Daniel O’Donnell is lying on a sunbed in Tenerife, talking to us back home on the phone. He sounds relaxed – but then again, Daniel always sounds relaxed, chatting easily in his unhurried Donegal drawl. It’s been two weeks since we met him last at The Europe Hotel and Resort in Killarney for this, our exclusive photoshoot.
Since then, he’s performed a rake of gigs and now is readying himself for his 48th album release, he says, as he yawns a big yawn.
His new album, just out, called Now and Then, is causing – especially amongst some of his most ardent fans – a sort of mild hysteria. The hysteria is coming from the fact that after this release – and after a string of UK and American dates that will take him up to Christmas – Daniel is stepping back and taking a much-needed and well-deserved break.
Rumours are circulating saying he’s unwell, others that he’s retiring, but as he tells us today from his pool-side recliner, “I’m 45 years on the road in January, I think it might be just time to take a wee sabbatical.”
We talk about life on and off the stage, about life before the stage, and about what he will do after…
How’s Daniel doing? And how’s Majella?
Ah, sure I’m grand, thanks. I’m here by myself in Tenerife, Majella is in Australia. Her son Michael just moved house so she went out to them for three weeks to give them a hand. I do miss her, but with the jetlag it takes a full week to get yourself back together and I didn’t want that with the album and tour dates coming up. Maybe when I’m off we’ll go out for an extended period to Australia, that would be nice.
How are you passing the time out there on your own, Daniel?
I do have friends but I don’t do a lot, I just relax! I just do whatever comes into my head. Play a bit of golf, play bridge online, I just take it easy.
We know you’re good at the bridge, but are you handy at the golf?
Well, I’d like to be better! I play a few times a week when I’m out here. Can’t wait to watch The Ryder Cup.
It’s coming up to dinnertime, you going to cook yourself something?
Well, I’m not a cook and I wouldn’t cook for anybody, but I can make myself whatever I want. I might do steamed mussels or lamb chops. I went on a diet recently because I put on a bit of weight, so I’m trying to eat more healthily.
What’s the plan for the rest of the evening?
I’ll watch a bit of tv. I love quiz shows, I love The Chase; I love Tipping Point. Even though I love the quizzes I’m no great brain of Ireland or anything! I might play a bit of bridge; I’ve a few friends that I play with and I enjoy it immensely.
Your other great pastime, of course, is spending time with the step grandkids.
Oh, I love them. Olivia is 10, Archie will be eight in January, Luke will be four in October, and the baby Jack in Australia was born in April. They’re just great, ‘When are you coming granddad, when are you coming?’. Then they ask me to come out to play! I don’t know what age they think I am! They’re mighty.
Mighty indeed! Tell us now, you’re well aren’t you, because rumours are swirling at the moment saying you’re not, which you have since clarified.
No, I’m fine. I do have allergies, but medication has helped me greatly and I do feel grand. I just want to try to figure out what was causing the issues I had. To do that I’ll probably go off the medication again and take a break.
What type of break is it you’re taking?
I’m taking a break in December, we’ve shows in the UK in October and then we’ll go to America in November, the last show is in Kincasslagh, it’s a Christmas gospel show, and that’s for the church and the local school. And then I’m taking a break. But I have things I am doing, like I’m doing Gertrude Byrne’s cruise for the next couple of years and then I’m involved in the Mary of Dunloe Festival for life. Hopefully we’ll also be recording the Opry shows for TG4 too. But that’s about all I’ll do because I do want to take a good break. And then when I come back, I want to look at touring in a different way. Everybody reaches a time where they think I can’t continue doing it this way. And this last year I’ve been thinking that.
How many shows would you usually do?
Hopefully now going forward I’ll just do two shows. That’s what I’m thinking, but y’know I’m answering this question and I don’t know. I have to think about how I’m going to do it. The break is going to allow me time figure out how it will work best.
45 years on the road, how does that shape you as a person? What does it do to you?
Ach, I don’t know, I suppose I am as I am. Apart from this chest thing I’ve got now I’ve never felt this job is a hard thing to do. I am blessed, I love it, I love meeting people, and I love the opportunity to sing and be on stage. All in all, it was the perfect career for me.
Slowing down, stepping away, you seem to be at peace with this decision?
Oh God yes, it’s the right thing for me – just to take a break and reassess.
But we wonder how much of this is tied up in your identity, because it’s all you’ve known for most of your life – music is you.
Ach, it is, but I have a nice life away from the stage too. I’ve had a good balance on it for a while.
Talk to us then about your life away from the stage. What does Daniel do in a day?
It depends on where I am I suppose. If I’m at home in Donegal, I do whatever the day brings. Even though I might be off, I may have videos to do for somebody’s birthday, or an anniversary, and that doesn’t take long, but I’d be doing that type of thing. I would play a lot of golf if I’m not out and about touring, especially in Tenerife I would play a couple of times a week. I’m also very good at relaxing! I can sit and do nothing and say nothing for hours!
We read a quote there recently about the beauty of having somebody to do nothing with!
Yes! And Majella is great, she’s quite happy to do nothing too! We don’t plan days, we don’t say we’ll do this and we’ll do that, whatever every day sends, we just do it.
