One of the most successful Irish performers of all time with over 10 million albums sold worldwide Daniel O’Donnell has released 19 albums since 2000, 9 of those have gone top 10 in the UK, he also released 4 consecutive Number 1 DVD’s during the same period.
The man is a recording phenomenon and on what drives him to achieve so much, he says “I just enjoy the music. My reason for singing was simply to have a more fulfilled life”. He has carved out a niche successfully in easy listening country and Irish music simply because this is the music he loves, he has total control over the material he covers and rather than imitate the original versions he simply keeps the melodies intact and sings them in his own style.
Along with this comfortable familiarity that has endeared him to so many, he also has a tremendous ability to connect with his audience and will happily talk to the people, sign autographs and stand in for photos for hours after each show, he says’ “As the success grew, meeting people gave me a connection, and it didn’t seem like I was going out to strangers, you were bound to see someone you met before and it relaxes you”. He simply enjoys meeting people and would have had that connection no matter what career he followed, “If you go somewhere and meet nobody you might as well not have been there at all because it’s the people that make the place”.
His current releases are a collection of inspirational songs called ‘Hope & Praise’ and a DVD of his hits called ‘At home in Ireland’ both perfect gifts solving the thorny issue of what to buy for loved ones on birthdays and at Christmas and his consistently high chart positions prove that the culture of downloading music for free, that has decimated music sales for so many artists, has had no noticeable effect on Daniel’s career whatsoever.
Daniel will play two shows this coming weekend at University Concert Hall on Saturday and Sunday, July 17 and 18.
