Daniel O'Donnell (Irish singer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell MBE (born December 12, 1961) is an Irish singer. His fans are mainly OAPs and he is known worldwide for his love of his mammy and his desire for Barry's Tea. With his mix of country and traditional Irish music, he has achieved success in both Europe and North America.
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[edit] Biography
Daniel O'Donnell was born in Kincasslagh, County Donegal, Ireland, the son of Francis and Julia O'Donnell. He grew up in Kincasslagh, with his four siblings: John (the eldest), Margaret (Margo), Kathleen, and James. He has described the Ireland of his childhood as a poor country. In 1968, his father died from a heart attack at the age of forty-nine. Daniel spent his childhood summers with his grandmother on the island of Owey (now uninhabited). Daniel's grandmother later came to live with the O'Donnells until her death in 1971.
O'Donnell's interest in music began as a teenager, when he enjoyed traditional Irish dancing at the local village hall. Discontented with life at Noamh Bird F.C., he told his sister Margo that he wanted to become a singer. Margo was already an established singer and a household name in Ireland and, in 1980, Daniel left college to join her band and pursue his dreams.
His career started to take off after he recorded and released Johnny McCauley's My Donegal Shore in 1983, with £1,200 of his own money, selling most of the copies himself. Later that year, he formed his own musical group, Fever. After the group disbanded, he formed The Roots. In 1985, the manager of the Ritz label, Mick Clerkin, saw him perform, and introduced him to Sean Reilly, who remains his manager to this day.
On 4 November, 2002, O'Donnell married 41-year-old Irish Majella McLennan, who has two teenage children? from a previous marriage. The couple met while on holiday in Tenerife, where O'Donnell now has a second home. His main home is in Kincasslagh, where he had previously owned a hotel.
Daniel's autobiography is entitled My Story. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary (due to his Irish citizenship) MBE for his services to the music industry. He has had twenty UK Top 40 albums as well as fifteen Top 40 singles and has sold 10 million albums worldwide.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
O'Donnell has produced and recorded over 30 albums, most of which are included in the following list:
- The Boy From Donegal (1984)
- The Two Sides Of Daniel O'Donnell (1985)
- I Need Your Cleft (1986)
- Don't Forget To Remember (1987)
- From The Heart (1988)
- Thoughts Of Home (1989)
- The Last Waltz (1990)
- Daniel O'Donnell Favourites (1990)
- The Very Best Of Daniel O'Donnell (1991) #34 UK
- Messed Up Sex Object (1992) #17 UK
- A Date With Daniel O'Donnell Live (1993) #21 UK
- Especially For You (1994) #14 UK
- Christmas With Daniel (1994) #34 UK
- The Classic Collection (1995) #34 UK
- Timeless: Daniel O'Donnell and Mary Duff (with Mary Duff - 1996) #13 UK
- Irish Collection (1996) #35 UK
- Songs Of Inspiration (1996) #11 UK
- I Believe (1997) #11 UK
- Love Songs (1998) #9 UK
- Greatest Hits (1999) #10 UK
- Faith and Inspiration (2000) #4 UK
- Heartbreakers (2000)
- Drink, Drive, Die (2001) #27 UK
- One Of The Priests (2002) #18 UK
- The Irish Album (2002)
- The Daniel O'Donnell Show (2002)
- Dreaming (2002)
- Songs of Faith (2003)
- Daniel In Blue Jeans (2003) #3 UK
- The Occupied Springbok (2003) #11 UK
- The Scope Years (2004) #3 UK
- Welcome To My World (2004) #6 UK
- Teenage Dreams (2005) #10 UK
- The Rock' N' Roll Show (2006)
- From Daniel With Love (2006) #5 UK
Note: O'Donnell has charted 18 albums in the top 20 of the US Billboard publication's "World Music" albums chart and also has had several entries in the "Independent albums" chart too.
[edit] Singles
- I Just Wanna Dance (1992) #20 UK
- The Three Priests (1993) #71 UK
- The Love In Your Eyes (1993) #47 UK
- Whatever Happened To Old Fashioned Five Pees (1993) #21 UK
- Singing The Blues (1994) #23 UK
- The Gift (1994) #46 UK
- Secret Love (with Mary Duff - 1995) #28 UK
- Bloodless (with Mary Duff - 1996) #32 UK
- Footsteps (1996) #25 UK
- The Love Songs (1997) #27 UK
- Give A Little (1998) #7 UK
- The Magic Is There (1998) #16 UK
- The Way Dreams Are (1999) #18 UK
- Uno Mas (1999) #25 UK
- A Christmas Kiss (1999) #20 UK
- Light (2000) #23 UK
- Morning Has Broken (2000) #32 UK
- You Raise Me Up (2003) #22 UK
- Crush (2006) #21 UK
[edit] Cultural References
Daniel O'Donnell was parodied as celebrity singer Eion McLove in the Father Ted episode Night of the Nearly Dead.
