John Hogan

JOHN Hogan has become a household name on the Irish Country Music Scene and has come a long way since his days as a supervisor with Bord Na Mona.

He used to sing to all his workmates during their tea breaks and if you listen to the lyrics of My Guitar, which he wrote, it tells you all about it.

John always loved music and after having no luck getting into a band he put a request out on his local radio station asking if anybody wanted a singer, but he had no luck there either. While in town to pay his mortgage, he decided instead to spend the money on cutting a demo. He made a four-track tape, one of the songs of which was Brown Eyes and this really hit the air wave's big time with a DJ called Don Allen playing it on his radio show.

It climbed to Number 1 in the Irish Charts and stayed in the charts for 30 weeks. Gay Byrne then approached John and asked him to appear with him on The Late Late Show.

John did not even have a band at this stage so he quickly gathered a band together and went on the road. That was 16 years ago.

He was signed up by K-tel records where he recorded three albums, My Feelings For You, Turn Back The Years and On The Wildside and a Best Of compilation.

John then made the huge leap and signed with Ritz records where he made another three albums Humble Man, The Nashville Album and Loving You and a Very Best Of album. It was while he was with Ritz that he re corded the highly acclaimed Humble Man album. Some people in the music business say that to this day that was the best Country album to come out of Ireland. John is also a highly talented songwriter and has always included a couple of his own songs on his albums. In fact on his latest album he has six of his own songs. Foster and Allen had a massive hit with one of John's songs called Turn Back The Years.

Another song which John wrote was Stepping Stone which was Number 1 for 18 months in the island of St Lucia in the Caribbean.

John has been out there four times doing concerts where he plays to crowds in excess of 15,000 people each time. The last time he was there he was made a Freeman of The City.

In 1995 while recording an album in Nashville his world fell apart when he lost his voice. For five years he struggled on, some nights not being able to sing at all but his love for music won't let him give up. After many visits to many specialists his voice eventually returned and, as you can hear today, it sounds even better than when he started out.

His next break came with the release of his Broken Silence album, so called because of his five years in the wilderness.

This was released on the New Road Music Label. When Ritz, who by now have renamed themselves Rosette Records, heard this they decided it was time for him to return to the international scene and signed him up again.

His album Something Good went straight into the Irish Charts proving he was back at the top where he belongs.

John on this new CD has teamed up with his long time collaborator and friend Danny Sheerin to bring you a host of country classic, along with stunning original tracks composed by Danny.