The chart-topping ’80s pop star behind Cân I Gymru winning song

David Owens

The song Y GÂN (The Song) by Geth Tomos, Henry Priestman and Emlyn Gomer was crowned winner of Cân i Gymru 2026 on the weekend.

The track triumphed following a live public vote during Friday night’s final, broadcast from the Anglesey Showground on S4C. The winning team took home the coveted Cân i Gymru trophy along with a £5,000 cash prize.

Y GÂN was composed by Geth Tomos and Henry Priestman, with lyrics written by Emlyn Gomer. The winning entry was performed on the night by singer Sara Owen.

However, what seems to have gone unnoticed is the presence of a certified ’80s/’90s pop star as part of the winning songwriting team.

Henry Priestman, now resident on Anglesey was a member of influential Liverpool bands like The Yachts and It’s Immaterial, however his songwriting prowess really came to the fore as a member of The Christians, the much-loved soul-pop outfit who scored a string of hits in the late ’80s, early ’90s, including such solid gold songs as Hooverville, When The Fingers Point and Ideal World.

The band also scored two top five albums with 1987’s self-titled album The Christians which reached number two, while 1990’s Colours reached number one.

Henry left the band in the ’90s and has been living in Anglesey for the best part of three decades making music as a solo artist and enjoying life in one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

We quizzed Henry about his Cân I Gymru experience and discovered it was a rewarding if not exhausting process…

How did you get involved with Cân I Gymru?


I first met “Y Gân” co-writer (and fellow Ynys Môn lad) Geth Tomos years ago, I think it was the great Rhys Mwyn who introduced us, Rhys was managing Geth’s band Gwacamoli, and got me in to play Hammond organ on their first EP. I actually played keyboards on a TV performance Gwacamoli did on “I dot” c 1998 after that we did talk about the idea of possibly writing together. 
Geth moved away to Spain for years, returned in 2012, and he got in contact with me a few years back about maybe doing some writing. Since then we’ve been bandying songs about together, and even entered songs for Cân I Gymru the last two years, but never got through to the finals.

How did you approach the competition and did you have a certain style of song in mind?


No not at all. We actually sent two songs in for Cân I Gymru 2026, and amazingly both songs got into the competition, two songs from totally different genres. 
The other song, “Chwilio am Ffordd Adra”, was sung by Lowri Evans, and is almost a folk song, even slightly hymn-like (with lyrics by Emlyn Gomer too), so a lot different to the big anthemic pop song “Y Gân”. 
We just felt that both were strong songs, both sounded like potential winners (but then again, we thought that when we sent songs in for Cân I Gymru 2024 and 2025, and it got us nowhere!).

What was the songwriting process like – given there are three of you credited?


Geth had the chords and a melody for the verse, and what he thought was a chorus. Now, you have to understand, with Geth and I, when we write songs, there’s no ego involved, it’s ALL about the song, so we don’t have to pussyfoot around, we can be brutal with each other!

On hearing his initial ideas, in my high-handed way, I said “That’s not a chorus, it needs a BIG chorus”, and I came up with the chorus, and his original chorus became the bridge/pre-chorus. From then, musically, it turned into a really cheesy reggae song, my fault, (there is a version which I will now have to destroy, lest it gets bootlegged!) with me just singing any old rubbish lyrics to get the melody across (“I’ve been waiting for the sun to shine” – absolute twaddle).


We then forgot about the song for a year or so, until Geth sent across to me a “de-reggae-fied” version, now slower, more poignant, with Radiohead-type guitar arpeggios, and I just loved it. Now it was back on the front burner again!


Though I am “dysgu-ing Cymraeg” there’s no way I can write Welsh lyrics, and also though Geth can write lyrics (and he had the initial idea about this being a song about loss) he realised this time round we probably needed to up our game lyric-wise and get someone else in. 
He knew Emlyn Gomer from them bumping into each other in their local Tesco, and of course, as mentioned in Cân I Gymru on Saturday, they had both been in the 2022 competition, Geth coming second, Em coming third, and after that, Geth had suggested working together.


So the final piece of the jigsaw was coming together, Emlyn’s amazing heartbreaking lyrics, shaped by personal loss, having lost three close friends recently. 
We demoed the song, with Geth singing, and felt we had something a bit special. But I have to say, singer Sara Owen’s involvement was crucial, and I’m sure that her amazing performance on Saturday in the show had a bearing on the song winning.


Was there any nervousness on your behalf as the whole competition was in Welsh?

Not at all, I go to a Welsh class most weeks, we meet up in a local caffi, and I’m on an unbroken streak of 1246 days of my Duo Lingo course. Despite all this I’m still useless at speaking Welsh (too old to learn a language?), but it’s great to be able to even just order a cuppa in a caffi, and use a bit of Cymraeg. It’s called courtesy! The least I can do having moved here from Liverpool. 
Obviously on Saturday most of what was said went over my head, but it didn’t stop it being one of the best nights of my musical career. I may be a pensioner, but it’s proved there’s life in the old dog yet!


How enjoyable was it that Cân I Gymru was coming from Anglesey – given that’s been your home for sometime?


It made it extra special that it was here on Anglesey, what with Geth and my links with the island. I’ve been here since 1992. Centre of the Universe.
 Also I’ve been really quite ill since mid December, virtually housebound, with a thing called Temporal Arteritis (Google it, it’s scary, you go blind if not treated quickly), so the fact that it was on Anglesey meant that I could leave the house for a few hours, and actually attend.
I have to say, I was exhausted and feeling pretty awful during the show; the steroids make you feel rotten. Bless ‘em, they made sure I had a chair to sit on, and if you watch, Emlyn even had to give me a hand getting up the steps to receive the award!. I was absolutely shattered afterwards, but hey it was worth it.

How did you react when you learned that the song had won and what will you do with your prize money?


It was so surreal, that moment when they play that low bass synth sound for seemingly ages, and you’re waiting for Elin to read out the name of the winning song – and then the reveal – it felt like it was something from a film, not something that, as an ailing 70 year old, I expected to ever experience! As for prize money, well, we’ve booked to go and stay at Portmeirion, not least as a huge thank you to my wonderful wife, who’s had to put up with me while I’ve been virtually housebound for the past two and a half months.

What’s the media reaction to the win been like?

As I type this on Monday morning they’re just discussing the song on Dros Frecwast on Radio Cymru and Geth is on Radio Cymru this afternoon being interviewed, and he and Em are on Heno tonight on S4C (I declined the invitation to join them, I’ll be watching from my sofa!)

Hey, it’s all go, like back in The Christians’ days!

Henry with The Christians back in the day…