Cavan girl aiming to be Voice of Ireland

A Cootehill singer is through to round two of RTE's exciting new music talent show, The Voice of Ireland. Twenty-six-year-old primary school teacher Michelle Cunningham from Middle Chapel, Cootehill, bravely took to the stage in a bid to wow the competition's four judges - The Blizzards frontman Bressie, Sharon Corr of legendary Irish group The Corrs, Westlife's Kian Egan and UK songstress Jamelia. It wasn't long after she began singing her acoustic rendition of Emeli Sandé's 'Read all about it' that Michelle's dream of progressing in the competition was realised, with Bressie pressing the 'I want you' button first. Soon after, Kian joined him and the competition as to who would coach the talented local girl commenced. Based on the international hit format, The Voice of Ireland seeks out the best singing talent the country has to offer. The blind auditions, which Michelle appeared on last Sunday night, saw her sing to impress the coaches, who each, initially had their backs to the singer. Michelle arrived at the studios with the support of younger sister and former Cavan Rose, Tara. Together, with her sisters, the Cunningham siblings are well-recognised locally as being accomplished musicians, and Michelle, who would love to sing professionally one day, has herself released two demo recordings, both of which have received radio play nationwide. Having stated earlier in the show that she would most like to work with either Bressie or Kian, Michelle was faced with an enviable task of choosing, eventually siding with the former who said, though he didn't like the song, it was Michelle's voice that "grabbed" him and made him turn around. Having disagreed with Sharon's assertions that Michelle suffered from nerves on the night, Bressie gave an insight into what both he and viewers can hope to see of Michelle in future shows when he said he hoped she wasn't afraid of "belting" a song out. Michelle told The Anglo-Celt she was "delighted" to have done so well. "It's something different, I've been singing and playing guitar for years and I just wanted to see what people, like the four judges with their wealth of experience in the industry, would think of me.