RTÉ 2FM HOPE FOR 2008 METEOR AWARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

The nominees for the RTÉ 2fm Hope for 2008 Meteor Award, which will be presented at the prestigious Meteor Ireland Music Awards at the RDS Dublin on Friday February 15th, have been announced.

Leanne Harte, Owen Brady, The Kinetiks, We Should Be Dead and Ham Sandwich have been nominated for the RTÉ 2fm Hope for 2008 Meteor Award by record companies and RTÉ 2fm, however the overall winner will be decided by RTÉ 2fm listeners who can cast their votes for their favourite up and coming artist or band on www.rte.ie/2fm closing date is Sunday February 10th.

To create a greater awareness of the talented newcomers and encourage voting, RTÉ 2fm presenter Rick O’Shea will play tracks from each of the five short-listed nominees on his show RTÉ 2fm Monday – Friday from 2pm – 5pm.

John Clarke, Head of RTÉ 2fm, said:

“RTÉ 2fm are delighted to be associated with the prestigious Meteor Ireland Music Awards again this year as it continues to be one of the most important dates in the music industry calendar. We have been instrumental in developing and promoting new Irish music over the years and the annual Meteor RTÉ 2fm award has become a very important part of this support.”

Leanne Harte
Rising Irish rock artist Leanne Harte has already notched up a very credible CV which has seen this young Dublin girl release three critically acclaimed albums since she was only sixteen. Highly respected by her ever growing fan base both at home and abroad, this multi talented artist is flat out writing new material when she’s not doing worthy charity work in Kenya, touring, or pursuing her many interests such as multimedia studies, graphic design, film and music.
Leanne is proud to be the biggest Irish artist on Bebo world wide and last year she won the Balcony TV award for best female artist.

Owen Brady
Owen Brady is a singer/songwriter and musician from Dublin.  His album, Prepare To Be Happy, will be released on March 7th by Sony BMG.  The album was recorded in London with producer and Sade keyboard player Andrew Hale.  GQ Magazine recently named him as one of their ‘Greats for 2008’.  Owen will be touring Ireland in March- dates to be announced.

The Kinetiks
On first hearing of The Kinetiks’ debut track “A Smile’d Crack Your Face” RTÉ 2fm legendary producer, Ian Wilson booked the Dublin four piece for a live session.  Described as “a bundle of raw energy” the band rocked stages around Ireland during 2007 including Cois Fharraige and Castle Palooza festivals, a sold out Ambassador supporting The Enemy  (fans from Cois Fharraige) and a slot on the RTÉ 2fm 2moro 2our. With a new single “Bite The Bullet” about to be unleashed, their own headline gig at Whelan’s February 29th a nationwide tour and planned festival gigs for the Summer The Kinetiks are set for a electrifying 2008!    

We Should Be Dead
Often referred to as Indie pop’s answer to Abba, the boy/girl four-piece We Should Be Dead exploded onto the Irish music scene in 2007.
The bands debut single ‘Forget Romance Let’s Dance!’ made a huge impact on its release in November 2007.  It landed at Number 3 in the download charts, with the promo video being one of the most viewed on You Tube that week.
The single was A-Listed on RTÉ 2fm, hot listed on Phantom FM, and gained huge exposure on BBC Radio 1.
2007 also saw the band complete a RTÉ 2fm session with Dan Hegarty as well as a critically acclaimed “roof raising” set at the Hard Working Class Heroes Festival. Hot Press Magazine have cited the band as “ones to watch” for 2008.