Janet Grogan is an Irish singer and songwriter. She comes from

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland.

Training

In 2008, Grogan studied Pop Music Design at the

Popakademie Baden-Württemberg The Popakademie Baden-Württemberg ''(University of Popular Music And Music Business)'' is a German public conservatory for popular music based in Mannheim, Germany. Established in 2003 by the state of Baden-Württemberg, it was the first institu ...

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

, Germany as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

on a scholarship.

Career

Grogan became known as the co-writer and vocalist of ''Alles kann besser werden'' by

Xavier Naidoo Xavier Kurt Naidoo (; born 2 October 1971) is a German soul and R&B singer, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member of German band Söhne Mannheims, and started two record labels, Beats Around the Bush and Naidoo Records. Naid ...

, which charted in Germany(No. 6, 33 weeks), Austria (No. 16, 26 weeks) and Switzerland (No. 28, 26 weeks). She composed the track with Milan Martelli, Matthew Tasa and Xavier Naidoo. In 2018, Janet wrote the song "Lord (It's ok)" with Cian Sweeney, known professionally as 1000 Beasts. Grogan also performed the lead vocal on the track which was released in early 2018.

X-Factor

Janet has twice been a contestant on the UK singing competition ''The X-Factor'' (UK) In 2014 Janet competed on the 11th series, making it as far as the 6 Chair Challenge, but was unsuccessful in keeping the chair. When the show aired

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

tweeted out that he made a mistake and should have kept Janet. Grogan later returned, in part due to Cowell's tweet, and was a contestant in the 13th series of ''The X-Factor'' (UK), getting to Judges' houses as part of

Sharon Osbourne Sharon Rachel Osbourne (; born 9 October 1952) is an English-American television personality, music manager, and author. She is married to heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne and came to prominence while appearing on '' The Osbournes'' (2002–2 ...

's Team.

Eurovision

Grogan was a backing singer for

Nicky Byrne Nicholas Bernard James Adam McGarry Byrne Jr. (born 9 October 1978) is an Irish pop singer, songwriter and radio and television presenter. He is best known for being a member of the pop group Westlife; Westlife has since released twelve albums, ...

at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2016 The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Heroes (Måns Zelmerlöw song), Heroes" by Måns Zelmerlöw. Organis ...

. Janet returned to the Eurovision stage to represent Ireland in 2018 as part of

Ryan O'Shaughnessy Ryan O'Shaughnessy (born 27 September 1992) is an Irish singer and former actor from Loughshinny, Skerries, County Dublin. He portrayed Mark Halpin in the popular TV series ''Fair City'' for nine years (2001–2010). In January 2012, he appear ...

's performance of "Together".

Last Singer Standing

In 2021, Grogan took part as a contestant on the

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

singing gameshow, '' Last Singer Standing.'' She was the last player to qualify for the grand finale. In the final, she performed

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

's ' I Want to Dance with Somebody'. She finished in sixth place.

Eurosong 2022

On 18 January 2022, it was announced that Janet would be performing for a chance to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2022 with the song Ashes of Yesterday. The song was written by Aidan O'Connor, John Emil and

Sandra Wikström Sandra or SANDRA may refer to: People * Sandra (given name) * Sandra (singer) (born 1962), German pop singer * Margaretha Sandra (1629–1674), Dutch soldier * Sandra (orangutan), who won the legal right to be defined as a "non-human person" Pla ...

Janet has previous experience at the Eurovision as a backing vocalist for Nicky Byrne in 2016, and with

in 2018. Grogan finished in second place in the Irish National Final. Janet released Ashes of Yesterday as her first solo single on 4 February 2022, with the song available to buy and across all streaming platforms.

References

21st-century Irish women singers Living people Singers from Dublin (city) The X Factor (British TV series) contestants 1988 births {{Ireland-singer-stub