Twenty-one years have passed, the mullet hairstyle has gone, but for Omagh musician Richard Meyler, the 31st Eurovision Song Contest in Norway will always hold a special place in his heart. In 1986, when the spectacular song contest was at the height of its popularity (with Irish entrants winning on several occasions), Richard was 24 and the keyboard player in Luv Bug, which represented Ireland that year. Their song, secured fourth place in the contest won by 13-year-old Belgian Sandra Kim.
Eurovision nowadays is sometimes the subject of derision by none more so than by BBC's resident presenter Terry Wogan. He mocks its "cheesy" modern format with entrants dressed up as monsters winning ahead of renowned songwriters. No matter how much it is ridiculed, however, there is no denying its allure and it still attracts over 300 million viewers.
Looking back at this highlight of his long musical career, Richard declares, "Eurovision is as high as you can tick your musical ability on a European level, apart from original song-writing being a success across Europe. ABBA gave Eurovision the credibility it needed. Although people like Terry Wogan may make fun of it, it is a very serious competition in Europe that does launch many careers.
"It was fantastic and it will certainly be remembered fondly for as long as I live."
Richard was fortunate to grow up in a musical family. He was taught the piano at the age of six by his mother, progressing on to violin and percussion. He performed with the Western Youth Orchestra and Strabane Concert Brass, and between both of them, he travelled throughout Europe.
While doing A-Levels at Omagh CBS Grammar, Richard responded to a newspaper ad looking for a keyboard player. It proved to be his first step as a professional musician when he joined Newry-based band Flash, which had just won New Faces (the 1980s version of Pop Idol) at the age of 17.
He stayed with Flash for a year, then moved to London in 1980 to study piano technology. He was a classmate of Alison Moyet. On returning to Omagh, Richard joined Rock Stewart and the Plattermen for a couple of years before he was headhunted by the Cunningham family from Newry.
"I received an enquiry in 1984 if I would be interested in joining Luv Bug. I soon realised the potential they had – young, fresh and ambitious, interested in writing songs, like me, going on to write songs that featured highly in the Irish charts."
From performing in dancehalls around the country, Luv Bug went on to bigger things.
"Kevin Sheerin had written a song, You Can Count On Me, that had been selected for the final of a Song for Ireland. Luv Bug were then approached to perform it, but at the time it was a country song. As a band, we sat down and worked out various ways it could be turned it into a more pop-type song. Kevin liked that, so together with Daniel O'Donnell's producer John Ryan, we turned the song into the song that went to Europe.
"The night of the competition itself was very nerve-wracking. You went out and did your three-minute song and it was over in a flash. But I can remember vividly looking out at the vast crowd with an awareness that this was being watched by the bulk of Europe as well as people back home, and a feeling of doing them proud and ourselves justice."
Richard is critical of the way Eurovision has become a "glorified karaoke competition" with TV and" making money" dictating what act is selected rather than talent.
"I still think it is a very worthy competition; however, saying that, in recent years the acts have become more gimmicky. I don't agree with the local level of picking songs, which is basically a glorified karaoke singing competition. We were a working band, not manufactured like so many that end up in Eurovision now.
"Unfortunately the approach is all wrong as it is more concerned with making money, which means it has lost its appeal for a lot of genuine musicians. Ireland has always done well with the most wins ever as well as seconds, thirds and fourths, because talented songwriters were putting forward their best material. Now in recent years, it has fallen by the wayside. It really needs to get back to the music."
On returning from Norway, Luv Bug were on a "crest of a wave" getting a lot of work offers throughout Europe, but Richard recalls the highlight of supporting Paul Young in the RDS in Dublin in front of 8,000 people.
The band subsequently signed to Virgin Records in 1987, recording in Burbank Studios in Los Angeles in 1987 under the guidance of producer Roy Thomas Baker who had produced Bohemian Rhapsody for Queen. Luv Bug then featured highly in the English charts.
The band is still touring and performing today, however without the services of Richard on keyboard. After 16 years on the road, it was time to take leave of the fame, the roadies and autograph hunters and concentrate on his business, Richard Meyler Pianos.
"I left seven years ago, taking a break from the music scene for a while to concentrate on the piano business. I was working seven days a week, working all day, then getting in a car to travel to a gig, sometimes as far away as Cork. It was hard graft.
"I concentrate primarily on piano sales, restoration and tuning which takes me all over Ireland, as far as Galway and Wicklow where last year I sold a piano to Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis. I was down with him a couple of weeks ago tuning his piano."
Richard reveals that he shares his newfound passion of motorbikes with the famous Irish actor.
"We sat and had a cup of tea and chatted about motorbikes for 45 minutes. He showed me his Triumph bikes," says Richard who, after a health scare at 39, decided "life is too short" and began his love affair with bikes.
"I had always wanted to learn to ride a motorbike and my ambition was always to ride over the Alps, which I did four years ago when I drove from Omagh to Switzerland – the best holiday I have ever been on."
Bikes may be his new passion, but music is still his true love and, after breaking ties with the live music scene for a few years, Richard couldn't resist getting back up on stage again.
"The '80s was a fantastic time for live music, as people went to dances rather than discos. It is a different format now, with the standard of pub bands now very good, so I eventually moved into forming a two-piece band with a guitar teacher from Strabane, Alan Wilders, called the Mr Men.
"The buzz of seeing a live audience in front of you enjoying themselves is incomparable; there is no better profession than the music profession.
"I would advise any parents to introduce and encourage their children to take up a musical instrument, as not a single day would pass that I wouldn't enjoy getting up for work, then performing at night. I will do it for as long as I can."
