Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had considerable success in

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. In 2012, he became the first artist to have a different album in the British charts every year for 25 consecutive years. This record has been extended and as of 2024, O'Donnell has had an album in the Official Albums Chart each year for the last 36 years making him one of the most successful recording artists of all time. Known for his close relationship with his fanbase, and his charismatic, personable and engaging stage presence, O'Donnell's music has been described as a mix of

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and

Irish folk Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

, and he has sold over ten million records to date. He is widely considered a "

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an cultural artifact, artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen ...

" in Ireland, and is often parodied in the media. Affectionately known as "Wee Daniel", O'Donnell is a prominent ambassador for his home county of Donegal.

Early life

O'Donnell was born in and brought up in the village of

Kincasslagh Cionn Caslach (anglicised as Kincasslagh) is a small Gaeltacht seaside village in the Rosses area of County Donegal, Ireland. Despite only having a population of just over 40 people, the village has attracted much international attention due to ...

, in

The Rosses The Rosses (officially known by its Irish language name, ''Na Rosa''; in the genitive case ''Na Rosann'') is a traditional 'district' in the west of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern Provinces of Ireland, province in Ireland. The Rosses has ...

district in the west of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland. He grew up as the youngest of a

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family, with his parents, Julia (née McGonagle born 1919; died 18 May 2014) and Francis O'Donnell, and siblings John (the eldest), Margaret ( Margo), Kathleen and James. He has described his upbringing as mostly happy, with the exception of the death of his father after a

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when O'Donnell was six years old. During his school years, O'Donnell considered pursuing a career in

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ing. Despite this, a career in music was also always a possibility. As a youngster, O'Donnell performed in the local religious

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. In 1980, he went to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

to pursue

business studies Business studies, often simply called business, is a field of study that deals with the principles of business, management, and economics. It combines elements of accountancy, finance, marketing, organizational studies, human resource manageme ...

, however, he never settled down and by

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he was in his sister Margo's band. Margo had already forged a successful career in Ireland.

Career

Rise to fame

Not getting enough opportunities to perform solos with the band, in 1983 O'Donnell decided to record his own record. On 9 February 1983, he recorded his first single, Johnny McCauley's "My Donegal Shore", with £1,200 of his own money, selling all the copies himself. Later that year, he formed his own musical group, Country Fever. After the group disbanded, he formed The Grassroots. 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. Under the management of Reilly, O'Donnell started to sell concerts out in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on a regular basis. According to O'Donnell, by January 1992, he had hit rock bottom with

exhaustion Exhaust, exhaustive, or exhaustion may refer to: Law *Exhaustion of intellectual property rights, limits to intellectual property rights in patent and copyright law **Exhaustion doctrine, in patent law ** Exhaustion doctrine under U.S. law, in ...

. After a three-month recovery break, he returned to the stage, this time at the

Point Theatre The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Success

By the mid-1990s, O'Donnell had become a household name across

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. He appeared on popular television shows in both countries and won various awards. Among the accolades, O'Donnell was named Donegal Person of the Year in 1989, which he still rates as the best award. He was given the Irish Entertainer of the Year award in 1989, 1992 and 1996. O'Donnell's first chart hit single in the UK was in 1992 with "I Just Want to Dance With You" (later covered by

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait has sold over 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He holds ...

). This also led to his first appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. During his lengthy career, O'Donnell has made friends with his childhood idols, including

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

and

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

. He also forged a close professional relationship with the Irish singer Mary Duff, who regularly tours with O'Donnell. O’Donnell had to cancel a series of concerts in Northern Ireland because of death threats from loyalist paramilitaries in 1994. The threat was made in a phone call to Daniel O’Donnell's Viking House Hotel in Kincasslagh, County Donegal. The caller said O’Donnell would be killed if he went ahead with four sell-out concerts to be held in the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, County Down.

2000–present

In 2002, he was awarded an Honorary (because of 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 records to date. O'Donnell garnered considerable success in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, when he starred in seven concert specials on public television stations (

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

) in the United States. He has charted 18 albums in the Top 20 of the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s World Music Album Chart and also has had several entries in the Independent Albums Chart too. He was afforded an RTÉ Christmas Day special, ''Daniel at 50'', in 2011 to mark his 50th birthday. In 2015, O'Donnell became the first artist to have charted at least one new album in the UK charts for 28 consecutive years (1988–2015), when his latest album ''The Hank Williams Songbook'' entered the UK Artist Albums Chart at number 5. A Daniel O'Donnell Visitors' Centre was opened in

Dungloe ''An Clochán Liath'', known in English as Dungloe (sometimes misspelled as Dunglow; ), is a town on the west coast of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. It is the main town in The Rosses and the largest in the Donegal ...

in May, 2012, which displays all his gold discs, awards and wedding suit. In Autumn 2015, he appeared on ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

''. He was eliminated third; in week 4 of the series. In October 2015, Daniel and his wife Majella starred in the first series of their TV programme ''Daniel and Majella's B&B Road Trip''. That series aired on UTV but moved to RTÉ in 2016.

