PORTMARNOCK native Jamie Skelton is a professional Magician and Mind Reader who recently won the coveted “Entertainer of the Year” 2022 award by Weddingsonline.ie
One of Ireland’s leading close-up magicians, Jamie has been doing magic since he was 4 years old and performing professionally since he was 14.
He performs all over Ireland at corporate parties, private events and weddings.
“My first paid gig was a street party which earned me 50 quid!” Jamie tells Northside People.
“After that I started doing private parties, weddings and eventually bigger and better gigs.
“It’s fun, I love doing it, I view it as play to be honest and I don’t regard it as work.
“The past two years as a professional entertainer have been an interesting one to say the least.
“I went from having no work due to Covid, to having my most successful year in 2021 due to performing virtually all over the world, to winning this award post pandemic!”
Jamie pictured after receiving his Entertainer of the Year award
So, let’s go back to the start.
Following Jamie’s early introduction to the world of professional entertainment, following his Leaving Cert he studied Marketing and Business for 4 years in D.I.T before graduating with a 1.1 Bachelor honours degree.
“My interest in consumer psychology combined with my knowledge of magic helped me form my unique brand of psychological illusion,” Jamie says.
“My studies also helped with the business side of things and to this day I take the business of show-business very seriously.”
After college, Jamie was the first Magician to perform on the hit show “Ireland’s Got Talent” where he got a Yes from all four judges.
His audition has since gone viral online, garnering over 6 million views, and has solidified his position as one of Ireland’s most exciting acts.
“The day after my appearance on Ireland’s Got Talent, my phone was blowing up with emails, calls and texts,” Jamie says.
“I was getting calls from companies like Google and Microsoft who wanted to book me for their next corporate events.”
Just as things were really starting to take off professionally for Jamie the Covid pandemic decided to rear its ugly head.
“2020 was shaping up to be a great year for me.
“I had loads of bookings and then suddenly I had none!
“Then came 2021 which was my best year ever and I didn’t even have to leave the house!
“I was contacted by a lot of corporate clients through Linkedin.
“They wanted me to put on shows via Zoom for their employees.
“Before long I was busier than ever doing gigs online for offices all over the world, everywhere from the USA to Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Spain.
“I was doing multiple gigs every day all from the comfort of my own home!
“I think Zoom is a brilliant medium for performing my kind of shows on as they are very interactive.
“It can be more challenging for musicians to perform gigs on Zoom because the sound doesn’t always do them justice.”
Jamie is now glad to be back performing in person but still offers online shows as well.
“I’m happy to be able to do both,” he says.
“Next week I’m away on holidays in Italy but I’m going to be doing a bit of work as I have an online gig that’ll I’ll be doing from my hotel in Rome.”
Then last week came the news that Jamie was crowned Entertainer of the Year at the highly coveted Weddingsonline awards 2022 which were announced at a gala dinner celebration at the Mullingar Park Hotel.
“It was my first year entering and I was shocked to win to be honest!” Jamie says.
“I’m honoured that they awarded me Entertainer of the Year and I’m looking forward to what lies ahead.
“Just on that back of that award I was booked for three weddings the next day!”