![]() He played his first solo gigs in Glasgow venues, toiling away in Scotland as his father had before him. That was the beginning.”Īfter quitting college in Galway to spend two years on the road with Margo, he went solo in 1983. His older sister Margaret – known by her professional name Margo – had been singing for years and over the Christmas of 1980, she invited her younger brother to be part of her band. "I only stayed three months." He didn't feel he fit in and longed to be perform. He went to study business in Galway Regional College, hoping to transfer to a degree course later. He enjoyed classes but wasn't "an exam person". O'Donnell was still a schoolboy at the time. I looked out and saw people singing and smiling along and I thought wouldn’t this be a great way to spend my life?” “I remember one night in particular standing up there and thinking how much I enjoyed it. “She’d say ‘get up there and sing.’” He remembers the exact moment as a young boy performing for grown ups in a hotel in Dungloe one Saturday where he knew he wanted to be a singer. His late mother Julia was always encouraging. “I was no genius at school, but I loved accountancy and economics and maths.” He doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t singing though. He says he’d probably have been a teacher. The scene makes me wonder about if O’Donnell never made it in music and had a 9-5 job, what would it be?ĭaniel O'Donnell on stage around 1990. At the end of the video, we see Daniel daydreaming in an office, back at his boring 9-5 job, still dreaming of a life sipping cocktails at the La De Dah. O’Donnell is surfing and wearing a grass skirt with floral garland, larking about with seagulls and a couple of comely looking mermaids. The video begins with our clean-cut hero watching a travel programme in some neatly pressed pyjamas heading off to bed whereupon he falls into a dream Down at The La De Dah, a tropical paradise. The effort was incredible and I am hoping it brings great attention to them as well." "The two guys who made it live three miles from me, award winning illustrator Kim Sharkey who did the art is another three miles the other way, the mermaids are from Dungloe and Burtonport and the barman was drafted in at great expense from Belfast. It's a wee bit different …" O'Donnell says. "It's not like it has a big, big message, like You Raise Me Up, this one just makes people happy. The song itself – written by Jimmy Buffett, Paul Brady and Ralph Murphy – is a jaunty middle of the road jape of a song for anyone who dreamt of an escape during the pandemic. He is full of praise for the creative team Re-Act Productions who came up with the concept. Making the video was "great fun" he says. Think Club Tropicana mixed with Fantasy Island and a sprinkling of Bed Knobs & Broomsticks and you are only part of the way there. The first single from the new album was released with a video that had social media buzzing. I ask him about one of the songs on 60 – Down at the Lah de Dah. I looked out and saw people singing and smiling along and I thought wouldn't this be a great way to spend my life ![]() I remember one night standing up there and thinking how much I enjoyed it. Now he's delighted to be back preparing for 13 sold out dates in the US, in venues such as Mystic Lake Casino and Fargo Theatre. He's been going there since 1997 when it was more of a struggle to fill rooms. He is talking on his mobile phone from Branson, Missouri, the Las Vegas of country music. That revelation is delivered on Skype, O'Donnell's preferred platform for interviews. ![]() You’ve less time left than you have lived. ![]() “I suppose it is a milestone age, 50 wasn’t a big deal, when you are in your sixties you are in your sixties and that’s it. "You know I did something during the week that I never did before – I got the flu jab, that's the only thing I've done," he says in that softly lilting and – if you're from Ireland – unmistakeable Donegal voice. "I don't feel a bit different than I did at any other age," he says. Despite naming his new album 60 – it went straight into the UK album charts at number 4 – he doesn’t have much to say about reaching this age. I ask him for his thoughts about the impending birthday. Country crooner and guilt-free crush of legions of women over a certain age, Daniel O’Donnell will turn 60 on December 12th.
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