Elly O'Keeffe
A London Irish Story as told to Matthew Dunne-Miles
“I went on The Voice. I was on the stage in front of the four coaches, nearly having a heart attack! In all the years I’ve been performing, it was the most nerve-wracking thing.”
“I'm from the border of Cork and Kerry. I miss home a lot. I think the culture in Ireland is really strong, not only the music scene, but there's just a sense of community everywhere you go. Trad music is really popular in Ireland, and I really miss that. Just going anywhere and there's going to be some music playing. You don't realise that doesn't happen everywhere else.
I grew up in a very small town. As a teenager I thought I was weird because I didn't always fit in, but I realised that I just needed a bit of a bigger world and probably needed to be in a creative environment. All of my family are musical, and we had a family band. I was 14 when I started gigging and we gigged all around Ireland for six years. As young as I can remember, all I wanted to do was sing. I couldn’t imagine what that's like for anyone who had questions about what they want to do!
“I realised that I just needed a bit of a bigger world and probably needed to be in a creative environment.”
I moved to Cork when I was 18 and did a one-year performance course. I met amazing artists and some of my best friends. When I finished college, I had written a bunch of songs and started working with some people around Cork. That started my journey into my artistry. I started recording an album at 19, finished it when I was 21, and released it when I was 22. All self-released. I had some amazing musicians playing on it. It was a big experience for me, so you could say that was my degree.
I started having writing sessions with a producer based in London. I would come over every six weeks, and that lasted for maybe a year and a half. At this point, it had been a few years after my album, and I had done all I was going to do with it. I made the move then in 2014 and here I am seven years later. I initially found it very hard. It was inspiring and exciting but, I think back now, I actually was very lonesome having left Cork – even though one of my best friends moved with me. We were so lucky that we had each other and were living in Bow and liked East London.
I recorded an EP with my new producer, I had co-written most of these songs and it was a new musical project, so that kept me going. It was hard time financially, and I worked very hard in a little old mans pub in Farringdon but I was just putting all my energy into my music really.
I eventually had to join a cover band that was based in West London because I wasn’t making enough money from my bar job. There was a much bigger Irish community and that kind of settled me down a bit over here. As much as I loved gigging when I was younger, and I guess doing that graft gave me versatility as an artist – it's the monotony of it every weekend and it's not easy being a one-woman band on Saturdays nights full of drunk people! It was fun but you get to an age where it’s just hard work. It has definitely taken a lot of my creative energy in the last few years. I think the money was too good for me to ever make that decision to leave it but because of COVID I had no choice. It was a hard year financially, but I actually was a lot happier.
“It was hard time financially, and I worked very hard in a little old mans pub in Farringdon but I was just putting all my energy into my music really.”
Before COVID, I went on The Voice. They asked me to come on and I initially said no, but my boyfriend said “What have you got to lose? It's just exposure.” I went to the preliminary rounds and thought it was really well run. Before I knew it, I was on the stage in front of the four coaches, nearly having a heart attack! In all the years I've been performing, it was the most nerve-wracking thing. And if nobody turned for me, I think I would have been distraught! Luckily three of them did.
I’m committed 100% of my career, but I've always had a life too. I've always been a hard worker. At the moment, I'm teaching five days a week and I love it! It’s a commitment alright going from three days to five, but I prefer having my weekends for being creative. Teaching kids doesn't drain me. I actually love it. I do a lot of song writing for mental health awareness week with every year group. I get a lot of children showing me the songs they've written themselves.
The children learn a lot about music, I’m very proud of that. But mainly, it's the confidence it gives them. My aim is to make them confident to use their voices, not even their singing voices. Just even to be able to say their name out loud and voice their thoughts. As much as I love music, you have to be happy in life as well. I know for me that when it consumed me too much, it took too much from me. It’s nice to strike the balance between my Music teaching career and my artist career. I think I’ve finally found that now!”