Looking back on your life, with a bird’s eye view, can you believe it turned out the way it did?
No, if there was a plot to be written for how I would go through life, it certainly would not have read the way it played out. What I have been allowed to enjoy and experience is way beyond what I would have hoped for, way way beyond. The extensive travelling I’ve got to do, the shows I’ve got to do, just the people I’ve met – career-wise I couldn’t have wished for more. I’ve been blessed beyond belief, I’ve been very fortunate.
You seem to be very grateful for your lot.
Yes, that’s a good way to put it, I am very grateful for all the things I’ve been allowed to enjoy both professionally and personally. I don’t think if God was in front of me, I could never say, why did I not get this, why did I not get that. I got it all.
You mentioned God there and we know that your faith is very important to you.
Ach, it is. For me it’s a stabilising factor, everybody’s faith is their own journey, but my faith has been good for me. It was how I was brought up, going to mass, attending church, and I’ve just carried that through and when I travel if I can get to mass I’ll go, if I don’t I can get it online, and all the masses from home are online so you are never without.
You stand as one of the great entertainers of our time, when you hear that, how does that make you feel?
I suppose I feel very privileged if that’s how I am seen. The enjoyment I get out of it is hard to describe. It’s been a great way to go through life, doing something not that took very little effort, but it didn’t take a lot out of me. That doesn’t mean you don’t get physically tired from travelling and all the rest, but I never felt like it was a difficult job to do.
We wonder about your audience as well, you have such a genuine connection with them, how do you generate that connection with people?
I suppose it’s a two-way street. They give to me as I hopefully give to them. I get a lot back from the audience too you know. People say to me that I’m great to spend all that time talking to people, but they’re great to queue up and wait! You have to be mindful of how positive that is, and the positive energy that that brings.
Talk to us about the new album, Now and Then, which is out now, and which is sort of a return to the music that made you and shaped you.
Well, the last couple of albums have been a bit like that. There’s a mixture of songs, some original songs that people have given me, some older songs that I like. The song Country Roads – everybody has recorded Country Roads that ever sang! But I never did, though I’ve sung it lots, so I decided to record that. Also, the Stevie Wonder song, I Just Called To Say I Love You, that takes me back to the 80s when it was out and I loved it. I always thought about recording it but just never did. I mean I can’t sing like Stevie Wonder, I can only sing like myself, but I love the song. So, that’s what the album is – songs thatI enjoy.
The Last Song, written by Don Mescall, caused a bit of pandemonium, didn’t it?!
Ach, it did! People were thinking it was my last song but sure it’s not. It’s just a beautiful inspirational love song.
And the recording process, Daniel, do you enjoy that?
More than I used to. In the beginning all I really loved were the shows and the rest I had to do. But as the years have gone on, I’ve got more comfortable with it, but at the end of the day, it’s the live situations that I love the most.
Do you ever get nervous before walking out on stage anymore?
Always! From the very first day until today. Especially on live television, I don’t hate doing The Late Late Show but it’s just such a nerve wracking thing because there’s no fallback if something goes wrong, if you forget a word – because you can forget words. But even every concert I do I’m always just that wee bit anxious, a wee bit apprehensive, and then I go out and it’s fine.
And do you get energy from the audience?
Oh gosh I do, of course. Their interaction with me is fuel.
Just as we’re talking, we’re hearing that Ladbrokes are giving you 10/1 odds that you’ll come back and headline Croker next year. Will you?!
Oh gosh, I don’t think so! I wouldn’t put that pressure on myself now!
Would something like that pressurise you too much?
I just don’t feel the need to do big shows anymore; to put the pressure on myself to sell all those tickets. I was in Killarney there recently and we did great shows; I kinda like that theatre size of shows; I like that closeup atmosphere where you feel like you can touch the person in front of you.
Do you put yourself under pressure to perform?
I suppose I do because I want the shows to be the best they possibly can be, because I’m aware the effort people put in to coming and the money spent, so I want it to be a great experience for whoever comes. I also want to walk off stage happy. I walked off the stage in Killarney thinking, I really loved that.
You grew up with music, it was interweaved into your life from day to dot. Can you remember the first time you sang or you heard your sister Margo – who was a bit older than you – singing?
I can’t remember the first time I sang, but I remember singing at a concert, and that was the first time out in public, and I would have sung with the choir as well. Margaret [Margo] was ten years older than me, Margaret was 74 in February and I’ll be 64 in December, she was singing when she was about 14, so I was only three or four when she started so I don’t remember her not singing.
That must have been very formative for you, growing up so young with her music as your soundtrack?
Yeah, music was part of our house. And my mother while she never sang herself, she used to write, and she loved music, too. She was also always encouraging, whatever you wanted to do my mother encouraged you, even when I left college after three months, she still encouraged me. She believed in us so much, she thought we all were fantastic!
What did you study in college?
Business. But I didn’t stay very long. I loved accountancy, economics and maths, they were the subjects I loved. When people say to me what would you have done if you didn’t do this, it’s very hard to say, but if things hadn’t worked out, I probably would have gone into teaching.
Sliding doors and all that! Right, Daniel, we better let you go, thanks for the chats, and stay well.
Thank you, VIP! May you and all your readers stay well, too.
