Promising young star Michael Moloney, from Ballina, stole plenty of hearts when he appeared on last year’s Late Late Toy Show with his performance of Dermot Kennedy's hit song "Giants".
Much to the shock and surprise of Michael, and the audience at home, Michael was joined on set by Dermot Kennedy to perform the track together.
Since that incredible and heart-warming performance, Michael has gained followers and fans across the country and is now set to release his debut single "All That I Do" on May 21.
Dedicated to his late father, Emmett Moloney, whose 4th anniversary is only two days later on May 23, the track was also written for and inspired by his dad.
Drawing on the emotions he felt following his father’s passing, Michael describes how the song came about: "It was like a lightbulb moment, why don’t I write a song about my dad? This song was different from my other songs, I was writing about a real-life event that happened, and the lyrics embodied how I felt about my dad passing away."
Michael wrote and recorded the song in Windmill Lane Recording Studios. Working with Grammy Nominated producer, arranger and music composer Gavin Murphy (Niall Horan, Van Morrison, Gregory Porter, Kodaline ), Michael looked to the piano instead of the guitar for inspiration.
"All my other songs had been written for the guitar, so I sat down at the piano for a while and came up with this chord progression; the melody and lyrics soon followed."
It might be easy to forget that Michael is only 14 years of age. Having picked up a guitar at the age of eight, he quickly mastered just about every other instrument he could get his hands on. Writing poems that would soon become song lyrics, Michael was influenced and inspired by his parent’s diverse music choices at home, a house he says that was always filled with music.
He said: "I guess I take my love of music from both sides, not only my dad but my mums’ side also. My mum's dad played the accordion and sang, and her granduncles on her mother's side played fiddle and sang; all her brothers play instruments and sing too. My mum has music playing in every room of the house constantly thanks to Alexa…. so there's always music going on, it's great."
