Following on from her exclusive hotpress.com cover of U2's 'Exit' last March, Hot Press' 'Hot For 2017' pick Susan O'Neill (aka SON) has scored another viral hit on social media with her Facebook Live cover of the Elvis classic 'Return To Sender', garnering almost 11,000 views in just 24 hours.
The Ennis-born singer/songwriter was asked by Waterford station WLR FM to cover an Elvis song for the 40th anniversary of his death earlier this week. Although she filmed the recording in their studio, she was having problems uploading the video.
Yesterday morning, as she was rehearsing at home in Dublin in preparation for her support slot to Sharon Shannon in the National Concert Hall last night, Susan and her backing guitarist Mark Shortall decided, on the spur of the moment, to perform the song again on Facebook Live.
"This is my first time ever going live," she explains to the camera. "We went into WLR FM during this during the week, but I'm having issues uploading the video. So we're going to do a quick live version of it now."
After a somewhat shaky start ("This is harder than playing in front of an audience," she laughs), Susan and Mark completely nailed the song. Facebook users obviously agreed with the views hitting almost 500 within the hour. 24 hours later and she has almost hit the 11,000 mark.
SON – who also sings with Propeller Palms and King Kong Company – has been having quite some 2017 to date. Her highlights include the release of her debut album Found Myself Lost, short tours of Holland, Denmark and the US, a Glasto appearance with King Kong Company, and a performance with KKC at the Áras for one of the president's garden parties.
SON will be appearing again in her hometown at the Ennis Fleadh this weekend, sharing the stage with Sharon Shannon for the second time this week. Next Wednesday she will be singing with the Propeller Palms as they make their Whelan's debut, before returning to Waterford for the Daytripper Festival where they'll be sharing the main stage with UB40 and The Blades.
All in a week's work for this star in the making...