Malachi Cush, also recording as Malachi, (born 23 September 1980), is an Irish singer-songwriter from Donaghmore, a small village in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland. Coming from a large musical family, he started singing and playing

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

at an early age. He appeared on the first series of

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

and has had

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success in the UK and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. His musical influences also included

The Pogues The Pogues are an English Celtic punk band founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. Originally named Pogue Mahone—an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish phrase :wikt:póg mo thóin, ''p� ...

, U2 and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

. Malachi is now married.

Fame Academy

Malachi was working as a gas fitter when he auditioned and was selected to appear on the first series of ''

'' in 2002. This was the first time he had ever left Northern Ireland. During the show he recorded several tracks which later appeared on the album ''Fame Academy Finalists'', released in December 2002.

Musical career

After coming fifth on ''

'' he took part in a tour of the UK together with other finalists and was given a solo recording contract with Mercury. In March 2003, '"Keep Me A Secret" sung by

Ainslie Henderson Ainslie Thomas Henderson (born 28 January 1979) is a Scottish animator and singer-songwriter. He gained fame via his participation in the BBC's television programme, ''Fame Academy'', in 2002''.'' He signed a recording contract with Mercury Reco ...

, a song that he co-wrote on the show with Henderson and

Sinéad Quinn Sinéad Quinn (; born 24 March 1980) is a Northern Irish singer, best known as a contestant in the first series of the UK BBC TV series ''Fame Academy'' in 2002. She later went on to sign a recording contract, released an album, and had a #2 UK ...

, charted at no 5 in the UK. His debut album ''Malachi'', (released on the

UMTV Universal Music On Demand (UMOD) is a London-based record label owned by Universal Music Group, formed in 1998 as Universal Music TV (UMTV). UMOD specialises in producing compilation albums and occasional single releases. It was founded whe ...

label) consisting mainly of covers and songs he had sung on the show, came out in March 2003, and was the first solo album to be released from any of the ''Fame Academy'' contestants. It reached 17 in the UK charts and sales topped 100,000, for which he received a silver disc. The first single from this album, the self-penned "Just Say You Love Me", failed to chart significantly in the UK but reached number 1 in

. In November 2003 he visited

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

where he performed at several concerts, met fans and took part in radio and TV interviews. On his return he was asked to support the BBC

Children in Need ''BBC Children in Need'' is the BBC's UK Charitable organization, charity dedicated to supporting disadvantaged children and young people across the country. Established in 1980, the organisation has raised over £1 billion by 2023 through its ...

Project along with

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud are a British-Irish pop music, pop girl group that was created through the ITV (TV network), ITV talent show ''Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl (singer), Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, N ...

and

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

at the live nationwide broadcast from the

Odyssey Arena The Odyssey Complex, consisting of Odyssey Place and the SSE Arena, is a sports, entertainment and science learning complex located within the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The concept of the complex originated in 1992 and wa ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. He was also appointed a Patron of the

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

charity "Impact Trust" and took part in many of their fund raising activities. Early in 2004 he made a solo tour of Northern Ireland, which included a concert at the

Waterfront Hall Belfast Waterfront is a multi-purpose conference and entertainment centre, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corp ...

. He was awarded Best Irish Newcomer at the Irish World Awards in London in February 2005. In December 2005 he took part in the Young Voices concert at the

in Belfast, performing with the African Children's Choir and other young singers to a capacity audience of 8,000. He also played the lead role of Charles Charming in

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

for the Bardic Theatre company in Northern Ireland. After parting with Mercury, he signed with the specialist Irish music label "

Emerald Emerald is a gemstone and a variety of the mineral beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) colored green by trace amounts of chromium or sometimes vanadium.Hurlbut, Cornelius S. Jr., and Kammerling, Robert C. (1991). ''Gemology'', John Wiley & Sons, New York ...

