Irish singer charms US President Bush 
by Jon Myles LIMERICK singer Shonagh Daly added a touch of Irish charm to American President George Bush’s controversial visit to Britain.
The 23-year-old rising star performed for the US President and British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a star-studded lunch attended by Queen Elizabeth II.
London-based Shonagh — who has just released her first single All I Want — sang an Andrew Lloyd Webber song at the lunchtime function last week.
The US Ambassador to Britain requested Castleroy-born Shonagh to sing at his residence in Regents Park following her performance at a memorial service in New York shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Elton John and Paul McCartney were all also in the audience for the performance in London.
Shonagh — daughter of car dealer Noel Daly — was discovered while appearing in Lloyd Webber’s musical The Beautiful Game in Cork.
It was following her moving performance at Ground Zero that record companies began to vie for her attention and she was signed by Polydor on a £3.2million contract.
But she still credits Andrew Lloyd Webber for giving her the confidence to launch her singing career.
She said: “I wasn’t sure I was West End standard but I sang in front of Andrew and he encouraged me all the way through and I felt immediately at ease.”
And she admits she was a bag of nerves before her appearance at the September 11 memorial concert in New York — where she performed the song Let Us Love In Peace in front of 9,000 people and a TV audience of around 1billion viewers.
“I was sick to my stomach,” she said. “I nearly forgot some of the words.
“But it was so overwhelming that I sobbed on Mayor Guiliani’s shoulder afterwards. There’s even a photo of me crying on his suit!”
Shonagh’s first album Beautiful View is due for release next year and includes a song penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and former partner Tim Rice — their first collaboration since the Oscar winning You Must Love Me in 1996.
Shonagh said: “I’m ready now to give it all I’ve got — I've been working towards this moment for as long as I can remember.”
Irish singer charms US President Bush
by Jon Myles LIMERICK singer Shonagh Daly added a touch of Irish charm to American President George Bush’s controversial visit to Britain.
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