Country music star Daniel O'Donnell reflects on his illustrious 40-year career, shares plans to slow down and spend more time with family, and excitedly anticipates the arrival of his fourth grandchild.
Daniel O’Donnell has a lot to celebrate this year, his wife Majella’s son got married in Italy, he’s set to become a grandfather again and he’s marking 40 years in music. The country music star is still as busy and famous as ever, but he won’t always stay touring and he is conscious to put aside more time for himself and his family going forward after making a decision to slow down. He tells RSVP , “I will always sing, but I don’t think that I will always tour.
I don’t think I’ll keep up touring to this extent.” Daniel also reveals he once thought about giving it all up and leaving music before making it big. Music isn’t everything in life though, and Daniel is a big family man. Here, he shares how lucky he is to have met his wife Majella in a chance encounter in Tenerife, he lifts the lid on their family’s wonderful news and he opens up about spending Christmas at home in Donegal. Daniel, congratulations, you’re celebrating 40 years in music. Is that hard to imagine? It’s 40 years since I released my first album and it’s even more than that since I released my first record. When you look back at it, it’s amazing how quickly time has passed. Sometimes it feels like the blink of an eye and, all in all, it’s been wonderful. What have been your career highlights? I never thought I’d be on Top Of The Pops and I never thought I’d have had this career. I never thought I’d be at this level and get to tour the places I have. I’ve been on TV shows here and there. It’s amazing when I sit back and think about it all. Did you have a Plan B at any point? If music didn’t work out for me and I had to do something else, I would have gone back and done teaching. There was a time where you thought about giving it all up, isn’t that right? I didn’t think it was going to work out for me and it was coming to a point where I needed to make a living. Although I had recorded my first album, I couldn’t see any benefit to being in the industry. I remember going to Mick Clerkin in 1985 and telling him I didn’t think I was going to be able to stick it out. He told me there was a good reaction to the album forming and that it was starting to get airplay. I stuck it out a bit longer and, luckily, things started to take off for me. Have you any plans to slow down or step back these days? I have slowed down and I don’t do nearly as many shows as I used to. Going forward, I will cut down more. Visibly, people will know that they don’t see me as much. Is the reason behind that because you want more time to yourself? I want more time to relax and I want to get the right balance between having time off and time on. What do you and Majella like to do together when you have free time? We might go away somewhere on holidays, but we’re equally happy staying at home here in Donegal doing nothing. We like to do what we want to do. We do the same things that other people do. Time off is a novelty to us because we can’t always be at whatever is going on in our friends and family’s lives. So it’s lovely when we’ve the opportunity to be around. We love going to Tenerife as well and we love spending time with our grandchildren. Do you count yourself lucky to make a living and get paid for doing something you love? I think the majority of people work to live. They work because they have to. Then there’s a minority who get to do something that they choose to do. Everyone has a talent, but to have it work out and make a living from it is just fantastic. Majella’s son Michael got married in Italy during the summer. How was the wedding? It was a lovely wedding, we had a lovely time in Italy. And now we’ve another grandchild on the way – he and his wife Sarah are expecting a baby next year. It’s great! Did you perform at the wedding? I sang for them during their first dance. They wanted Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight . What’s the excitement like in the family with another new arrival on the way? We’re really looking forward to it, please God everything will go well. They live in Australia, so we will be using FaceTime and WhatsApp to help with the long distance. Will you and Majella go to Australia to see them before the baby is born? No, not beforehand. Majella will go over at some stage after the baby is born. You’re already a grandfather to Olivia, Archie and Luke, are they looking forward to having a first cousin? They are, and they already have a lot of first cousins on their father’s side. They must have 12 on that side of the family already. What do you like to do with them when you’re together? I do whatever they’re doing, their tune is always louder than mine. So whatever their tune is, we have to sing that one when we’re with the
DANIEL O'donnell MUSIC CAREER FAMILY GRANDCHILD SLOWING DOWN TOURING TENERIFE
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