Entertainment

Youtube teenage singer sets sail on a career in song

Jenny Lee chats to 16-year-old Lurgan girl Emma Horan who has taken social media by a storm with her musical mash-ups

Singer Emma Horan (16), from Lurgan will be performing at the 2015 Maritime Festival in Belfast
Singer Emma Horan (16), from Lurgan will be performing at the 2015 Maritime Festival in Belfast Singer Emma Horan (16), from Lurgan will be performing at the 2015 Maritime Festival in Belfast (Fraser Stewart)

AS 80 large sailing vessels arrive in Belfast today for the Tall Ships Races, Lurgan schoolgirl Emma Horan is among the musicians topping the entertainment bill at this weekend's Lidl Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival.

Contrary to social media reports, she's not be related to One Direction's Niall Horan, but the 16-year-old still has a voice that has attracted thousands of followers. In the space of a year the Lurgan College student has shot to fame through her online videos, with her cover of Mumford & Sons' Little Lion Man reaching number three in the iTunes singer/songwriter charts.

What started as a girl experimenting with her own style of ‘mash-up’ featuring popular songs in her home, soon caught the attention of followers all over the world. "I just wanted my stuff to get out there and for my friends and family to hear it. I didn't think it would go anywhere near viral. That was so crazy. I wanted to do something different with all my favourite songs. I have old stuff, pop and hip-hop. It was really interesting to throw them all together and see what came out with just three chords on the piano."

Determined to bypass the plethora of television talent shows and do it her way, Emma currently has had more than two million online views across all her channels on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. "You don't need a television show to make or break you. I just want to do it myself. You need to love music and do it the natural way," says Emma, who won't be auditioning for The Voice or The X Factor.

Having taken dance lessons since she was three and classical singing lessons since she was six, Emma says "music has always been part of my life". She recently completed her grade eight singing and is working towards her diploma in musical theatre.

While juggling music with her GCSEs, Emma has been diving into songwriting under the professional guidance and mentoring of Generator NI, working alongside key music producers. She is co-writing with American songwriter Tre Shepherd and hopes to release an EP of original material in 2016.

"I would describe my songwriting as pop with a bit of wee bit of edge. It's been cool to find my sound. All I want to do is write and sing, I can't see myself doing anything else," says Emma, who has a sensible head on her musical shoulders and plans to complete her A-levels, before taking a gap year and seeing where and in what direction her music takes her.

Over the past year Emma has performed at the LegenDerry Maritime Festival, supported Janet Devlin on her My Delirium tour, taken part in the MAC Music Tour in Dublin's Button Factory with Britain's Got Talent rap-singing duo Bars and Melody and most recently performed as a special guest at Portadown Got Talent open-air festival in front of an audience that included former X Factor judge Louis Walsh.

Looking forward to what is potentially her biggest live audience so far in Belfast, Emma will take to the main stage, outside the Odyssey Arena, on Sunday at 11.15am, following the Red Arrows flypast, and perform the soundtrack for the tall ships parade out of Belfast Lough.

Also on the main stage at the festival is 16-year-old Britain’s Got Talent star Bailey McConnell, who has just finished his debut US tour, as well as The Nooks, Saffyre, the Down and Out String Band and the Broken String Band. There'll be Bhangra, Andalusian Latin American and African sounds too, and some Irish traditional music.

  • See tallshipsbelfast.com for full festival details. Hear Emma's music at https://www.youtube.com/user/emzy1998/videos.