Kevin "Kiev" Connolly (born 5 April 1956) is an Irish songwriter, producer and musician. His group, Kiev Connolly and The Missing Passengers, represented Ireland at the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest.

Early life and education

Born in

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, Ireland. It is around 20 km south of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is in the north-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Ballymote lies in the Barony (Ireland), barony ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

, Connolly attended school in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

. He moved to Germany in 1978, and worked as a studio musician and producer in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

Career

Connolly formed the pop group "The Missing Passengers" in 1985. The group secured a recording contract with Ariola/RCA in Germany and "toured Europe extensively". In 1985, the group performed Connolly's song "Did She Tell You" on both the Extratour program Radio Bremen/ARD, and the Musik Convoy program on WDR/ARD. Connolly returned to Ireland in 1987. In 1989, Kiev Connolly and The Missing Passengers represented Ireland at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

with Connolly's song The Real Me. The song reached number 17 in the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

in May 1989. Yugoslavia won the Eurovision Song Contest that year. In 2000, Connolly established Feature Music Studios. Connolly was involved in arranging and producing several live performances and albums of

The Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning ...

. This included credits on the Wolfe Tones' 2001 album " You'll Never Beat the Irish". He also occasionally supported the Wolfe Tones, in performances, on keyboards and guitar.

References

Living people Irish pop singers Irish record producers Irish male songwriters Date of birth missing (living people) 1956 births Musicians from County Sligo 20th-century Irish songwriters 21st-century Irish songwriters 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music Eurovision Song Contest entrants {{Ireland-singer-stub