John Lydon has dedicated his entry song to his wife Nora Forster (Picture: PA)
John Lydon has admitted he is nervous about performing, as he gears up to compete to become Ireland’s Eurovision entry.
The 66-year-old formerly known as Johnny Rotten, who once said he had never watched the singing contest before backtracking, surprised fans by announcing his bid in January.
The former Sex Pistol frontman’s, who is married to Nora Forster, 80, band Public Image Ltd is now among the six acts competing to represent the Emerald Isle at the event Liverpool this May.
The group will be battling it out against the likes of Andrew Carr (also known as ADGY), Jennifer Connolly, Wild Youth, Leila Jane, and the duo K Muni & ND, made up of Kofi Appiah and Nevlonne Dampare.
The flagship RTE television programme The Late Late Show will host a special programme on Friday night where Ireland’s entry for the 2023 Eurovision will be selected.
Eurovision hopefuls gathered in RTE television studios in Dublin on Thursday where they met their competition and spoke of their nerves and excitement ahead of the selection process.
John Lydon with his band Public Image Ltd are hoping to represent Ireland (Picture: PA)
‘This is something that I watched when I was young with my parents,’ John said of the contest. ‘I remember Johnny Logan, I remember Cliff Richard, I remember Sandy Shaw – and now Johnny.
‘It’s as good as any other way of listening to music, I don’t have any prejudices about things like that.’
The popstar added that he chose Ireland ‘because I’m as much Irish as anybody else by blood’.
John Lydon with the other Irish hopefully for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (Picture: PA)
John has previously spoken about how his song Hawaii, was dedicated to his wife of nearly 50 years who has Alzheimer’s disease.
At the RTE studios, he added that the track gives an opportunity to raise awareness of an illness affecting many people.
He explained: ‘I don’t know what I’m going to go through doing this today. I’m even shaking now thinking about it.
John Lydon has penned Hawaii in honour of his wife Nora Forster (Picture: Redferns)
‘It means the world to me, this is our last few years of coherence together. And I miss her like mad.
‘I miss my missus, if you keep voting for me I’m going to miss her even more.”
John said he was still ‘terrified of mugging it up, getting it wrong, letting people down – mostly letting Nora down’.
John married Nora, a German publishing heiress who worked in the music industry for the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Clash, in 1979.
The rocker revealed in 2018 that she had been diagnosed with the progressive condition, which affects multiple brain functions including memory, according to the NHS.
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Two years later John said he had become his spouse’s ‘full-time carer’, adding that: ‘For me the real person is still there. That person I love is still there every minute of every day and that is my life.’
The Late Late Show airs on RTE One on Friday from 9.35pm.
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John said he didn’t want to ‘let Nora down.’