Personal life

O'Donnell was married, aged 40, on 4 November 2002, to 41-year-old divorcée Majella McLennan from

Thurles Thurles (; ''Durlas Éile'') is a town in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located in the civil parish of the same name in the barony of Eliogarty and in the ecclesiastical parish of Thurles. The cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Arch ...

, whom he met on holiday in

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

three years previously. McLennan received an

annulment Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning alm ...

of her previous marriage, by which she had two children. The couple live in Meenbanad, County Donegal, and spend time at their second home in

. O'Donnell is proficient in Irish and presented a show in that language for the broadcaster

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

. O'Donnell rarely speaks about politics but voiced his support for the

Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution (Marriage Equality) Act 2015 (previously bill (proposed law), bill no. 5 of 2015) amendments to the Constitution of Ireland, amended the Constitution of Ireland to permit marriage to be contracted ...

in 2015. He has also spoken out in support of redress for homeowners in Ireland whose houses were built using

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into fragile elastic plates. This characteristic is described as ''perfect basal cleavage''. Mica is co ...

Philanthropy

O'Donnell has been involved in many charitable causes for many years, most notably in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. He has championed the Romanian Challenge Appeal, a charity that helps orphaned Romanian children re-establish themselves within society. He was involved in urging Irish families to home these young people in Ireland for a period.

Image

O'Donnell is arguably better known for his gentle, soft-spoken personality and clean-cut image, than for his music. Over the years he has attracted vast media attention and there have been many cultural references to the performer. O'Donnell is frequently satirised in Irish and British comedy because of a common supposition that his audience consists mainly of older women. He was parodied as celebrity singer "Eoin McLove" in the ''

Father Ted ''Father Ted'' is a sitcom created by Irish writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews (writer), Arthur Mathews and produced by British production company Hat Trick Productions for British television channel Channel 4. It aired over three seri ...

'' episode " Night of the Nearly Dead", as well as an episode of

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

sketch-show ''

Chewin' the Fat ''Chewin' the Fat'' is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show among other actors such as Tom Urie. ''Chewin' the Fat'' ...

'', as an Irish singer named "Donald O'Daniel". The comedy show ''

Bull Island Bull Island (), more properly North Bull Island (), is an island located in Dublin Bay in Ireland, about 5 km long and 800 m wide, lying roughly parallel to the shore off Clontarf, Dublin, Clontarf (including Dollymount), Raheny, Kilbarra ...

'' and the radio sketch segment "Gift Grub" portrayed him in sketches frequently singing about his "mammy". DJ

Chris Moyles Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X. Previously he presented '' The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2012 ...

has parodied O'Donnell on numerous occasions. O'Donnell is known for his close relationship with his fans and has a meet-and-greet session after almost every concert. He used to host a massive tea party for his fans outside his Donegal home every year. He has expressed a wish to appear in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. He appeared on ''Martin and Paul's Surf 'n' Turf''.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Charting compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and honours

* 1988 –

RTÉ Guide The ''RTÉ Guide'' is a television and radio listings magazine in Ireland published by RTÉ Commercial Enterprises Ltd, a subsidiary of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). The magazine offers detailed programme listings for RTÉ channels, as w ...

''Favourite Country Artist of the Year'' * 1989 – RTÉ Guide ''Favourite Country Artist of the Year'' * 1989 – ''Donegal Person of the Year'' * 1989 – IRMA ''Entertainer of the Year'' * 1990 – RTÉ Guide ''Favourite Country Artist of the Year'' * 1991 – RTÉ Guide ''Favourite Country Artist of the Year'' * 1991 – British Country Music Awards ''International Artist of the Year'' * 1991 – CMRU ''Most Popular British Vocalist'' * 1991 – IRMA ''Entertainer of the Year'' * 1992 – IRMA ''Entertainer of the Year'' * 1992 – RTÉ Guide ''Favourite Country Artist of the Year'' * 1992 – British Country Music Awards ''International Artist of the Year'' * 1992 – CMRU ''Most Popular British Vocalist'' * 1995 – British Country Music Awards ''International Artist of the Year'' * 1997 – British Country Music Awards ''Ambassador Award for Outstanding Services to Country Music'' * 2000 – '' This Is Your Life'' Tribute * 2002 – Awarded an Honorary MBE for services to the music industry and charity * 2004 – Lifetime Achievement Award from ''

The Irish Post ''The Irish Post'' is a national newspaper for the Irish community in Great Britain. It is published every Wednesday and is sold in shops in Great Britain and Ireland. History The first print edition of ''The Irish Post'' was published on Fr ...

'' * 2011 – Lifetime Achievement Award from the ''

Sunday World The ''Sunday World'' is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories r ...

References

External links

Official website

Original website
*
story
covering O'Donnell's honorary MBE at the

Interview
with Daniel on

ITV Yorkshire ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

, 20 October 2008
Interview on Loose Women with Daniel and his wife in 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Daniel 1961 births 20th-century Irish male singers Living people Irish country singers Irish folk singers 20th-century Irish philanthropists Irish tenors Members of the Order of the British Empire People from County Donegal Musicians from County Donegal Telstar Records artists 21st-century Irish philanthropists 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music 2020s in Irish music People on Irish postage stamps