The Future Valjean Takes the Paris Stage

MAY 15 1978 · 12:05

Colm C.T. Wilkinson · "Born to Sing" · Ireland · 1978 Placement: 5 · Score: 86 · Language: English · Composers: Joe Burkett · Venue: Palais des Congrès · Host: Paris, France · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: color analog Wilkinson — Dublin-trained baritone, chest-voice power, the kind of vocal instrument you hear every ten years — delivers the Palais des Congrès an operatic pop-ballad that is genuinely too big for the room. He lands 5th with 86 points. Izhar Cohen's 'A-Ba-Ni-Bi' wins for Israel. Seven years later Wilkinson will be cast as the original Jean Valjean in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Les Misérables'. Context Wilkinson had been performing the Dublin circuit as a straight rock-blues singer. His Eurovision selection marked a deliberate RTÉ pivot toward theatrical vocal talent. Joe Burkett, the composer, wrote specifically to showcase Wilkinson's upper register. Legacy Wilkinson's 1985 'Les Misérables' casting changed musical-theatre history — the Valjean template he established (wounded masculinity, operatic-pop hybrid) has shaped every major Valjean since. He returned to RTÉ as judge of 'The Voice of Ireland'. 'Born to Sing' is now a quiet archival answer to the question 'what did Jean Valjean sing before Paris 1832'.