‘All eyes were on us and it was definitely scary’: Blessington brothers on beating X Factor bootcamp stage
By Mary Dennehy
Blessington brothers Sean and Conor Price have one eye on their school work and one on their music, as the duo continue their X Factor journey after making it through the bootcamp stage.
Living in Blessington, the teenage lads have been strumming up a storm since their rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s classic, All Along the Watch Tower – which impressed judges and saw the duo catapult into bootcamp.
However, their bootcamp performance of Beggin by Madcon, which aired last Saturday, didn’t go down as well with judges, who gave the lads a lifeline when they offered them the chance of singing a second song.
After a passionate, if a little nervous, rendition of Ed Sheeran song Sing, Sean (17) and Conor (15) made it through to the Six Chair Challenge.
Despite their progression in the X Factor, the singing siblings are keeping their feet firmly on the ground and are both in school, with Conor in third year studying for his Junior Cert and Sean, who is in sixth year, preparing for the Leaving Certificate next June.
Both Conor and Sean are students in Naas CBS and are the sons of Tallaght-based health business owner John Price, who runs GreenValu in the Whitestown Business Park.
Speaking with The Echo this week, Sean said: “We’re feeling great, [Bootcamp] was an emotional rollercoaster and we learned a lot . . . but know there’s lots more to be done.
“We’re both back in school now and at the moment we’re just going with the flow and have one eye on the books and one on the X Factor.”
When asked how it all started for them, Conor said: “We started singing together three years ago and eventually got up the courage to busk on Grafton Street on Christmas Eve with no mics or amps.
“We basically practiced [our music] on the streets.”
And how did that first street gig on Grafton Street compare with their bootcamp audition to 4,000 people?
“The arena was absolutely mental,” Conor said.
“All eyes were on us and it was definitely scary.
“We know that our nerves got the better of us and we are so grateful to the judges for giving us a chance at a second song when our first song didn’t go as planned.
“We knew we could have been going home and had to deliver.”
