Janet Devlin is a Northern Irish Singer who represented Ireland in the North Vision Song Contest #5 in Aarhus, Denmark and the North Vision Song Contest #11 in Lviv, Ukraine.
Biography[]
Janet is the youngest of four children to Aquinas and Pat Devlin and has three elder brothers: Jason, Gavin and Aaron. Prior to entering The X Factor, she lived with her parents and brothers in Gortin, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. She attended Drumragh Integrated College where she completed her GCSE's. A talented student, Janet scored the highest possible grade at A* in Philosophy and Religion, 3 A grades, 4 B grades and 2 C grades in Mathematics and Chemistry.
The X-Factor (2011)[]
In 2011, Devlin auditioned for the eighth series of The X Factor. Her audition was screened on 20 August 2011, where she performed Elton John's "Your Song". Her audition was successful as all four judges: Louis Walsh, Tulisa Contostavlos, Kelly Rowland and Gary Barlow put her through to the next round. She performed Coldplay's "Fix You" in week 1 of the live shows and was put through to the next round by mentor Kelly Rowland, as there was no public vote in the first week. Devlin topped the public vote more than any other act as she received most public votes for the first four weeks of voting (weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5) and reached week 8 before landing in the bottom 2 with Misha B. Despite polling more public votes than Misha B, she was voted off by judges Contostavlos and Walsh with Rowland refusing to vote. Devlin's final song in the sing off was Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars". During the live shows, Courtney Love tweeted Simon Cowell to offer to give Devlin one of Nirvana's tracks for the show. This, however, did not transpire.
Hide & Seek and First North Vision attempt (2012-2013)[]
Following the X Factor Live Tour, Janet began work on her debut album at Steelworks Recording Studios, Sheffield. She was first in the recording studio on 28 May 2012, where she wrote and recorded three songs ('Crown of Thorns', 'Thinking Back Yesterday' and 'Who Am I Today?') with Grammy Award and Ivor Novella Award-winning producer Eliot Kennedy and his team.
This debut album was launched on Pledge Music where it is available to pre-order along with several other exclusives including a chance to record backing vocals with her (although that never happened). In December 2012 it was stated that the album would be released in 2013, having reached 45% of the pledge target within the first two weeks. Having reached 100% on New Year's Eve 2012, Janet began the recording of her album in early 2013. On 26 June 2013, Janet finished recording the limited release version of her debut album. 'Hide & Seek'
It was announced by RTÉ that Devlin would be representing Ireland with her song "Wonderful" in the North Vision Song Contest #5, that year hosten in Denmark. She would later qualify for the final (becoming the 4th Irish act to do so) and take 16th place in the final (to date, Ireland's second highest placing).
Running with Scissors and second North Vision attempt (2013 - present)[]
Devlin announced in March 2014 that the general release of her debut album, with the new title 'Running with Scissors' will be on 9 June. The album will feature new single 'House of Cards' (to be released on the 26 May[42]) with 3 other new original songs (Whisky Lullabies' co written with UK song writer Tim Jennings, 'Lifeboat' and 'When You Were Mine'), a cover of The Cure's 'Friday I'm in Love' and reworked versions of 'Delicate' (from the EP Nothing Lost), 'Wonderful', 'Creatures of the Night', 'Things We Lost in the Fire' and 'Hide & Seek' from the limited release album Hide & Seek. The reworked version of the song 'Hide & Seek' will feature Newton Faulkner whom, along with his brother, co-wrote it with Janet.[43]
When RTÉ announced the acts receiving mentorship for Made in Ireland 6, it was shown Devlin was once again trying to repreent Ireland, and had recieved mentorship from the Danish broadcaster. She would go on to win the event with her song "House of Cards" getting the highest number of points even achieved in Ireland's selection. Devlin performed 14th in the second semi final, where it was later announced she had qualified from, giving her second appearence in a NVSC final.
Discography[]
Studio Albums[]
Album title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
UK | IRE | ||
Hide & Seek |
|
N/A | N/A |
Running with Scissors |
|
43 | 5 |
Singles[]
Single | Year | Peak chart position | Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK | IRE | |||
"Wonderful" | 15 | 8 | Hide & Seek | |
"House of Cards" | 2014 | 2 | 8 | Running with Scissors |
"Creatures of the Night" | - | 29 |