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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Adam Bloodworth

UK's Eurovision entry James Newman has surprisingly famous brother

"I need to know now, know now, can you love me again?" go the lyrics to the tune Love Me Again, the 2013 number 1 single by John Newman - the British singer with Elvis looks and a similarly gravelly baritone voice.

John also had another number 1 the year before, offering guest vocals on Rudimental's party-starter track Feel The Love. John's got more music coming too - a third album's on the way.

Meanwhile, it turns out that James Newman, the UK's Eurovision Song Contest hope for 2021, is actually John Newman's brother. So how did that come about?

Well, both brothers are incredibly musical. John's career began with guest vocals on tracks with artists like Rudimental, and James was working in the industry too, crafting songs for big stars.

(BBC/BMG/Ray Burmiston)

James' writing credits include Little Mix’s Love Me Like You and Rudimental’s Lay It All On Me.

So while John was busy scoring number ones and playing to crowds of thousands himself, brother James was squirrelling away behind the scenes, writing tracks for others to perform.

But when his label rang and asked him to consider doing Eurovision, James said it was a "no brainer."

"When I started out in music I wanted to be a singer," he told the Daily Star. "That’s what I love the most - that feeling of getting on stage and singing to people. When I did my first Eurovision rehearsal last week, it went all black and I was stood up on the podium and the song started and I got chills.

"My plan was always to write songs for other people and then launch my own artist career. So when my label rang me up and said ‘This is a random question, but how would you feel about doing Eurovision?’ it was a no-brainer. It was an amazing opportunity to sing in front of 100million people."

He also revealed that brother John, who has been nominated for three BRIT Awards, including Best Male Solo Artist, is supporting him from the sidelines.

"He’s given me so much good advice. We’re best mates, we always support each other, so it’s been great being able to ring him up every night and ask him questions," says James.

"He knows what it’s like to be in the public eye - he’s sung in front of thousands and thousands of people."

James will need a dose of John's confidence when he walks on stage to millions of international viewers around the world at tonight's Eurovision, where he'll be performing his upbeat pop track, Embers.

The song, which features a brass section and has a dance floor feel, is about reinvention and rebirth. The lyrics go: "Out of the embers, you and I gonna light up the room."

Let's hope James lights up the room at Eurovision in Rotterdam this Saturday and scores Britain some luck at the Eurovision Song Contest, where we recently we've developed a reputation for coming last!

The UK has the record for the longest run of consecutive appearances in tonight's Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, having performed 59 consecutive times.

However, the UK has only won Eurovision five times, and the last time was quite a while ago, in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves' entry, Love Shine A Light. Other winners include Lulu with Boom Bang-a-Bang in 1969, and Bucks Fizz with Making Your Mind Up in 1981.

We've come last four times, in 2003, 2008, 2010 and 2019.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an international song competition uniting mainly European countries, but others, like Australia, have become honorary Europeans to join in the fun along the way.

*Eurovision airs tonight from 8pm on BBC1

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