Veteran composer and producer Phil Coulter refuses to rest on his laurels - and can't wait to open a new chapter in his career.
After a half-century of hits, the 73-year-old is embarking on a new project that will debut at the inaugural Proms on the Pier 2015 music festival.
Coulter and another Eurovision legend, Johnny Logan, sailed into Dún Laoghaire today (August 12) to launch the event, which takes place at the Co Dublin harbour over the last weekend of August.
The line-up of acts is unashamedly aimed at the 'greyer' end of the market, and includes the likes of 10cc, Midge Ure and Abba tribute act Bjorn Again, as well as Coulter and Logan themselves.
"This is a first, it's never been done before," said Coulter, who will close each night with his Proms Party Orchestra.
He described it as "less Tranquillity and more James Last. It's a 30-piece orchestra with brass, strings, singers - the whole thing."
"This is my 50th year in show business, so I'm more likely to do something that I haven't done before. I'm more excited about this than doing the same thing over and over again. I'm really looking forward to it," he continued.
Coulter said that in this "unashamed celebration of the Seventies and Eighties", the crowd will "be getting less of Scorn Not His Simplicity and more of The Bay City Rollers".
"We have 10cc, Air Supply - so we're talking about classic songs like I'm Not in Love, I'm All Out of Love; songs which were the soundtrack to many people's lives," he added.
"There are plenty of festivals for kids. This is for people who want a bit of nostalgia. Mums and dads, people who enjoy music. And great songs are great songs. They just never go away."
As for his own set, Coulter revealed: "We'll be doing Puppet on a String, Congratulations – as well as that we'll do a tribute to James Last, and another to Henry Mancini.
"There's been a long tradition of orchestras playing songs and music that people love. Wonderful melodies that have been around forever; that's the formula. The sound of an orchestra playing familiar music is something that people find irresistible."
For further information about Proms on the Pier 2015, see promsonthepier.ie.
Johnny Logan and Phil Coulter at the Proms on the Pier 2015 launch
