Irish crooner coming to Bangor Daniel O’Donnell to perform June 3

BANGOR – Daniel O’Donnell couldn’t be more out of style … and his fans love him for it.

O’Donnell, the quiet Irish crooner familiar to PBS fans, will appear at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 3, at the Bangor Auditorium, as part of an 11-city tour.

In a time when screaming, swearing, crotch-grabbing “artists” top the music charts, O’Donnell, 45, uses a quiet, soft voice to perform a variety of hits, from Elvis to traditional Irish ballads.

A latter-day Pat Boone blessed with an Irish brogue, O’Donnell has sold 10 million albums worldwide, and at one time had no less than nine of the top 15 albums on the World Music chart. He has sold more than 1.5 million video productions, which are among the top sellers in the world. He was awarded an MBE (members of the Order of the British Empire) from the queen for his services to the music industry.

Far from the image of performers brushing off their fans, O’Donnell is known for standing for hours to sign autographs. One day a year he serves tea at an open house at his Kincasslagh home.

Out of style.

One of Ireland’s most popular exports, O’Donnell is given credit for 60 percent of tourists’ visits in his native County Donegal.

He is a humble Irishman who does not drink liquor and is a Catholic who goes to mass every Sunday morning.

In a telephone interview from Branson, Mo., O’Donnell was at a loss to explain his strong appeal in the face of the rock ‘n’ roll and rap music which dominates the airways. “To me it’s a joy. I choose the music I do and I am fortunate that the people like it, too.” O’Donnell admits that his audience is older and largely female. “There are a number of women but there is a good mixture, with men and children, too,” he said.

Like the Grateful Dead, the performer has “groupies” who follow him from concert to concert. But his “groupies” are mostly retired. It is not uncommon for a daughter, mother and grandmother to attend the concert together.

While O’Donnell speaks with a brogue, there is not a trace when he sings. “It’s a mystery to me, as well,” he said.

The O’Donnells were raised in Kincasslagh, in County Donegal, in a small house with five children and without plumbing or electricity. The house was heated with peat.

Oldest sister Margo was singing at fairs and dances from age 10 and she always dragged her younger brother up on stage. Along with traditional Irish music, O’Donnell said he was heavily influenced by American country singers such as Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves and Kitty Wells. And Loretta Lynn. “For whatever reason, I loved Loretta Lynn. She was always something special.” Once he discovered Loretta, “There was no competition,” he said.

With $1,200 of his own money, he recorded “My Donegal Shore” in 1983 and sold the 45s out of the trunk of his car. Slowly, O’Donnell graduated from the Irish music halls to a London television appearance in the early 1990s, when he sang his first hit, “I Want to Dance With You.”

Despite his phenomenal success in Ireland and England, O’Donnell’s U.S. performances were limited to Branson until 2000, when PBS tapped him for several performances in their annual fundraising drives. In his autobiography, “My Story,” the crooner said, “The type of exposure you get from PBS cannot be bought. The shows are broadcast over and over so it creates a huge awareness of someone like me. Through the exposure from PBS, my Branson shows sell out and crowds are coming to my concerts in venues right across the states.”

He has been derided as a “Lawrence Welk-type singer,” but welcomes the comment as a compliment. In the telephone interview, he said, “I don’t mind that at all. Lawrence Welk was tremendously successful. He was very good.” Indeed, O’Donnell features the Lennon sisters – a Welk mainstay – on his PBS special.

The June 3 concert in Bangor will include “a mixture of all kinds of stuff. A little Irish, a little country, a little easy listening, whatever.” At almost every concert, O’Donnell will do “Danny Boy,” naturally, and concludes with “Gates of Babylon” and “How Great Thou Art.”

Even in Ireland, many Catholics have turned their back on the church. Not O’Donnell. “The church is still strong in Ireland, just not as strong as it used to be.”

A neighbor in Kincasslagh introduced O’Donnell to the problems of orphans in Romania. He did a benefit record and CD to raise money for 550 orphans in Siret. “We are just scraping the surface, but the money is starting to come in. I imagine we have raised three or four million pounds. It was the public that raised it, I was only the avenue.”

O’Donnell certainly breaks the stereotype of the hard-drinking Irishman. “I never bothered with drink. I have tasted it a few times but don’t like it. I find that I have just as good a time without it.”

O’Donnell concluded the interview with a soft “God bless you.”

Definitely out of style.

O’Donnell has a fan site at http://www.danielodonnell.org. Emmet Meara can be reached at emeara@msn.com.