Lisburn man chases his ‘ultimate dream’ to earn Grammy nomination for West End work

The Liberian man, who starred in the Grammy-nominated comedy “Les Miserables”, says seeing his name on the prestigious song feels like “a dream far out”.

Born in Belfast, 32-year-old Raymond Walsh made a name for himself on stage and screen after discovering his passion for theater as a teenager.

Speaking on Belfast Live, Raymond said: “I was really learning communication, advertising and marketing after school in Jordanstown because I never thought you could really have a full-time job in musical theater or art, so it’s always been a career. I discovered that when I was 16 general.

“I was determined to become a professional soccer player: I would play most weekends and act in my own dramas. He was performing at Les Miserables and my dad said they needed someone to focus on and I said, ‘Come on.'”

“I watched the show and fell in love with it in that moment. Since then, my biggest dream has been to be in the West End version of that show, but it’s always been one of the things you shoot for the stars and see where you fall.”

After graduation, Raymond went to drama school to study for a master’s degree in musical theater before winning audiences to the show, causing him to fall in love with theater in 2018.

He went on to play Granter in the world’s longest-running musical in the West End for a year and a half.

Raymond added, “They were planning to close the original and open a new one. Before changing the stage, they decided to stage a version of the All-Star Concert held in the West End with names like Alfie Poe, Michael. Paul, Matt Lucas, and Keri Hope Fletcher.

He explained, “My agent called me and said he’d like to be a part of my star concert, so I was very lucky to continue playing the role until the concert was released.”

At the end of the show, Universal Pictures announced that it will be filming a movie version of the concert, which will be shown live in cinemas around the world, and will record a live soundtrack from its latest show in 2019.

Raymond received the artist’s stars, and was recognized as the lead singer of the popular live album “Drink with Me”.

“When I did it in the West End, I did it with an English accent, but in rehearsals I’ve been asked to keep the Belfast accent because it’s so authentic. If you listen to the album, you can hear my song in Northern Irish. The accent which is very distinctive,” he smiled.

When he heard about the Grammy nomination, Raymond continued, “I was playing on PlayStation when I realized – I looked at my phone and got a message from Matt Lucas congratulating him on his Grammy nomination. I thought it was. Get Mickey Mouse.”

“I don’t think it was an award any of us expected to run for, but I think that’s what makes it even more exciting.

“I don’t think I did it right, because not Mays himself was such a dream. Seeing my name on the album was enough for me too, so everything that came out of it was great.”

“The same goes for showing the movie: My grandmother, who couldn’t come to see her in the West End, to see her in the movies was a distant dream. I have a lot of respect for her.”

Going forward, Raymond hopes to focus on his band, The Shamrock Tenors, and bring his playing skills back home to NI.

“We’re an Irish folk group of five guys from Northern Ireland, but they all come from different backgrounds, so this is a cross-country group. We’ve spent the past two years traveling the world and caught up with Daniel during the pandemic,” Raymond O’Donnell’s management team said.

“We are going to the US in March next year and on St. Patrick’s Day we will be at Birmingham Symphony Hall, which is run by Live Nation, which is very cool.

“Concerts have been held in French Polynesia, America and Canada, but we’ve never been to Belfast, so the goal is to bring shamrocks home and hopefully throw a little party to celebrate the post-Covid era.