Published Date:
05 June 2008
By Donal O'Regan
YOU'RE A Star winner Leanne Moore has recorded a moving tribute written by the cousin of two stepsisters killed in a car accident in Galbally.
Sixteen-year-old Jamie Bridgeman, Ardnacrusha began noting down lyrics when he heard the tragic news that his first cousins Leanne Miller, Kilteely, and Robyn O'Riordan, Moyross, were killed in 2006. The girls were aged just 15.
The male driver of the car they were travelling in lost control of the Toyota Starlet and was jailed for three years.
Jamie's mother Marion knew that Leanne Moore was meant to sing the charity song called On Wings, when Leanne and Robyn Kavanagh reached the final of You're A Star. The same names as her deceased nieces.
"I cried my eyes out when I saw Robyn and Leanne in the final. I knew Leanne was meant to sing it then. If you saw it in a movie you wouldn't believe it," said Ms Bridgeman.
"The chances of it happening are tiny," adds Leanne. "I mean it's not like Leanne and Robyn are common names."
And even the story of how the song came to life is straight from the halls of Hollywood.
"We were on holiday and I wrote some of it in the camper van when we first heard. I then finished it after the funeral," said Jamie, who then forgot about it.
Six months after the car accident Marion Bridgeman was tidying out her office.
"I found this copybook and I asked Jamie what it was. He told me and I thought the lyrics were beautiful," said Ms Bridgeman, whose own brother was killed in a car accident this weekend 25 years ago.
The song has some very emotive lyrics and has a strong road safety message: "I dream of their lives, then I open my eyes, the pain it doesn't stop, more lives will be lost and suddenly snatched, never be forgotten."
And the charity song which won't be released until Friday, June 20, is already having an effect.
"On my Bebo page people that I don't know have left messages saying they hope people take heed and listen to the words of the song. Even when I was growing up, boys had their souped up Starlets and they were doing doughnuts and handbrake turns and it's not worth it," said Leanne.
The song is being funded by the Gardai and is supported by the Road Safety Authority. Ms Bridgeman, Leanne and Jamie feel their song is a new approach.
They hope to officially launch the song with the Garda Commissioner in Dublin this week, then release the song on radio before being available to buy in shops on Friday, June 20. Cds will cost €2 and downloads will be 99 cent. All the profits will go to a local charity yet to be announced.
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Last Updated:
05 June 2008 10:09 AM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Limerick