The King of the Kingdom: Steve’s Redemption Journey Steals the Spotlight on IGT
The road to stardom is rarely a straight line, and few understand that better than musical theater singer Steve. Stepping onto the stage of Ireland’s Got Talent, Steve was met with an immediate flash of recognition from judges Louis Walsh and Denise Van Outen. He reminded them that he had actually auditioned for them years prior on The X Factor and for a West End Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat production. Having missed out on the top spots back then, Steve returned to prove that time had only sharpened his incredible gift.
For his big audition piece, Steve tackled the classic anthem “Somewhere” from West Side Story. Delivering a pitch-perfect, deeply emotional rendition, he filled the arena with a soaring vocal control that instantly vindicated his return. Michelle Visage—a self-proclaimed “West End Wendy”—praised the performance for its structural honesty and pure emotional drive, while Denise Van Outen admitted she couldn’t believe they had overlooked his talent years ago. Steve sailed into the next round with a flawless, unanimous clean sweep of “yeses.”
The video also highlights Steve’s high-stakes return in the subsequent round, where he took a massive risk by performing the widely covered and notoriously difficult “Unchained Melody.” Michelle Visage admitted that when she saw the song choice, her eyes rolled back out of fear that the high falsetto notes would derail, but Steve proved the doubters wrong. Despite a tiny vocal glitch mid-song, he pushed past it to deliver a spine-tingling high finish that had the room erupting into a standing ovation. Louis Walsh declared that “Kerry needs a new pop star” and jokingly promised to use his industry connections to land the singer a role in a local musical production. Denise capped off the rave reviews, proudly stating that after tracking his growth through three separate career auditions, this was officially the most polished, wonderful, and moving performance she had ever seen from him.
