John Charles McDermott (born 25 March 1955) is a

Scottish-Canadian Scottish Canadians are people of Scottish people, Scottish descent or cultural heritage, heritage living in Canada. As the third-largest ethnic group in Canada and amongst the first Europeans to settle in the country, Scottish people have made a ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, 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 lo ...

with Irish roots, best known for his rendering of the songs "

Danny Boy "Danny Boy" is a ballad, written by English songwriter Frederic Weatherly in 1913, and set to the traditional Irish melody of "Londonderry Air". History In 1910, in Bath, Somerset, the English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly initial ...

" and "

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of Ce ...

". Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland, McDermott moved with his family to

Willowdale, Toronto Willowdale is a neighbourhood in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. It developed from three postal villages: Newtonbrook, Willowdale and Lansing. Willowdale began as a postal village (originally Willow ...

, Canada in 1965. Growing up in a musical family, his only formal musical training was at

St. Michael's Choir School St. Michael's Choir School (also known as SMCS, The Choir School, or St. Mike's Choir) is a semi-Independent school, private Catholic Church, Catholic Cathedral school, choir school for boys from Educational stage, grades 3-12 in Toronto, Ontario, ...

in Toronto, Ontario in 1971 and 1972.

Starting out

After singing at weddings for a few years, he joined with several other choristers to form a group, named The Mistletones, in 1980. He performed "The Ballad of Harry Warden", the closing theme of the Canadian slasher film '' My Bloody Valentine'' (1981). Starting in 1988, he has regularly been called upon to sing the national anthems at

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

and

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

games. From 1984 through 1992, he worked as a circulation representative for the

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

;

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer. His father was businessman George Montegu Black II, who had significant holdings in Canadi ...

heard him singing at company parties. Black, along with other executives, financed McDermott's independent recording of "

" in 1992, which was picked up and released in North America by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Music Canada. Following this unexpected success, McDermott decided to pursue a professional singing career.

Professional career

He performed his first concert at the Rebecca Cohn Theatre on 5 October 1993 in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. From there he continued to tour the rest of Canada, performing as an opening act for

The Chieftains The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous wi ...

. Throughout 1994, he went on a tour of Australia and New Zealand, following the great success of "Danny Boy", which had been ranked Number 1 on the charts there and achieved triple platinum in New Zealand. Next, in 1995, he went on a tour of Britain with

The Seekers The Seekers were an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were ...

. At this point in his career he was becoming recognized internationally, so he started to tour regularly as a solo act rather than an opening act. He also appeared at several special events including the

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...

ceremonies in France in 1995, and the United States

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

in 1996. He has also appeared on television several times, both as a host of

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

concert specials in 1997, and in his own television special titled ''John McDermott: A Time to Remember'', which aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

in 2002. He formed

The Irish Tenors The Irish Tenors are a singing trio from Ireland that was started in 1998 by a group of television producers for a PBS special ''The Irish Tenors''. They have since recorded five PBS specials and eight albums. The group's members are Declan ...

, and after performing a large concert in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland in 1998, they spent some time touring the United States, appearing on television, and releasing a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

. Since leaving the Irish Tenors, McDermott continues to tour extensively throughout the World, performing with his own group and with the great symphonies of the world. He continues to work to support the veteran community in the United States and in Canada. In 2000, McDermott dedicated McDermott House in Washington, D.C., a transitional home for homeless veterans. His latest release, ''Journeys: Bringing Buddy Home'', was recorded to help support fundraising for Fisher House Boston and launch the Canadian initiative for an outreach centre for Canadian veterans. In 2010, McDermott took part in the World Jazz for Haiti charity album, recorded at Number 9 Audio Group in support of the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

disaster relief fund. The album featured Canadian artists such as

David Clayton-Thomas David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...

and

Holly Cole Holly Cole (born November 25, 1963) is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio. Background Cole was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father, Leon Cole, was a noted radio broadcaster ...

Discography

*''Danny Boy'' (1992) – Canada: double

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

, Australia No. 25 *''Battlefields of Green'' (1993) *''Old Friends'' (1994) (platinum) *''Christmas Memories'' (1994) (platinum) *''Love Is a Voyage'' (1995) (platinum) *''When I Grow Too Old to Dream'' (1997) *''If Ye Break Faith....'' (1998 Canada), in the US ''Remembrance'' (1999) *''Danny Boy Collection'' (1998) (triple platinum) *''Daughter of Mine'' (1999) (EP) *''The Irish Tenors'' with

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him ...

and

Anthony Kearns Anthony Kearns (born 17 August 1971, in Kiltealy, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland) is an internationally acclaimed tenor, record producer, and a member of The Irish Tenors. Early life Anthony Kearns is one of six children in a music ...

(1999) – Australia No. 57 *''Love Is a Voyage'' (2000) (remastered) *''A Day to Myself'' (2001) *''O Canada'' (2001) *''A Time to Remember'' (2002) *''My Forever Friend'' (2003) *''Stories of Love'' (2003) *''Songs of the Isles – Ireland'' (2004) *''Songs of the Isles – Scotland'' (2004) *''Just Plain Folk'' (2005) (with Michael P Smith) *''Salute to Our Veterans'' (2005) (with the pipes and drums of the Ottawa Police Service) *''Legacy of the Patriot'' (2006) *''On a Whim – The Songs of Ron Sexsmith'' (2006) *''Images of Christmas'' (2006) (duets) *''Sharing Christmas – John McDermott & Friends'' (2007) *''Great is Thy Faithfulness'' (2008) *''Journeys – Bringing Buddy Home'' (2009) *''The Old House'' (2012) (with Jason Fowler) *''My Gentle Harp: A Tribute to Thomas Moore'' (2012) *''A Traditional Christmas'' (2012) *''How Great Thou Art'' (2014) *''Daughter of Mine'' (2014) *''The Contender'' (2014)

Awards and recognition

*For his support for veterans' causes, John McDermott was made an honorary member of

The War Amps The War Amps is a Canadian registered nonprofit organization, established in 1918 to meet the needs of war amputees. The charity provides financial and advisory services to those who have lost a limb or total eyesight in military service during w ...

. *Also for supporting veterans' causes, he has received the US Congressional Medal of Honor Society's Bob Hope Award. September 2001 *Received The Chapel of Four Chaplains " Legion of Honor Award " April 2002 *Received a Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for his work on behalf of Veterans 2010. *Received five

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods *Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007 Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno'' *Ju ...

nominations (1993–1998) *Received the Ted Williams Globe and Anchor Award from the United States Marine Corps Semper Fidelis Society. November. 2011 *McDermott was called the "worthy heir to the famed Irish tenor John McCormack" (

Chicago Sun Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

References

External links