Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

, and

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

s, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A

crooner Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

, he found popular success, especially in the United Kingdom where he had five successive Top 10 albums in the 1960s as well as several hits on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, including " Walk Tall", "

Elusive Butterfly "Elusive Butterfly" is a popular song written by Bob Lind, released as a single in December 1965, which reached number 5 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the adult contemporary chart in the spring of 1966. In Australia, Lind's "Elusive Butt ...

" and "If the Whole World Stopped Lovin.'" ''The Val Doonican Show'', which featured his singing and a variety of guests, had a long and successful run on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

from 1965 to 1986. Doonican won the

Variety Club of Great Britain Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times.

Early life and career

Doonican was born on 3 February 1927 in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, Ireland, the youngest of the eight children of Agnes (née Kavanagh) and John Doonican. He was from a musical family and played in his school band from the age of six. When his father died in 1941, the teenage Doonican had to leave

De La Salle College Waterford De La Salle College Waterford is a secondary school in Waterford, Ireland with over 1,000 students and 90 teachers. De La Salle Teachers Training College The De La Salle Brothers had a presence in Waterford since the 1870s, and opened a teach ...

to get factory jobs fabricating steel and making orange and grapefruit boxes. He began to perform in his hometown, often with his friend Bruce Clarke, and they had their first professional engagement as a duo in 1947. Doonican appeared in a summer season at Courtown Harbour, County Wexford. He was soon featured on Irish radio, sometimes with Clarke, and appeared in Waterford's first-ever television broadcast. Heather Saul, "Val Doonican: Irish singer and entertainer dies aged 88"
''The Independent'', 2 July 2015.

Career in Britain

In 1951 Doonican moved to England to join the Four Ramblers who, in addition to touring the variety stages, were featured on the BBC radio serial the ''Riders of the Range''. In the radio serial, Doonican played one of a number of bunk-house boys who were heard crooning cowboy songs in the gaps between the action. The serial ended in September 1953 and the Ramblers continued to tour the variety theatres being billed as Ireland’s Ambassadors of Song. They also began performing at

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

bases. The Ramblers kept busy for most of the 1950s and in 1960 they supported

Anthony Newley Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, singer, songwriter, and filmmaker. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading ...

on his tour. Recognising Doonican’s talent and potential as a solo act, Newley persuaded him to leave the singing group and go solo. He was auditioned for radio as a solo act and appeared on the radio show ''

Variety Bandbox ''Variety Bandbox'' is a BBC Radio variety show transmitted initially in the BBC General Forces Programme, General Forces Programme and then the BBC Light Programme, Light Programme. Featuring a mixture of comic performances and music, the show h ...

''. Soon after his solo career started, he picked up his own radio show in the afternoons on the BBC Light Programme in 1961 called “Your Date with Val” In 1962, he had also had a weekly show on Irish TV called “Presenting Val Doonican” Variety and cabaret appearances increased and he received good reviews following his appearance at London’s Astor Club in March 1963. In the late 1950s, Doonican became one of the artists managed by

Eve Taylor Eve Taylor (born Evelyn Henshall, 28 February 1915 – 31 August 1983) was a British talent manager, notable as one of the early female music managers. She managed singers Adam Faith, Sandie Shaw and Val Doonican, and composer John Barry, ...

, the self-described "Queen Bee" of show business, who remained his manager until her death. After seeing him in cabaret in London in 1964, impresario

Val Parnell Valentine Charles Parnell (14 February 1892 – 22 September 1972) was a British television managing director and presenter, actor and theatrical impresario. A former staple of stage production, his career in television started with the launc ...

booked him to appear on ''

Sunday Night at the Palladium ''Tonight at the London Palladium'' is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End theatre, West End. Originally produced by Associated Television, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network ...

'' on May 31, 1964. Most unusually, Doonican returned to the show the following week as well. As a result of his performances,

Bill Cotton Sir William Frederick Cotton (23 April 1928 – 11 August 2008) was a British television producer and executive, and the son of dance band leader Billy Cotton. The TV and radio presenter Fearne Cotton is related to him, as he was her paternal ...

, then Assistant Head of Light Entertainment at

, offered Doonican his own regular show called ''Singalong Saturday'' starting on June 27, 1964. The series was a success and he was given another series on BBC1 called "Date with Doonican" starting on February 22, 1965. The TV shows were produced by

Yvonne Littlewood Yvonne Mary Pearl Littlewood MBE (born July 1927) is a former British television director and producer. Born in Maidstone, Kent, her career extended over three decades. As a child, she briefly moved to King's Lynn, Norfolk, before going to ...

and lasted for over 20 years. At their peak the shows attracted audiences of some 19 million viewers. The shows featured his relaxed crooner style, sitting in a

rocking chair A rocking chair or rocker is a type of chair with two curved bands (also known as rockers) attached to the bottom of the legs, connecting the legs on each side to each other. The rockers contact the floor at only two points, giving the occupant ...

wearing cardigans or jumpers, sometimes performing comedic Irish songs including " Paddy McGinty's Goat", " Delaney's Donkey" and "O'Rafferty's Motor Car" as well as easy listening and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

material on which he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. Doonican's songs about O'Rafferty were popular enough for the BBC to publish a book, ''Val Doonican Tells The Adventures of O'Rafferty'', which retold five of the tales, in 1969. As his were

variety shows Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...

