Brendan O'Dowda (1 October 1925 – 22 February 2002) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

who popularised the songs of

Percy French William Percy French (1 May 1854 – 24 January 1920) was an Irish songwriter, author, poet, entertainer and painter. Life French was born at Clooneyquinn House, near Tulsk, County Roscommon, the son of an Anglo-Irish landlord, Christopher F ...

Early life

O'Dowda was born in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

, County Louth and was educated at the De la Salle Brothers' school in the town. His early promise as a singer brought him to the attention of Dr. Vincent O'Brien, who had coached tenor John McCormack. Under O'Brien's tutelage, O'Dowda developed a fine tenor voice of his own and began to perform at charity events throughout the country.''The Irish Times'', "Gifted Irish tenor linked with Percy French", 2 March 2002

Career

Although offered a career in opera, O'Dowda was drawn to popular music and, in the early

1950s The 1950s (pronounced nineteen-fifties; commonly abbreviated as the "Fifties" or the " '50s") (among other variants) was a decade that began on January 1, 1950, and ended on December 31, 1959. Throughout the decade, the world continued its re ...

, he moved to England in order to advance his prospects. There, he formed The Four Ramblers musical group with

Val Doonican Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the ...

. Subsequently, he enjoyed solo success on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

, guesting on programmes such as ''Just A Song At Twilight'' and ''Music for You''. O'Dowda's first album, ''Emerald and Tartan'', included two songs by Percy French. Such was its success that he followed it in 1958 with ''The Immortal Percy French'', an album devoted entirely to the work of the Irish songwriter. From then on, O'Dowda became closely identified with French's songs. He created a one-man show around the life and work of Percy French. In 1981, his biography of the composer, ''The World of Percy French'', was published. O'Dowda enjoyed considerable international recognition. He toured the US, appearing on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

''. He appeared in the 1959 film ''Alive and Kicking'' as one of the three singers of the title song. He performed a duet with

Ruby Murray Ruby Florence Murray (29 March 1935 – 17 December 1996) was a Northern Irish singer. One of the most popular singers in the British Isles in the 1950s, she scored ten hits in the UK Singles Chart between 1954 and 1959. She also made pop chart ...

on the soundtrack of the 1959 film ''

Darby O'Gill and the Little People ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' is a 1959 American fantasy adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions, adapted from the ''Darby O'Gill'' stories of Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. Directed by Robert Stevenson and written by Lawrence ...

''.

Personal life and death

O'Dowda was married first to Sheila Kelly in 1948 and their son Dermot, publisher of 'Visions of Hibernia' now lives in Cork. This marriage ended in divorce and O'Dowda later married June Nadine, a dancer with the Tiller girls, who bore him two sons, Brendan and Ciaran. O'Dowda, having divorced June and obtained a Catholic annulment from his first wife, then married the dancer Alice Boyle with whom he had four children, Damien, Ailis, Conor & Bridget. Brendan O'Dowda died in hospital near his home in Fareham,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at the age of 76, and is buried in Esker Cemetery, Lucan,

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. His grandson Callum O'Dowda is a professional footballer who plays for Welsh club Cardiff City and the Republic of Ireland national football team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odowda, Brendan 1925 births 2002 deaths Irish biographers Irish male non-fiction writers Irish male writers Male biographers Irish tenors Musicians from County Louth People from Dundalk 20th-century Irish male singers 20th-century biographers 20th-century male writers