STEPHANIE Rainey is the Irish singer songwriter who made the impossible happen.
With no money, no manager, no contacts and no carefully calculated social media campaign, she created a music industry stampede of epidemic proportions with just one heart-stopping song – ‘Please Don’t Go’.
Within 24 hours of the song being uploaded onto Facebook, Stephanie – who had spent a decade trying to break into the music business – had more than a million hits.
It quickly rose to five million views across both Facebook and YouTube and offers poured in from US and UK record companies while garnering world-wide media attention.
For the Cork-born singer it was a bitter sweet moment of triumph.
The song was not just her last roll of the dice as an artist but it was also sparked by the devastating loss of her one-year-old nephew, Fionn, from meningitis.
The song was coupled with a powerful, poignant lo-fi video for the song.
It featured friends – including her brother Dylan and the cult Irish comedian Cian Twomey – who had each suffered the loss of a loved one - holding up photographs and placards with messages of how each family member had died.
Stephanie is at the Sugar Club on Wednesday, February 28.
Stephanie influences encompass Alison Krauss to Coldplay and Neil Young to Florence and The Machine – says: “I had absolutely no idea of the impact that one song and that one video we made would have.”
Stephanie Rainey is at The Sugar Club on Wednesday, February 28.