, his TV programmes gave a number of other performers, such as Dave Allen, early exposure. Regular guests included

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...

Bob Todd Brian Todd (15 December 1921 – 21 October 1992), known professionally as Bob Todd, was an English comedy actor, mostly known for appearing as a straight man in the sketch shows of Benny Hill and Spike Milligan. For many years, he lived in T ...

, the

Norman Maen Norman Maen (1932 – 22 April 2008, born "Norman Maternaghan") was a director and choreographer. Personal life Maen was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland and began his career working as a dancer in Patricia Mulholland's Irish dancing scho ...

Dancers, the

Mike Sammes Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and docume ...

Singers, and the Kenny Woodman Orchestra. At its height ''The Val Doonican Show'', which featured both American and British acts, had 20 million viewers. In the United States, ''The Val Doonican Show'' aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on Saturday evenings at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Central) from 5 June to 14 August 1971. The Palladium performance also kick-started his

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

career. Between 1964 and 1973 Doonican was rarely out of the UK Singles Chart, his greatest successes including the

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

" Walk Tall", "The Special Years", "

", "What Would I Be" (Decca), "If The Whole World Stopped Loving" (Pye), and "Morning" (Philips); and the albums ''13 Lucky Shades of Val Doonican'' (Decca), and ''

Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently ''Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently'' was the only number one in the UK Albums Chart for the Irish singer, Val Doonican. It spent three weeks at the top of that chart between 31 December 1967 and 20 January 1968, displacing The Beatles The B ...

'' (Pye) which reached Number 1 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

in December 1967. The 1966 single release "Elusive Butterfly" reached a UK chart peak of #5 and #3 in Ireland. In all, he recorded over 50 albums. After a spell with Philips records in the seventies he also recorded for RCA. He also sang the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

to the film ''

Ring of Bright Water ''Ring of Bright Water'' is a book by Gavin Maxwell about his life in a remote house in coastal Scotland where he kept several wild otters as pets. First published in 1960, it became a best seller and is considered a literary masterpiece, event ...

''. Behind the scenes, Doonican was described as "a perfectionist who knew his limitations but always aimed to be 'the best Val Doonican possible.'" Dennis Barker, "Val Doonican: obituary", ''The Guardian'', 2 July 2015
Retrieved 3 July 2015 He was sometimes compared to American singer

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

, though he claimed his main influence was

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

. He appeared in three

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal f ...

s. On 31 December 1976, Doonican performed his hit song "Walk Tall” on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's ''

A Jubilee of Music ''A Jubilee of Music'' is a one-off BBC Television entertainment show lasting 75 minutes, broadcast on 31 December 1976 at 10:30pm on BBC1. The show was produced to celebrate the British music successes of the first 25 years of Elizabeth II's ...

'', celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee. Doonican won the BBC Television Personality of the Year award in 1966. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1970.

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ A ...

, a fellow Irishman met him at the 18th green of the South Herts Golf Club as Doonican played a round of golf. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, ''The Special Years'' (1980) and ''Walking Tall'' (1985)

Personal life

Doonican met his future wife, Lynette Rae, when both she and the Ramblers supported

on tour. The couple married in 1962. They had two daughters, Sarah and Fiona, and two grandchildren, Bethany and Scott. In later years they lived at Knotty Green in

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

, Buckinghamshire. Doonican officially retired in 1990 but was still performing in 2009. He had a second home in Spain and was a keen golfer and a talented watercolour painter. Another hobby he enjoyed was cooking. In June 2011, he was recognised by the

Mayor of Waterford The Kings of Viking Waterford (914–1170) The Vikings, who had created a longphort near Waterford in 853, finally settled and created a town in 914. These were led by Ottir Iarla. Ragnall ua Ímair then installed himself over them in 917, how ...

bestowing on him "The Freedom of the City".

Death and tributes

Doonican died at a nursing home in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

on 1 July 2015, aged 88. His daughter Sarah told ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'': "Until 87, he was as fit as a flea. It was just old age, I'm afraid — the batteries ran out." Leading tributes to Doonican, fellow entertainer

Bruce Forsyth Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was a British entertainer and presenter whose career spanned more than 70 years. Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the ITV series '' Sunday Nig ...

said, "It is very sad. He was always a lovely man to work with ... He was a very warm person and number one in his field. He brought a lovely warmth with his personality and was a very popular man."

