Eurovision winner Dana recalls how she nearly left the music industry after single flop

She told GB News: “Any platform that allows people to come together and celebrate in a good way, I would never knock it and for unknown writers to have that platform, it’s unbelievable.

“I did a record called I Will Follow You and actually Olivia Newton John did the demo. And it was a complete flop.

“I had a wonderful agent and he said, ‘you can go back to normal life, or you can stay and fight’. And that was the first time anybody asked me what did I want to do.

“So I said, ‘OK, we’ll stay and fight’ and the following year, when Eurovision came around, I had a hit all over Europe with a song called Who Put The Lights Out?”

In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, she continued: “I was in Liverpool yesterday and I would not begrudge Liverpool anything, they are wonderful people.

“All the volunteers, the Eurovision volunteers, I’m saying hello to them again, because they’re just marvellous. There’s a buzz, there’s a happiness.”

Eamonn asked if she thought the final should have been held in Belfast as a celebration of peace.

Dana said: “We definitely put that forward.”

She also recalled being urged to enter politics after her win: “Twice, I was nominated. I was the first independent ever nominated to run for president.

“Honestly, I had no desire to be in politics. But I hate it when people feel that nobody’s listening to them, when the person feels that they don’t have the connection or they don’t have whatever it is to get their voice heard, and nobody’s listening.

“All I had was a platform so I used that platform to speak for them. I agreed with them so I got nominated and I ran in the European election and I ended up as an MEP.”