Una Healy

Una Theresa Imogene Healy (born 10 October 1981) is an Irish singer.

Healy was born on 10 October 1981 in Thurles, County Tipperary.

She comes from a musical background and is the niece of country singer Declan Nerney.

She has an elder sister, Deirdre, whom she calls "Dee".

She is a cousin of Irish athlete Paul Hession.

At the age of 13, Healy gave up swimming (she was an All-Ireland champion swimmer at nine) and decided to take up guitar, teaching herself to play using her mother's guitar, and from then on began to write songs of her own.

After finishing school at 18, she decided to take a year out and worked as a medical secretary.

She went on to study nursing and then primary teaching at Mary Immaculate College, but finally decided to pursue her music passion at 23 years old.

Healy began her music career playing guitar and singing in pubs and clubs around Ireland, solo and in bands.

She won Ireland's Glinsk Song Contest in both 2004 and 2006.

Healy previously attempted a solo career in 2006, when she released her first extended play, Sorry.

Although the EP was not successful, one of the tracks from the EP was re-recorded and used for the B-side of the band's track "Higher".

She represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 as a backing singer for Brian Kennedy on "Every Song Is a Cry for Love".

Whilst Healy was slowly finding success in her native Ireland as an indie solo artist, she felt she did not have a firm direction in her career.

In mid-2006, she recorded and released her first extended play, entitled Sorry, from which the track "Had It with Today" was re-recorded as the B-side of the Saturdays' single "Higher", which she self-produced.

The album includes the songs "So Long", "Raider of My Sleep" and "I Love You".

In 2007, Healy – still struggling to find major success – flew to London to gain more exposure and experience as a performer, then landed an audition for The Saturdays, which was her first audition for a major label and her first abroad.

Healy was a member of the Saturdays, a girl group, from 2007 until 2014.

The group achieved thirteen Top 10 hits and four Top 10 albums.

She rose to fame in 2008 as a member of five-piece girl group The Saturdays, who are signed to Fascination and Polydor Records.

The group later gained another record deal with Geffen Records after having huge success in the United Kingdom.

Healy and the rest of the group then signed a deal with Island Def Jam Records and Mercury Records to distribute their music in the United States, which led to her first UK number one single, "What About Us".

In 2008, Healy wrote, produced and performed on the soundtrack to Christian Blake, written and directed by Eoin Macken.

The music can be heard throughout the duration of the film; however, the soundtrack was never officially released.

Tracks include "Don't Leave Me Alone" and "Drops of Rain".

"Don't Leave Me Alone" was the leading track from the soundtrack and the music video can still be found on YouTube.

The girl group released their debut single "If This Is Love" in July 2008, and it peaked at number eight in the UK.

The group released a second single "Up" which charted at number five in the UK and later the song was given a Silver Disc in the United Kingdom.

In late October 2008, the group released their first studio album Chasing Lights.

It charted at number nine in the UK, and went platinum according to the BPI.

The band released a third single from the album, "Issues", which also went silver.

The Saturdays released a cover of "Just Can't Get Enough" by Depeche Mode.

The song debuted at number two in the UK, behind Flo Rida's "Right Round".

The fifth and final single from the album was "Work", which was the first single by the group to fail to reach the top 20.

The Saturdays decided to take a hiatus in 2014, upon completion of their Greatest Hits Live! tour.

This led to Healy taking on a number of television opportunities, including presenting Una's Dream Ticket, taking part in the second series of Splash! and becoming a judge on Let's Get Gold.

She also became a judge on RTÉ's The Voice of Ireland where she remained on the judging panel for the fourth and fifth series; she was the winning mentor in her debut year (2015) with her act Patrick James, and placed third in the fifth season.

While Healy was engaging in a television career she was also writing and recording her debut album, switching to a country music-influenced style as opposed to the pop and dance material performed by The Saturdays.

Healy's album, The Waiting Game, was released in February 2017.

She released a single "Never See Me Cry" in March 2018.