Sinéad O’Connor and Limerick-born Shonagh Daly may inhabit separate musical planets, but one thing they might agree on is the evil of reality TV music programmes. According to Daly: “People are getting sick of it all now. They want less processed performances and something more real and more natural. They want a band. They want to hear guitars and people actually playing. The current popularity of Jamie Cullum and Katie Melua is proof of that.”
While Sinéad’s music career may be winding down, the 23-year-old musical veteran is about to take flight, with her first album due and a major label push about to swing in behind it.
Beautiful View contains songs written for her by many of the world’s top songwriters, including occasional Irish resident Andrew Lloyd Webbe. Daly recalls those that stand out for her.
“There’s ‘Where The Cedars Falls’, which is a great power ballad. The title song is a simple, quite folky Norah Jones-type thing. The single ‘All I Want’ is on it, and ‘This Can’t Be Love’ written by Chris Farren from Nashville.
“It was my first shot at recording and it was amazing,” she continues. “It’s totally different from performing in a musical. In the studio you can try something out and if it doesn’t work you can scrub it, but on stage you have to carry on even if there’s the odd fluff. They need distinctly different disciplines.”
Did Daly also discover that producers work differently too?
“Yes, Some got me to go for a complete natural performance while others prefer to do it line by line. That can be very hard work if you have to try to keep the passion in that line after twenty takes. But I’m happy to do it whichever way works best for the song in the end.”
After the album’s release Daly wants to get into her own songwriting which has taken a back seat with her performing as part of the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End Musical The Beautiful Game.
“After being in the musical Andrew took me under his wing and that lead to a record deal,” she explains. “So he’s been involved with me all the way through and he wrote a completely new song with Tim Rice for me.”
Influences?
“I’m more towards Shania and Faith Hill,” she says. “I like country music because the songs are all about stories and the actor in me finds that very attractive. Whitney Houston has a great voice too, and I also admire Randy Crawford, Damien Rice and Stevie Wonder.”
Daly has always wanted to be a performer.
“I plagued my mum in Limerick to let me go to stage school when I was five, and I stayed there until I was 17. Both my grandfathers played in traditional bands, so music was always around. Performing is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I started making a living from it when I got the part in The Beautiful Game.”
Daly is mature enough to know that the music biz is ultra- competitive and that all her work and patience over the past few years might all come to nought. However, she believes her timing is right.
“The public mood is swinging back to singers who can actually sing live, and this could be the perfect time for me to be putting out this record.”

Shonagh Daly’s Beautiful Voices is out now on Polydor