Singing sensation Catherine Grimley-Hughes wowed her way into the battles of The Voice of Ireland with a stunning performance tonight.
The county Armagh songstress gave a rousing rendition of the smash hit ‘Demons’ by Imagine Dragons, prompting all four judges on the popular TV show to turn – a rarity reserved only for the best performances.
For Catherine, tonight’s result was something she never expected “in a month of Sundays”.
Speaking to Armagh I, the 30-year-old said: “Honestly it was a big surprise; I was so nervous going into it.
“I genuinely was, hand-on-heart, just happy for one to turn. It didn’t matter to me who turned, as long as one did.
“I was petrified in case nobody turned but when they all turned I was elated. When they do turn you can see I kind of lost it a little, I lost my pitch, but it was just the feeling in that moment.”
Singing sensation Catherine Grimley-Hughes
Of course, this wasn’t Catherine’s first time on the show, with her time cut short last year after giving birth to her second son.
Speaking on last year’s drama, the mother-of-two admitted it wasn’t the worst way to leave a show.
“The way that I exited the show last year was probably the best way to go – at least I wasn’t booted out,” she laughs.
“You can call it an act of God or whatever but a lot of people remember that and because of that they are interested to see how it goes for me this year.”
However, Catherine was determined to give it another go – minus the bump this time!
She said: “It would have always been ‘what ifs’ so I had to go again to be able to put it to bed. I wanted to get through on my own merit, rather than for it to be a story of my pregnancy.
“Doing it again straight away this year I thought, well why not strike when the iron is hot.
“I was a lot more nervous this time around though; I felt I had a lot more to lose. Last year, with being pregnant, I felt almost as if I was hiding behind the bump to an extent. There was so much going on in my life at the time and I thought that there were more important things happening.
“For me, it was simply ‘if it doesn’t happen, it’s not meant to be’. This year though was a lot different; I wasn’t guaranteed anyone turning and I was thinking ‘if nobody turns here, I think I would just die, how can I come back from this – yeh nobody turned, I’m not that good’.
“Thankfully though, that wasn’t the case.”
The Voice of Ireland judges. From l-r. Rachel Stevens, Kian Egan, Una Fodden, Niall Breslin
In tonight’s show Catherine had the unusual luxury of choosing from all four judges – Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin, Una Foden, Kian Egan and Rachel Stevens.
In the end the Madden native went with Niall ‘Bressie’ Breslin.
“Last year Bressie was very complimentary and I remember he said that, if I hadn’t had anyone turn for me, it would have been a disaster. He was the first to turn this year so I thought he must hear something he likes.”
She added: “I know I went with Bressie but Una made a really good pitch to get me. I really had to think about it – even Kian Egan.
“Una made a really good point that she liked my tone and the fact that I sang with an accent. I used to be criticised for that, at Scor or the Fleagh, they used to tell me to sing with less of an accent but now I was being praised for it.”
Bressie was full of praise and told Catherine: “Someone like you has the potential to win the show.”
With all four judges wanting Catherine on their team, a stunned Catherine told them: “I didn’t expect any of you to turn round never mind four.”
But Bressie was in no doubt and told our local singing sensation: “You know you’re strong – you have to believe that.”
Catherine now goes into the head-to-head battles, which will be aired in a few weeks time.
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