Simon Bushby

Last Friday night a group of family, friends, colleagues and supporters gathered around my brother-in-law, Simon Bushby, to support him for the live show of RTÉ’s “The Hit“.

For as long as I’ve known him, he has had music in his heart and has been composing since a very young age and studied at Ballyfermot College of Further Education. Simon plays with the band “Home Brew” but in true superhero style, by day he works in retail banking.

It was no surprise to us when Simon’s song “Georgia” was chosen by Steve Lillywhite as one of the potential hits in the show. It has special meaning for my husband and I as he played it at our wedding.

While I accept the show offers the songwriters a unique opportunity to have their songs heard by a wider audience, I’m not a fan of the format of The Hit.

Last Friday because of the strategic song selection by Mik Pyro from The Republic of Loose, it left 2 of the chosen songwriters on the back foot. Simon was one of them. As soon as I heard Liz Seaver’s song I realised that Samantha Mumba could only choose hers, as it was written from a female perspective. I believe that Simon’s song was more suited to “The Loose” but given Mik had locked in the first 2 songs he had heard there was no opportunity to pitch the song to him.

In fairness Mik had regrets about that decision.

I’d like to extend real apologies for not listening to the other 4 songwriters. That was obnoxious in retrospect. @RTETheHit @RTEplayer

— Mik Pyro (@MIKPYRO) August 18, 2013

While we had a fair idea of the outcome it wasn’t going to stop us from having a good time.

We decided we’d celebrate that my brother-in-law’s talent was recognised and have a few laughs together.

There were very weary bones the next morning and not a drop of alcohol taken either. I think we just got giddy given the occasion.

I’m in awe of Simon for getting to the final stages of this competition. Over 1,000 songs were submitted and he was within touching distance of being chosen. It has been an incredibly difficult process for him to go through, hold down the day-job, keep on gigging with the band and of course be the family man. He is married to my beautiful sister, Aoife and they have a little boy who is just 7 weeks younger than my toddler.

Well done to Simon for getting this far. I hope that this is the start of your talent becoming more recognised in the music world.

If you’re following the show, do consider buying Liz Seaver’s song, “Somebody Like Me”, as she is also a local songwriter with a great talent and the song is brilliant.

Please Note: The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Simon Bushby.