Michael James Down is a songwriter from

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 ...

, Northern Ireland. He is best known as a composer and lyricist of several pop songs performed by other artists, many of them in national pre-selections of 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 ...

. He has worked with American popstar/rapper

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

, the Japanese girlgroup

MAX Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and in 2018 it was revealed that he'd written six of the songs for Russian pop star

Sergey Lazarev Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev ( rus, Серге́й Вячесла́вович Ла́зарев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈlazərʲɪf; born 1 April 1983) is a Russian singer. He is most famous for his singing career, when ...

's album 'The One' which charted at number 1 in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Discography

Entries in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest

* "Señorita" by Carlos Higes, Spain, (

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 was the 20th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Public Television Company of Armenia (AMPTV). The contest took place on ...

), 6th place

Entries in national Eurovision pre-selections

2012 * "This Must Be Love" by Ana Mardare ( Romania 2012), 13th place 2013 * "Meðal Andanna" by

Birgitta Haukdal Birgitta Haukdal Brynjarsdóttir (born 28 July 1979), known mononymously as Birgitta, is an Icelandic singer. She rose to domestic media prominence as the lead singer of pop band Írafár. She represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Con ...

( Iceland 2013), 3rd place * "Hullócsillag" by Mónika Hoffmann ( Hungary 2013), eliminated (semi-final) * "I Need a Hero" by Samanta Tina ( Latvia 2013), 2nd place * "One" by Niko ( Latvia 2013), 6th place * "Paralyzed" by Andrei Leonte ( Romania 2013), 12th place in final * "I Believe in Love" by Diana Hetea ( Romania 2013), 12th place (semi-final) * "Runaways" by Boris Covali ( Moldova 2013), 2nd place * "Freaky Thong" by Nicoleta Gavriliţă ( Moldova 2013), 6th place * "A Brighter Day" by Tatiana Heghea ( Moldova 2013), 8th place * "Celebrate" by Cristina V. & Glam Girls ( Moldova 2013), 12th place * "Coma" by Margarita Ciorici ( Moldova 2013), eliminated (semi-final) * "In My Head" by Alexandru Şendrea ( Moldova 2013), eliminated (semi-final) 2014 * 'It's Not Impossible" by Michael James ( Switzerland SRF internet candidates 2014), did not qualify * "Somebody Like You" by Daria Kinzer ( Switzerland SRF internet candidates 2014), did not qualify * "My Little Honey Bee" by Dennis Fagerström ( Finland 2014), eliminated (semi-final) * "Love Will Take Me Home" by Franklin Calleja ( Malta 2014), 7th place * "Waterfall" by Joni ( Hungary 2014), eliminated (semi-final) 2015 * "Boom!" by Michael James ( Switzerland RTS qualifiers 2015), did not qualify 2016 * "Wrong Answers" by Michael James ( Switzerland SRF internet candidates 2016), did not quality * "Alive" by Jasmine Abela ( Malta 2016), 6th place * "All Around the World" by Deborah C ( Malta 2016), 11th place * "United" by Rūta Ščiogolevaitė ( Lithuania 2016), 3rd place * "Good Enough" by Annica Milán & Kimmo Blom ( Finland 2016), 5th place * "Don't Wake Me Up" by Tuuli Okkonen ( Finland 2016), 9th place 2017 * "Let's Come Together" by

NAPOLI Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

( Belarus 2017), Joint 4th place * "Tonight" by Deborah C & Josef Tabone ( Malta 2017), 7th place * "Sacrifice" by Mia ( Lithuania 2017), 5th place (quarter-final) * "Þú hefur dáleitt mig"/"Hypnotised" by Aron Brink ( Iceland 2017), 4th place * "I Won't Surrender" by

MIHAI Mihai () is a Romanian given name for males or a surname. It is equivalent to the English name Michael. A variant of the name is Mihail. Its female form is Mihaela. Notable people with these names include: Given name * Mihai Timofti (1948–2023 ...

( Romania 2017), 2nd place 2018 * "Back to Life" by

Eleanor Cassar Eleanor Cassar (born September 29, 1982) is a Maltese pop singer. She won the 2004 Golden Stag Festival. Early life and education Eleanor Cassar was first introduced to music at age 6, as part of her school choir. She was first noticed by her ...

( Malta 2018), 5th place * "Devoted" by Johnny Bădulescu ( Romania 2018), 4th place (semi-final) * "Try" by Xandra ( Romania 2018), 9th place * "Heaven" by

( Romania 2018), 7th place * "Somebody to Love" by Manuel Chivari ( Romania 2018), 7th place (semi-final) * "Chasing Rushes" by

( Belarus 2018), Joint 4th place * "Dišem" by Nina Petković ( Montenegro 2018), 5th place * "Powerful" by Donata Virbilaitė ( Lithuania 2018), 12th place (quarter-final) * "Alien" by Felicia Dunaf ( Moldova 2018), 8th place * "Aldrei gefast upp"/"Battleline" by Fókus ( Iceland 2018), 5th place 2019 * "Ja sam ti san" by

Andrea Demirović Andrea Demirović ( sr-cyrl, Андреа Демировић; born 17 June 1985), also known as simply Andrea, is a Montenegrin singer and a student of the Cetinje Music Academy – ''Music Pedagogy''. Demirović was born in Podgorica, Monteneg ...

( Montenegro 2019), 3rd place * "Weight of the World" by Nicola ( Romania 2019), eliminated (semi-final) * "Underground" by Vaida ( Romania 2019), 6th place * "I Will Not Surrender" by Maxim Zavidia ( Moldova 2019), 2nd place 2020 * "Don't Let Me Down" by

( Belarus 2020), 9th place 2022 * "Do svidaniya" by ARIS ( Romania 2022), eliminated (semi-final) * "Washing Machine" by Queens of Roses ( Lithuania 2022), 8th place 2023 * "Love You Like That" by Jake ( Malta 2023), eliminated (quarter-final) * "Haunted" by Lyndsay ( Malta 2023), eliminated (quarter-final) * "Love Again" by Skrellex ( Norway 2023), 7th place 2025 * "Frelsið Mitt"/"Set Me Free" by Stebbi Jak ( Iceland 2025), 2nd place

Other notable songs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Down, Michael James British composers Living people Musicians from Belfast 1988 births