Wannabes to strut stuff for You’re A Star auditions

THOUSANDS of budding Irish pop stars are expected to strut their stuff in a bid for fame this week as a new You’re A Star competition gets under way.

The television talent scouting team will be auditioning singers at five different locations around the country this month as people bid to follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner Lucia Evans.

Organisers expect a strong turn-out at the auditions in Dublin’s Helix venue this Wednesday after more than 1,000 pop wannabes queued for hours for the auditions in July for UK television talent competition The X Factor.

The numbers were whittled down to around 50 who auditioned for Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Simon Cowell in a bid to make it onto the ITV show.

Auditions for You’re A Star, which will screen on RTÉ, will take place in The Helix this Wednesday, The Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan, on Sunday August 20, the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill, on Thursday August 24, the Clarion, Cork, on Sunday August 27 and the RDS, Dublin, on Sunday September 3.

Organisers said band auditions for the show, which will be run over the winter months, will be held by invitation only from the production company Screentime ShinAwil, which is based in Dublin’s Digital Hub.

Evans, who won the competition earlier this year, received a recording contract, publishing deal and musical equipment. She released a single — Bruised Not Broken — in April.