Talented singer Niall Griffin was crowed Wacky Idol 2006 to rapturous applause and deafening shouts of encouragement last week, following superb renditions of Lazy Sifre’s “Something Inside So Strong” and the Don McLean classic “American Pie”.
As Niall’s name was announced, punters in the Wacky Apple stood to their feet in acknowledgement of the local man’ s vocal prowess and demanded an encore, while others declared the right man had won the popular competition.
Niall fought off tough competition from the ten finalists, who all performed excellently on the night, but it was the chef from Lacken Wood, who went home •1,500 richer.
In second place came Jodi Gilfoil, who sang Celine Dion’s “Immortal-ity” and Gwen Stefani’s “Don’t Speak”, while Laura Carroll was in third position with Allanah Myles’ ‘Black Velvet” and “I Don’t Want a Lover”, which was a huge hit for Texas. Both singers got •300 and •200 respectively.
Also worth mentioning on the night for their superb performances are Brian Grace, who did a fantastic version of the Jam’s “Going Under-ground” and Rowan O’Grady who performed Prince’s “Faith”.
The competition, which ran over a number of weeks, attracted huge interest and seems to become an annual figure in the future.
