Singer-songwriter Jordan O’Keefe appeared on the hit ITV talent show Britain’s Got Talent 13 years ago, when he was 18 years old, which immediately catapulted him into fame.
The Derry man, now 32, started out singing when he was on holiday with his family, and his father purchased a Stevie Wonder CD, and he took it upon himself to learn ‘Living for the City’ note by note before getting up at karaoke to perform the tune with bleached blonde hair, a ‘fire flame shirt’ and three-quarter length shorts on and “absolutely killed” the rendition.
His family were always into music legends like Bryan Adams and Bob Marley, which spurred on his passion. He went on to get guitar lessons, and “everything just kept falling back into place”, said the singer during the chat with Belfast Live.
From there, he went on to begin producing music at 14 in the Nerve Centre in Derry, which is where he will be returning to perform in October, and the full circle moment “is crazy” for Jordan.
From there, the years passed with him “messing about” in music until he appeared on stage at Britain’s Got Talent in 2013 singing a One Direction tune. O’Keefe’s audition amassed a huge 16 million views on YouTube, and from that moment, his life changed and became instantly recognisable.
Judge Amanda Holden told Jordan in that audition that “you and your voice are amazing”, singer and MC Alesha Dixon joined the praise, saying that he “played that perfectly”. The highest praise from the panel came from music mogul Simon Cowell, who managed One Direction’s career at the time, saying, “I absolutely loved it”.
Simon went on to say, “I predict very, very good things for you going forward”, and he wasn’t wrong because he got four yesses from the judges. He went on to reach the grand final of the show and placed sixth overall on the night, losing out to Attraction, the shadow dance group who won.
Jordan began guitar lessons at a young age
Jordan spoke about the “life-changing” experience that thrust him into fame and had people chasing him in the street. He believed part of it was the choice of audition song, which tapped into the One Direction fandom, and he looks back on the show “much more positively” now.
However, he has never watched the show again because at the time, he harboured some anger about it not quite working out for him at the time.
Since his time on TV, Jordan has spoken openly about his struggles with addiction issues, which culminated in a fight in a bar that led to his jaw being broken before flying to Scotland to sing at a wedding, which he says “was the best thing that ever happened to me”. Because from there, he vowed never to drink again and began his recovery from addiction.
His openness about his struggles has led to him gaining a newfound fanbase on social media, with over 120,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. This allowed him to show the audience who he is, but he has now reached the point where the songs are the main focus for him.
Talking about the difference between him at 18 and now at 32, Jordan said: “I always wanted the fame and the money until that came”. His perspective on that changed when he got sober 3 years ago, and he believes that not chasing fame or money is why it’s now going so well for him.
“I had this big, massive gap inside me, and I was trying to fill it with everything. Nightlife, women, drink, drugs” said Jordan when we talked about how he fell into addiction. Now he finds joy in his partner and children, having just dropped his daughter off on her first day of school that morning, which he would not have been able to experience had he still been in his addiction.
He believes there is one positive from his struggles in that it gave him material to write his music. He also shared an anecdote from his party days, where he was told his music wasn’t good enough and lacked enough depth and how that has now changed as a result of what he went through.
“Everything happens for a reason”, said O’Keefe when talking about his issues and the times when it didn’t work out for him. He believes he had to go through everything to create the music he is now, which is helping people who are going through a similar struggle.
He believes that it is now beginning to move in the right direction with the music he is writing alongside music teacher Darryl Coyle, who is part of his ‘team’ that he is “very grateful” for, because it would be impossible on his own.
Jordan has found a new joy in his partner and family
Jordan has now found his sound in the ‘country pop’ genre, which is feel-good and upbeat and has recently released a song, ‘If You Know’. The catchy tune touches on his struggles with lyrics like “we’ll be at the bar making drinking look easy while the liquor stays hard”.
As we move into the winter months, he will be releasing some slower ballads that address difficult subjects like death and abuse. But he has urged everyone to listen because they “tell a story” about the abuse that happened to him. His wish for releasing songs with such difficult undertones is that they help people.
The singer spoke about how music resonates with people universally and talked about a time when he was performing in Monaco and at the end of the show said, “It doesn’t matter how much money you have in this world, you will still hurt”. This led to a touching moment between him and the wealthy restaurant owner who had lost her brother and resonated with the music and message.
Jordan has taken the often insurmountable struggles of addiction and abuse and turned them into art that people have really resonated with and he cannot wait to hear people sing them back to him in his upcoming gigs.
He will be taking his music to the stage in the Black Box in Belfast on September 17 and to the Nerve Centre in Derry on October 3.
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