". In October 2005, under the name "Malachi", he released his second album, ''Celtic Heartbeat (Where the Heart Is)'', consisting of traditional Irish songs. He has also recorded two songs which appear on ''

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

– The Tribute Album''. On 18 February 2007, "Until We Meet Again", a song co-written by Cush and fellow Irish songwriter Don Maskill, was voted runner-up in the Eurosong 2007, the show to select Ireland's entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Helsinki, Finland, following the country's victory at the with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Lordi. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...

. He released his third album ''New Day'' in November 2007 and was joined on the album tour by Joanne Cash, sister of

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

. Subsequently, Cash recorded a song co-written by Cush and Garth McConaghie at Amberville Studios and invited Cush out to Nashville to promote the song at the GMA week in April that year. Cush now works mainly in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, performing live and supporting many

charitable Charity is the voluntary provision of assistance to those in need. It serves as a humanitarian act, and is unmotivated by self-interest. Various philosophies about charity exist, with frequent associations with religion. Etymology The word ...

projects.

Presenting career

After acting as guest presenter on

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

, he received an award from readers of Big Buzz Magazine for most popular radio presenter 2005 and 2008. Cush used to present a daily radio show, ''Six Cafe'' for

Six FM 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

and the ''Sunday Juke Box Show''. Malachi worked for a time for UTV Belfast presenting The Seven Thirty Show and continues to enjoy a modest following for his music.

Discography

Albums

''Malachi'' released March 2003 (UMTV) Number 17 UK Track listing # I Don't Know Why # Fields Of Gold # Just Say You Love Me # All I Want is You # Baby I'm A Want You # Amazed # Have I Told You Lately # Eyes of Blue # The Dance # Vincent # Something # How Can I Tell You # You're The One (Featuring Sinéad Quinn) # Shenandoah ''Celtic Heartbeat (Where The Heart Is)'' released October 2005 (Emerald) Track listing # I Know My Love # Spancil Hill #

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

# Who Are You # John O'Dreams # Lakes Of Ponchartrain # She Moved Thru The Fair # Galway Bay #

Cliffs of Dooneen The "Cliffs of Dooneen" is an Irish ballad made famous by Planxty. It is often performed by Christy Moore. The song was written by Jack McAuliffe from Lixnaw, County Kerry about the cliffs around Dooneen Point near Beale, Kerry in the west of Ir ...

# Curragh Of Kildare # Raggle Taggle Gypsy # The Ferryman #

The Parting Glass "The Parting Glass" (Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 3004) is a Scottish folk music, Scottish folk music, traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It has also long been sung in Ireland, where it remains popular; this has st ...

''Timeless Traditions'' released February 2009 Cush, Malachi. “Malachi Cush.” Malachi Cush - Official Website, www.malachicush.com/music.php. Track Listing # Young Matt Hyland # Lovers' Heart # Ned Of The Hill # Step It Out Mary # The Wild Goose # The Donaghmore Exile # Spanish Lady # I Wish My Love Was A Red Red Rose # Peggy Gordon # The Creel # County Tyrone # The Soldier's Farewell ''Songs for the Soul'' released October 2011 Track Listing #

Morning Has Broken "Morning Has Broken" is a Christian hymn first published in 1931. It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon and was inspired by the village of Alfriston in East Sussex, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, "Bunessan". English po ...

# How Beautiful Is The Body Of Christ # Be Still For The Presence Of The Lord # It Came Upon A Midnight Clear # Be Thou My Vision # The Lord Will Heal The Broken Heart # Voice Of An Angel #

O Holy Night "O Holy Night" (original title: ) is a sacred song about the night of the birth of Jesus Christ, described in the first verse as "the dear Saviour", and frequently performed as a Christmas carol. Based on the French-language poem ''Minuit, ch ...

# Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace # Be Still My Soul #

The Deer's Cry ''The Keltiad'' is a body of epic fantasy works written by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison. There are eight novels in the series and one collection of short stories. The books are set in a star system far from our own, where various Celtic peoples emi ...

# Blessed Be The One

References

External links

Official website
*
Malachi Cush MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cush, Malachi 1980 births Living people Musicians from County Tyrone Male singer-songwriters from Northern Ireland 21st-century singer-songwriters from Northern Ireland People from Donaghmore, County Tyrone