In the blood for Tassie Idol hope!

Written By Bruce Mounster - Mercury Newspaper - Front Page Article August 12, 2009

TASMANIA'S latest Australian Idol TV standout Moire Meany said she was inspired by her grandmother: Moire, 16, of Glenorchy, who made her national TV debut on the first auditions episode, said singing and music ran in the family.

Grandparents Roy and Dot Newman's band Rakish Paddy specialises in dance music with a traditional Irish flavour, which also permeates much of Moire's work. In 2006, she teamed with three other teenagers to form the band Daideo and the Blue Mosquitoes, which regularly mixes traditional Celtic music with contemporary sounds in venues such as the Prince of Wales Hotel, Irish Murphys and Brookfield Vineyard.

They plan to tour Ireland in 2011. "By that time, everyone in the band will be 18. It will be great," Moire said. She has made it into the top 100 contestants. Viewers have to wait until 6:30pm on August 23 to find out how much further she progresses.

She said there was not a shred of nastiness on the Australian Idol set. The worst thing that the soon-to-leave judge Kyle Sandilands said about her was that shhe looked "ferral". Moire said many of the friendships she made with the other contestants in Melbourne would be lasting.

"We are all hooked up on Facebook and they all say they are coming to Tasmania," she said. She didn't have advanced knowledge of how the program progressed.