Linda Martin (born in Omagh, on 17 April 1947) is Irish singer and TV presenter, working almost exclusively in the Republic of Ireland. Martin started off her musical career when she joined the band Chips in Belfast in 1969 while she was still in school. Martin is a native of Omagh, the County Town of County Tyrone, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. She is famous for her very glamourous sense of style.
She participated in the National Song Contest four times as a member of Chips, however they did not score successfully. She participated another four times in the contest as a soloist and once more as part of the group "Linda Martin and Friends". With nine participations, she has been the most frequent entrant in the National Song Contest's history. She won the contest twice, going on to represent Ireland twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. She triumphed at Eurovision in 1992. According to John Kennedy O'Connor in his book, The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, Linda is one of only three artists to finish both first and second at Eurovision. Of the three, Linda was the first to finish second first and first second!
Linda was Ireland's fourth Eurovision winner.
She has presented the RTÉ quiz show The Lyrics Board, one of the broadcaster's more popular formats. She served as one of Louis Walsh's behind-the-scenes team on the first series of ITV's The X Factor.
She also served as a judge on the first, second and fourth seasons of RTÉ's You're A Star and on Charity You're A Star in Summer 2005 and Summer 2006. She was dismissed from the 2007 season, however, speaking on Saturday Night with Miriam O'Callaghan on RTÉ television on Saturday July 28, 2007, she insisted that she was "open" to being invited back on to the show. Martin has not ruled out a return to Eurovision following Ireland's dismal performance in the 2007 contest finishing last with only five points.
She was a guest performer at Congratulations, the 50th anniversary Eurovision concert in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2005.
Linda Martin recently was also the Irish spokesperson for Eurovision Song Contest 2007.
