For its first three series, You're a Star was used to choose the musician who would perform the Irish entry at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Raidió Teilifís Éireann, being the Irish member of the European Broadcasting Union, decided that the winner of You're a Star would be sent to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest for the foreseeable proceeding years.
In the final, the public voted for their winner: Mickey Joe Harte, a musician and singer-songwriter from Lifford in County Donegal.
At the time this was considered one of the poorest results achieved by Ireland, who are the Eurovision Song Contest's most successful country with seven wins.
In the final of Eurovision Song Contest 2004 Chris Doran finished in 22nd position with seven points awarded by the United Kingdom.
Onstage monitoring for the artist on the night, combined with a lack of experience may have caused tuning issues, which were not manifest during the auditions.
The song "If My World Stopped Turning" reached number 1 in the Irish Singles Chart, but Doran was, however, unable to sustain a successful music career in Ireland.
The format of the show was changed for the 2004/2005 season, to try to ensure that Ireland chose an act with more appeal across Europe.
Bringing up the rear of The Henry Girls, Ian Barrett, a (then 16-year-old) soloist from Wicklow finished fourth, with a version of "We Didn't Start the Fire".
They also suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first You're a Star winner not to reach the number 1 position in Ireland, beaten by Akon with his song "Lonely".
However, unlike the previous three seasons, the 2005/06 prize was not the opportunity to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest.
These included Marilyn Bane who came third, The Sullivan Brothers who came second and Lucia Evans from Galway who won the competition and the recording contract.
Her first and last song "Bruised but not broken" only peaked at number 5 in the Irish Singles Chart, making her the first You're a Star winner not to reach the top three.
She chatted with the acts before they performed in front of judges, congratulated those who progressed to the next round or, sometimes, offered a shoulder to cry on for those did not.
These included Tony Hatch (who tutored the acts on one of the weeks), Sophie Ellis Baxter, The Blzzards, Shayne Ward and McFly among others.
On Sunday 3 March 2007, David O'Connor, 21 Demands, Maeve O'Donovan and Scuba Dice released their own singles through digital7 downloads on the RTÉ website.
The songs released were "Give Me a Minute" (by 21 Demands), "The Winner Takes It All" (by David O'Connor), "Landslide" (by Maeve O'Donovan), "Holiday" (by Scuba Dice).
They were Leanne Constant, Pat Fitzgibbon, Mairead O'Dowd, Robyn Kavanagh, Mike McNamara, Catherine Harding, Rosie Howick and Fauve Chapman.
On 9 March 2008, four contestants remained, including – Deirdre Archbold, Sharon Condon, Robyn Kavanagh and Leanne Moore.
Leanne Moore was the eventual winner of the sixth series, beating Robyn Kavanagh (who came second) and Deirdre Archbold in the final on 16 March 2008.