In 1980 while recording the band's debut album, Reilly had received an offer from Gus Dudgeon (Elton John's producer, who has since died) to begin a solo career in return for leaving the other band members to their own devices. However Reilly refused and insisted on sticking by the other members as they had done the same for him until that point. After leaving the group in the mid-1980s he moved to Savannah, Georgia and began a solo career. While in Savannah, he recorded an album entitled "Savannah Souvenir" which featured much of Reilly's keyboards and vocals and was produced by Phil Hadaway. In 1988 he was a finalist in the Irish heats of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Lifeline". Reilly came back to arrive second in the event in 1990 with "Somewhere in Europe". He performed this at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 staged in Zagreb and was placed joint second out of the 22 entries. As a composer, Reilly returned to Eurovision in Rome in 1991 where his song "Could It Be That I'm in Love", performed by Kim Jackson, was placed equal tenth.