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

commented on

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, "Sad to hear of Val Doonican's passing ... RIP Val", while BBC disc-jockey

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

said "So sad to hear that Val Doonican has passed away. He was a lovely man and a true professional who I worked with on several TV shows R.I.P."

In popular culture

* He appears as himself in the

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, ...

's "

The Intro and the Outro "The Intro and The Outro" is a recording by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. It appears on their debut album, ''Gorilla'' ( 1967). It is not so much a song as a comic monologue in which the speaker introduces the musicians who ostensibly appear on the ...

", saying "hello there" over the general hubbub. * Doonican's 1965 song, "I'm Gonna Get There Somehow", has been used in adverts for Irish toy store

Smyths Smyths Toys Superstores is an Irish multinational chain provider of children's toys and entertainment products with over 200 shops throughout Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France. The business is owned by the Smy ...

. * Walk Tall is quoted in the series

Monarch of the Glen (TV series) ''Monarch of the Glen'' is a British drama television series produced by Ecosse Films for BBC Scotland and broadcast on BBC One for seven series between February 2000 and October 2005 with 64 episodes in total. The first five series of ''Mon ...

Series 1 Episode 7 * Since 2006 his name has also been used by the

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

comedy-folk band

The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican are a British comedy folk and parody band from Barnsley, South Yorkshire. Formed in 2006, they claim to be the hardest working comedy band in the UK, having played over 1200 shows throughout the UK. They ...

who celebrate Val's image, wearing loud-knitwear as part of their larger-than-life stage personas.

Discography

Chart singles

Albums

* ''The Lucky 13 Shades of Val Doonican'' (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

, 1964, UK album chart #2) * ''Gentle Shades of Val Doonican'' (Decca, 1966, UK album chart #5) * ''

'' ( Pye, 1967, UK album chart #1) * ''Val'' (Pye, 1968, UK album chart #6) * ''The World of Val Doonican'' (Decca, 1969, UK album chart #2, AUS album chart #24) * ''Sounds Gentle'' (Pye, 1969, UK album chart #22) * ''Especially For You'' (

Contour Contour may refer to: * Contour (linguistics), a phonetic sound * Pitch contour * Contour (camera system), a 3D digital camera system * Contour, the KDE Plasma 4 interface for tablet devices * Contour line, a curve along which the function ha ...

, 1970) * ''If The Whole World Stopped Loving'' (Contour, 1970) * ''Gentle On My Mind'' (Contour, 1970) * ''The Blue And The Grey – Songs From The American Civil War'' (with the George Mitchell Singers,

World Record Club The World Record Club Ltd. was the name of a company in the United Kingdom which issued long-playing records and reel-to-reel tapes, mainly of classical music and jazz, through a membership mail-order system during the 1950s and 1960s. In add ...

, 1970) * ''The Magic of Val Doonican'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, 1970, UK album chart #34) * ''This Is Val Doonican'' (Philips, 1971, UK album chart #40) * ''This Is Val Doonican, Vol.2'' (Philips, 1971) * ''Just A Sittin' And A Rockin (Philips 1971) * ''Morning In The Country'' (Philips, 1972) * ''Morning Has Broken'' (Philips, 1972) * ''Rocking Chair Favourites'' (Philips, 1973) * ''I Love Country Music'' (Philips, 1975, UK album chart #37) * ''Life Can Be Beautiful'' (Philips, 1976) * ''Some of My Best Friends Are Songs'' (Philips, 1977, UK album chart #29) * ''Mr. Music Man'' ( Pickwick, 1981) * ''Quiet Moments'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, 1981) * ''Val Sings Bing'' (RCA, 1982, AUS album chart #84) * ''20 Shades of Green'' (J&B, 1983 AUS album chart #24) * ''At His Very Best'' (J&B, 1983 AUS album chart #33) * ''Song of My Best Friends Are Songs'' (J&B, 1986 AUS album chart #63) * ''Songs From My Sketchbook'' ( Parkfield, 1990, UK album chart #33) * ''The Very Best of Bing Crosby & Val Doonican'' (J&B, 1991 AUS album chart #85) * ''The Very Best of Val Doonican'' (UMTV, 2008, UK album chart #33) Source: Val Doonican: Albums, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 2 July 2015

References

Other sources

* ''Legends – Val Doonican'', (

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

), December 2007 * Brooks, T. and Marsh, E. ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows'' (1998)

External links

* * Val Doonican biographyat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doonican, Val 1927 births 2015 deaths Irish pop singers People from Waterford (city) Irish television personalities Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Irish baritones 20th-century Irish male singers 21st-century Irish male singers People educated at De La Salle College Waterford