Dana Rosemary Scallon
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| Dana | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Rosemary Brown |
| Born | August 30, 1951 London, UK |
| Genre(s) | Celtic, Folk, Pop, Christian |
| Occupation(s) | singer, politician |
| Years active | 1970 – present |
| Label(s) | Rex Records Decca Records GTO Records HeartBeat Records Lite Records Ritz Records Word Records DS Music |
| Website | Official site |
Dana Rosemary Scallon is better known as Dana, Irish singer and former politician. She was born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951 in London, England, and raised in Derry, Northern Ireland. Her career began when, as an A-level student, she won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with "All Kinds of Everything", a subsequent worldwide hit and million-seller. Thirty-plus singles and thirty-plus albums later, Dana's career continues, now also as a writer and performer of Contemporary Catholic music – like "The Rosary" album, another worldwide hit and million-seller.
She surprised many with her performance in the Irish presidential election of 1997. Standing as an Independent, she came in third, beating the Labour Party candidate in the process. She answered calls to continue in politics by becoming an MEP in 1999, the first woman elected to represent the constituency of Connaught-Ulster in the European Parliament.
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[edit] Background
Dana was born in 89 Frederica Street, Islington, London, where she lived for five years until her Catholic family returned to Derry, Northern Ireland, the place they were forced to leave after the war to find work. While they were still living at number 89, the classic Ealing comedy, The Ladykillers (1955), was filmed in the vicinity. A film set for "Mrs Wilberforce's house" was built at the end of her street, backing onto railway lines from Kings Cross station, where her father was now working. She was brought up on Derry's new Creggan housing estate, attending the Holy Child's Infant School and St Eugene's Primary School before Thornhill College welcomed her in 1963. In 1967, the family moved into Rossville Street flats. These nine-story apartment blocks were brand new, but within twenty years they were being demolished. The Browns never forgot their time in England, returning there most summers to visit friends and relatives.
Her parents were musical – Dad played the trumpet and Mum the piano – and they passed on their love of music to their three sons and three daughters; they had four daughters, but second-born Grace died from a penicillin allergy, aged eight months. Fourth-born Rosemary was a quick learner, winning a talent contest at the age of six in Derry's St Columb's Hall, where she sang an Irish lullaby.
Music and dance became very important to her as she grew up. She was taught to play the piano and violin, sang in the school choir, and loved her ballet lessons so much she considered it as a career. Derry offered lots of opportunities for her to show off her talent; she took part in many festivals (feiseanna) and contests in the area, winning her fair share of cups. In the early sixties she and her sisters, Eileen and Susan, sang as a trio, performing songs from the hit parade in charity concerts organized by their father. In 1965, after her sisters had gone their separate ways, she turned up at a crowded Embassy Ballroom with her guitar, attempting to win a folk music competition. Stage fright caused her to perform with her eyes firmly closed, but it didn't stop her taking first prize, a demo tape provided by the sponsor, Tony Johnston. This local headmaster and part-time promoter took her under his wing while she prepared for her GCE O-levels at Thornhill College.
After the exams – she did well in seven subjects – her first prize demo tape, now full of original compositions, was sent off to Michael Geoghegan, the manager of Rex Records, a subsidiary of Decca Records, in Dublin, who promptly signed her up. Her debut single was written by Tony Johnston and called "Sixteen", her age at the time, with the B side, "Little Girl Blue", composed by the young soprano herself. It came out on 17 November 1967, but failed to take off, though local TV and radio began to show an interest in her.
A new name was required for her new "career" – "cumbersome" "Rosemary Brown" was out, but her school nickname was in – "Dana". Her friends chose the name, Gaelic for "bold" or "mischievous", because of her habit of practising judo moves on them, moves her judo-loving eldest sister, Eileen, had practised on her.
Now in the sixth form, studying A-level music and English, she became popular on Dublin's cabaret and folk club circuits, travelling the 150 miles there at weekends. On Easter Saturday 1968, dressed in an evening gown, she was driven slowly through cheering crowds in an open-topped white Rolls Royce, part of a motorcade heading for Clontarf Castle in Dublin where, after a few speeches and a fanfare, she found herself on stage, sitting on a throne and wearing a tiara – crowned Queen of Cabaret.
Her record company secretary, Phil Mitton, suggested she audition for the Irish National Song Contest taking place in February 1969, the winner of which gets to participate in the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest. With mixed feelings she did and made it to the final where she sang "Look Around" by Michael Reade. Shown live on RTÉ – and feeling terrified – she came second. Relieved not to have won, she decided her future lay in passing her A-levels and training to become a music and English teacher.
[edit] 1970s — all kinds of everything
Tom McGrath, head of Light Entertainment at RTÉ and producer of the Irish National Song Contest, called her over Christmas with an invitation to take part in the 1970 contest. Busy studying for her exams, she thought one last fling wouldn't hurt so accepted his offer. However, this time she won with "All Kinds of Everything", a song the producer thought would suit her, hence the invite. Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith were the winning composers of the ballad that became her next (fifth) single. Phil Coulter, also from Derry and the man who co-wrote "Puppet on a String" and "Congratulations", did the musical arrangement for the recording produced by Ray Horricks and released by Rex Records on 14 March. It began with clarinets and soaring strings, with the words and melody brought to life by a singer who "loved the song". The two amateur songwriters, both twenty-eight and working as compositors for a Dublin newspaper, joined Dana in representing the Republic of Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Amsterdam, on Saturday 21 March.
All was not well in the Dana camp during a week of rehearsals in the Netherlands. Tony Johnston, acting as her manager for the occasion, began to annoy people by being over-protective towards her, keeping her away from journalists and the RTÉ crew. Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith were also given a hard time. Even her mum and gran were denied access to rehearsals and receptions. Dana, unaware of all this, was not happy when she found out just before the big day.
