Lesley Roy was due to represent Ireland at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with her song “Story Of My Life”.
Ireland selected Lesley through an internal selection process — a method which has brought the country mixed results since 2016. Lesley would have hoped to change that in 2020. The song had already gained traction in Ireland, topping the local YouTube trending chart and breaking into the Irish homegrown singles chart.
And now we’ve compiled 10 facts you need to know about Lesley Roy. Let’s do this!
Ireland at Eurovision 2020: Facts about Lesley Roy
1. She got into music very young
Lesley comes from a musical background. Her mother had been in bands and regularly played records by Fleetwood Mac and Mowtown acts at home. Lesley was about ten when she got her first guitar. And she started to write her own songs almost immediately. This was in the early to mid-2000s, so she was heavily influenced by the rock-pop female artists of the time, like Avril Lavigne. At 13 to 14, she started entering competitions.
2. She started out the old-fashioned way
Lesley was determined to get a record deal and break into what was then a very male-dominated industry. At the time, shows like Idol were just coming into their own, so she had to do things the old fashioned way. This meant getting to a studio and recording demos. Studio sessions cost money, so teenage Lesley started busking to raise funds.
3. She got her first record deal while still in school
The local talent competitions proved to be good networking opportunities, and soon enough Lesley was signed up to a small independent label. All while still in school. She had her first showcase at 17. This involved her own label inviting all the major labels to Dublin to see Lesley perform. People noticed and liked her music, but she didn’t get signed. She regrouped, wrote some new songs and put on a second showcase about one year later, also in Dublin. And this time, she got picked up by the US label Jive Records, a subsidiary of Sony.
4. She went to the U.S. and Sweden to work on her debut album
No sooner was the ink dry on her new contract, then Lesley was whisked off to New York for yet more showcases. Numerous sessions and meetings followed, and before long she was in Sweden. Once in Sweden, she worked with numerous well-known producers on more demos. But all the time the goal was to work with Max Martin — the world-famous hitmaker, who at this time had just had massive success with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone”. However, Lesley’s minders didn’t want to push the matter too much since she was just a new artist. And then a dinner with Max was arranged.
5. Her first meeting with Max Martin seemed to go disastrously
But it wasn’t just Lesley and Max at the dinner. Max’s entire family were there — about 15 people. And all of them spoke in Swedish. Lesley recounts on a podcast that she thought “this is an “f***ing disaster”. She couldn’t join the larger conversation, except when Max would occasionally ask her questions. The meal ended with Max agreeing to listen to her demos. After doing some writing together, Lesley went into the recording booth to lay down some vocals. And Max left. It appeared to be over. Within an hour, he returned and declared that he was doing the whole album.
6. Her album was successful…but not successful enough
The outcome of this work was Unbeautiful, Lesley’s 13-track debut album. Released in 2008, it enjoyed some early successes. The first single was “I’m Gone, I’m Going” — not the song Lesley wanted to lead with, she would have preferred “Unbeautiful”. But “Unbeautiful” took on a life of its own. It began appearing on radio playlists and was on the verge of cracking the Billboard charts. And then her deal was gone overnight. To this day, Lesley doesn’t know exactly what happened, attributing the label’s decision to business reasons. She was 22.
7. She’s worked with some big names
Over the years, Lesley has worked with some of the music industry’s biggest names. One of these was the American popstar Katy Perry. Together they worked on a few songs, but “Slow Goodbye” was the one that saw the light of day, making it onto on Lesley’s LP. In an interview with our William, Lesley says Katy was responsible for lyrics like “biting all the black off my nails” and “sitting in the park after dark”. After her record deal fell through, she began to focus more on songwriting for others — creating tracks for the likes of Adam Lambert and Medina.
8. She sings a wrestling entrance theme
Each wrestler on the WWE wrestling show has their own entrance theme. These anthems can be known songs from established acts, but more often than not the programme uses tracks crafted specifically for each “character”. And the female wrestler Ember Moon always marches out to Lesley’s dulcet tones. The song is called “Free The Flame”.
9. She’s been with her wife for over 12 years
Lesley is happily married to Lauren. The couple live in New York and have been together for over 12 years. In fact, Lauren was there to support Lesley when her record deal fell through over a decade ago. They celebrated their nine-year wedding anniversary in December.
10. She has her own podcast
Lesley co-hosts the Pop Kitchen podcast with her friend Jeff Johnson. In her own words, the show sees them “obsess over how a writer or producer writes a fantastic song. What makes a great melody? What makes a song a disaster? What are the ingredients?”. She hopes to turn the turn the format into a TV show. If you’re new to the podcast, you can dive in to episode 12 — that’s the one dedicated to Max Martin and Lesley’s links to him. It forms the basis for many of these 10 facts. It’s available on Spotify and other podcast listening platforms.
Eurovision 2021 update
Ireland’s RTÉ has yet to make a final discussion regarding Eurovision 2021. However, the station has had talks with Lesley. Head of Delegation Michael Kealy admitted it would be an injustice if she didn’t get a second chance. However, both sides agree that the song needs to be right. And Lesley has already said in multiple interviews that she’s ready to start working on the perfect entry once restrictions are lifted.
What do you think of Lesley’s career? Are you hopeful for a 2021 comeback? Let us know in the comment section below.
Lesley, collaborating, with, swedish, song, writer, could, result, in, an, even, better, song, next, year,
Won’t be angry if she’s doesn’t represent us next year, but of course the right thing is to probably bring her back.
I am more intrigued though about what ThisIsPopBaby would have done with our entry and I really hope RTÉ get them on board next year. I feel that they would have done so much creative work on “Story of My Life”. I think they actually may have been our true entry in 2020.
I was never fussed on her song, but I like her and she has a lot of potential.
How would everyone compare her song to Et Cetera (from 2009)?
I didn’t realize that was Lesley singing on Ember Moon’s entrance theme! That’s pretty cool. Ember has been out of action for a while because of a torn Achilles’ tendon, but as a wrestling fan (especially WWE), I have to say that Ember is one of the most interesting women’s wrestlers look-wise (she wears red contacts as part of her character and she’s also a gamer and incorporates some video game elements into her character). Ember’s entrance theme was performed live at an NXT TakeOver event while she was in NXT, but heavy metal singer Lzzy Hale (of Halestorm) sang… Read more »