In 2014, a YouTube video of a priest singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah at a wedding went viral.

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The video was viewed over 60 million times and made its subject an overnight internet star.

The singing priest in question is Father Ray Kelly, who sang the Cohen song as the bride walked down the aisle on the day of her wedding – and now he's appearing on Britain's Got Talent.

Who is the singing priest on Britain's Got Talent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYKwqj5QViQ

The 65-year-old was born in the Irish town of Tyrrellspass and was ordained in 1989.

In 2006, Kelly was appointed as the parish priest in Oldcastle & Moylagh, Co. Meath where he has worked ever since.

While he was studying to enter the priesthood, Father Kelly was a member of the boyband Rafiki, and he and the band would go on to perform at local events, even recording a charity single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi1rWRvblFE

In the summer of 2014, he signed a contract with Universal Music Ireland, and has since made a series of TV appearances and performed all over the world on his route to the Britain’s Got Talent stage.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGbYS6BkbPc

Authors

Matthew Trask

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