Read Online Baby You're a Star by Kathy Foley - Free Book Online

was a hands on manager. Patiently, he encouraged Logan and Martin to persevere and not to accept failure. His desire for success for both himself and his friends helped make him a zealous advocate of hard work and persistence.
    While Louis remained buoyant and determined, Logan was downbeat. By 1987, his career was in tatters. The journalist Orna Mulcahy wrote in the Sunday Independent that “Johnny Logan was a name from ancient history, a broken star touring the cabaret spots to bored audiences, singing a song that won the Eurovision, nobody was sure when.”
    Logan’s had experienced a lot of personal suffering and unhappiness with his professional career.
    Louis was the one person whose support for Logan was unending. He cared more about the singer as a friend than as a client. He was also one of the few people whose support and advice Logan valued. They both felt Logan’s career was going nowhere. Louis, however, remained firm in the belief that Logan was a talented singer and songwriter and encouraged him to compete in the National Song Contest once more. Logan was wounded after his earlier setbacks but reluctantly agreed to try again, warning Louis that he would give up his singing and composing career if nothing came of it.
    Maybe it was because of the adrenaline that last minute acts of desperation can sometimes engender, maybe it was luck, maybe it was just good timing, but in 1987 Johnny Logan wrote a great pop ballad called Hold Me Now . A few observers have suggested that it was Louis’ utter belief in Logan’s capabilities that spurred him to succeed. Logan performed the song himself at the National Song Contest held in the Gaiety Theatre on 8 March. He won. It was a triumphant success for Louis, who believed he had pulled Logan out of a deep career rut. For the third time, Louis and Logan were off to the Eurovision, this time in Brussels. Between the national finals and the Eurovision proper, Louis and Logan spoke every day on the phone. “Coming up to the show, he was on the phone to me night and day. He was working at it,” recalls Louis.
    The 1987 Contest threw up the usual number of bizarre entrants. There was Lotta Engberg, with her song Fyra bugg och en coka cola , which translated as Four Gums and a Coca Cola . While her song had sailed through the Swedish finals, there was outrage at such obvious product placement when she reached the Eurovision, and she had to change the song’s title to Boogaloo . The Israeli entrants, Datner & Kushnir, also caused a bit of a stir with their song about homeless people in their native country. The song was called Shir Habatlanim , which translates as The Bums .
    On arrival in Brussels, Logan was greeted as a superstar. Because he had won the Contest in 1980, he was recognised and applauded wherever he went. He was revered for his achievement of seven years previous, which Louis and Logan found uplifting. The singer was greeted with chants of “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny” on the streets. Unlike his previous experiences with the Eurovision, Louis felt confident. Admittedly, it is not always easy for a manager to be an objective judge of his own act, but he believed a win was possible. And he was right.
    There was no close-run, edge-of-the-seat voting tension in the Palais de Centenaire, where the event was staged. Logan won with 172 points, one of the highest winning scores ever, and 31 points ahead of the German entry, Wind .
    In the press conference following his win, Logan said his success was due to everyone who had stood by him since 1980. He was speaking about Louis Walsh.
    “Louis was the one person who never lost faith in Johnny over the years,” says Healy. “He kept the flag flying.”
    Louis genuinely felt for his friend. It is true that Louis is a businessman first and foremost, and realised the earning potential Logan had at that point, but he wanted Logan to succeed, as much out of friendship as anything else. He also believed Logan deserved credit