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 The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, following Céline Dion's victory at the with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Organised by the European Broadc ...

Early life and education

Born in

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, approx. 24 km south east of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is located in the north-west of Ireland. Ballymote lies in the barony of Corran. A commuter town with a st ...

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

, Connolly attended school in

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

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

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

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 (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

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 bas ...

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 of ...

. 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 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Ireland Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1989 Date of birth missing (living people) 1956 births Musicians from County Sligo 20th-century Irish songwriters 21st-century Irish songwriters {{Ireland-singer-stub