Daniel O'Donnell

Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist.

In 1980, he went to Galway to pursue business studies, however, he never settled down and by Christmas he was in his sister Margo's band.

Margo had already forged a successful career in Ireland.

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 Australia.

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 on a regular basis.

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.

By the mid-1990s, O'Donnell had become a household name across Ireland and Great Britain.

He appeared on popular television shows in both countries and won various awards.

According to O'Donnell, by January 1992, he had hit rock bottom with exhaustion.

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

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).

This also led to his first appearance on Top of the Pops.

During his lengthy career, O'Donnell has made friends with his childhood idols, including Cliff Richard and Loretta Lynn.

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.

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, when he starred in seven concert specials on public television stations (PBS) in the United States.

He has charted 18 albums in the Top 20 of the U.S. Billboard'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 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 2021, O'Donnell has had an album in the Official Albums Chart each year for the last 33 years.

Known for his close relationship with his fanbase, and his charismatic and engaging stage presence, O'Donnell's music has been described as a mix of country and Irish folk, and he has sold over ten million records to date.

He is widely considered a "cultural icon" 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.

O'Donnell was born in and brought up in the village of Kincasslagh, in The Rosses district in the west of County Donegal, Ireland.

He grew up as the youngest of a Roman Catholic 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 heart attack when O'Donnell was six years old.

During his school years, O'Donnell considered pursuing a career in banking.

Despite this, a career in music was also always a possibility.

As a youngster, O'Donnell performed in the local religious choir.

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.