He stated that the well-known comedy duo The 2 Johnnies have been chosen as the Person of the Year Award for 2023 while Nenagh native Brendan Graham will be inducted into the association’s Hall of Fame.

Tipperary Person of the Year 2023

Tom Sherlock outlined that this award acknowledges the special contribution and achievements of Tipperary people at local, county and national level from the fields of sport, academics, community and business. The 2 Johnnies are a well-known comedy duo of Johnny ‘B’ O’Brien from Cahir and Roscrea native Johnny ‘Smacks’ McMahon. They have become household names in Ireland - mainly from The 2 Johnnies Podcast, You Tube Channel, live shows and presentations on RTE 2FM including their own popular afternoon show. Their live shows include TV appearances on Up for the Match, RTÉ does Comic Relief and The Late Late Show as well as their performances at the 3 Arena and venues across the UK, The USA and Australia. The 2 Johnnies Podcast, started in 2018, has featured international guests like Eddie Hearn, Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock, James Buckey & Liam Gallagher as well as the best of Irish personalities like Tommy Tiernan, Joanne McNally, Roddy Collins and The Wolfe Tones.

In the past they presented a travel show ‘The 2 Johnnies Do America’ with a follow-up show examining topics in Ireland. In 2022 they were selected to present a weekday drive -time radio show ‘Drive In’ on 2FM.

2023 was a particularly good year for the duo. Their career went into a steep upward trajectory with an ever-increasing audience to their podcasts and radio programme.

Their podcast topped the Irish charts with listenership of over 250,000 listeners per week. Last September it was announced that the duo would front a new TV series on RTE – ‘The 2 Johnnies Late Night Lock In’ with the first show broadcast on October 19.

Their podcast was nominated for a number of awards winning the Best Comedy Podcast 2023 at The Irish Podcast Awards. The latest JNLR results for June 2023 showed that their programme ‘Drive In’ on 2FM increased listenership significantly.

Mr Sherlock concluded: “For the success they have achieved and for representing the best of Tipperary, at national and international level in the field of entertainment the 2 Johnnies are deserving of the Person of the Year Award for 2023.”

Hall of Fame Award 2023

The Association President, Tom Sherlock, went on to say that the Hall of Fame Award honours and acknowledges the achievements, excellence and contributions made by Tipperary individuals in the areas of culture, sport, community activity/development or business. The award acknowledges the pride that Tipperary people have in the success of one of their own.

Nenagh native Brendan Graham has worked in the competitive world of music and entertainment for many decades earning a national and international reputation in the music business. The fact that he has penned a long and impressive list of international hit songs and has won a number of awards at home and abroad clearly shows that he more than meets the criteria for excellence and achievement by a Tipperary person in the music business.

A song he wrote for Johhny McEvoy and the winning of the prestigious Castlebar Song Contest encouraged and launched him into a stellar career of composing and writing.

His achievement of winning the Eurovision Contest twice with ‘Rock 'n' Roll Kids’ in 1994, sung by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan and with ‘The Voice’ in 1996 sung by Eimear Quinn puts him on pedestal with some of the best song writers/composers in the world.

His best-known song ‘You Raise Me Up’ has been covered by different artists one thousand times and is translated into over 50 languages. It was a No 1 hit for Josh Groban in the United States and an international hit for Westlife and has been broadcast over one million times on American radio.

He continues to write for the world’s leading singers as well as music for film and television. Brendan’s work has been performed by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Elaine Paige, Brian Kennedy to name but a few.

Another of his more popular songs is ‘Isle of Hope, Isle of Dreams’ sung by Sean Keane, accompanied by The Chieftains.

He wrote the lyrics for the new single for the legendary band The Gipsy Kings to promote their world tour.

Brendan recently held two sold-out concerts in The National Concert Hall featuring all his own work performed by soloists Eimear Quinn, Paul Harrington, Charlie McGettigan, Sean Keane and many others. Cathy Jordan, Camille O Sullivan and many more.

Apart from his song writing Brendan has written a bestselling series of three novels – ‘The Whitest Flour’, ‘The Element Of Fire’ and ‘The Brightest Day, The Darkest Night’.

Mr Sherlock added: “For reaching the pinnacle of his profession on the world stage and bringing honour to Nenagh and Tipperary on the national and international stage, Brendan Graham is worthy to be inducted into the Tipperary Hall of Fame by the Tipperary Association Dublin.”

AWARDS EVENT - TICKET INFORMATION

The awards will be presented on Saturday, April 27, in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Newlands Cross, Dublin at 2pm. Tickets, €30 (including lunch) each may be purchased from Pat Ryan, Hon Secretary, 11 Foxfield Grove, Raheny, Dublin 5 - tel: 087 6376663 or proriain@gmail.com.