She was the last of twelve to perform that night in front of two-hundred million viewers. "Do not screw this up", she told herself when her turn arrived. Wearing an embroidered white mini dress and white high-heels, and with her long dark hair held in place by a white plastic clasp, she chose to sing the song while perched on a stool. Her three minutes "were like three seconds". The UK's Mary Hopkin, hot favourite with "Knock Knock Who's There" and famous for "Those Were The Days", and Spain's Julio Iglesias, soon to become famous, were just two of her more fancied competitors. Dana beat them all and registered Ireland's first success in the contest. Despite having just won the biggest song-contest in the world – and now the focus of media attention – she still believed a future in teaching was waiting for her back home.
Scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania greeted her triumphant return to Dublin Airport the following Monday. From there she flew to Ballykerry Airport, where crowds lined the streets as she made her way in a black limousine to the Guildhall in Derry, fifteen miles away. A civic reception was waiting for her – as well as a mass of people; she had to be carried to and from the building to avoid being crushed. It was after midnight before she arrived home, exhausted and hungry. She described the journey to her Bogside flat as like "breaking into Colditz", with flowers, fruit and fans everywhere. Dana's victory was something to celebrate for the people of Derry – the Troubles had not long started and the Battle of the Bogside had not long finished, a two-day battle she witnessed from her fifth-floor flat in Rossville Street, the street where Bloody Sunday took place on 30 January 1972. Thirteen people were killed that day, all of them, or their families, known to Dana and her family.
This now eighteen-year-old schoolgirl took the winning song to the top of the Irish charts for nine weeks and the UK charts for two weeks. Similar positions were achieved in places as faraway as Australia, South Africa and Singapore. It soon became a million-seller. And it soon became necessary to make an LP. Twelve songs were chosen for a two-day recording session with an orchestra at Decca's West Hamstead studios, beginning 25 April. Named after "that song" and showing her in "that dress", her debut album was in the shops by June. Seven tracks were penned by Johnston, of which she co-wrote four, including "Can That Girl Be Me", a suitable title given her present situation. That song was one of five from the album that made it onto a Dana compilation CD of the same name, issued in 1990.
Her follow-up 45 failed to follow in its forerunner's footsteps; in fact "I Will Follow You" flopped. Not wishing to be a one-hit wonder, she put everything into her next single, "Who Put the Lights Out". Written by former pop star Paul Ryan and released in January 1971, this sad song cheered her up by spending eleven weeks in the UK chart – Ireland and Europe also made it a success – and showed her on Top of the Pops adorned in a long dress, mini dresses were now history for Dana. Her Eurovision mini dress, designed in Dublin by Maura O'Driscoll and embroidered by Derry-born Lily McElhinney, is now on display in Derry's award-winning Tower Museum.
Rex Records made six attempts at a third UK hit before her agent, Dick Katz, called time. Katz, a jazz pianist who played on the Goon Shows, represented stars like Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield and Lulu. He recommended she join Donna Summer, Heatwave and Billy Ocean on Dick Leahy's new GTO label in 1974. Her first release for them, "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello" (Shepstone/Dibbens), sent her back into the charts after a three year absence. As did the perennial "It's Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas" (Greenaway/Stephens), her cover of Eric Carmen's "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "Fairytale", a disco favourite by Paul Greedus, and the amusing dance track, "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen" (D.Jordan). Katz remained her agent/manager/friend until his early death in 1979.
Dana was now in demand everywhere. She played the part of a tinker girl in The Flight Of The Doves (1971), a children's adventure film starring Ron Moody and Jack Wild, and director Ralph Nelson's follow-up to his notorious Soldier Blue movie. When she returned to her hotel after filming, still dressed in "character", they threatened to call the police if she didn't go away. Summer seasons – family entertainment for the holiday crowd – soon became part of her yearly routine, her first season was spent in Scarborough with Frank Ifield topping the bill. Pantomimes were also on the agenda and these became a particular favourite of hers after she starred in Cinderella in 1970. A rock festival in Holland saw her bravely win over a surprised crowd of headbangers, though nobody was more surprised than she was as it was a booking error. She undertook many concert tours in many countries, and performed in famous venues like the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. She played a week of sell-out shows with Tom Jones at the London Palladium. Cabaret clubs were popular in the '70s and she appeared at the best: the Batley Variety Club and London's Talk of the Town; she was voted Top Female Vocalist in the National Club Acts Awards in 1979. She made numerous TV appearances while promoting her records and was often seen on Top of the Pops and shows like The Two Ronnies. BBC Television gave her two shows of her own: a series of A Day With Dana in 1974, and four series of Wake Up Sunday in 1979.
Her busiest and most successful year came in 1975 when she had two top ten hits, helping her win two big awards – "Best Female Singer in Britain" from the NME and "Best Female Singer on Television" from the TV Times. The success continued into 1976 with her panto in Oxford becoming "the biggest money spinner of its kind in England". Her luck changed dramatically in September. Her father, who was also her personal manager, survived a major heart attack. A fortnight later, she too was being operated on: while promoting her new single, "Fairytale", she lost her voice. Emergency surgery removed a growth (non-malignant) from a vocal cord. Newspaper headlines like "DANA MAY NEVER SING AGAIN" appeared. She started to believe them during her long and difficult – but eventually successful – convalescence. In spite of these setbacks, "Fairytale" lived up to its name and became UK hit number six for her, and also scored in several other countries, especially in Latin America – in México it was No 1 for eight consecutive weeks and won a gold record.
On 5 October 1978 she married Damien Scallon, a hotelier and businessman from Newry. Their wedding took place in the same cathedral her parents were married in, St Eugene's in Derry. Four hundred guests packed the pews and thousands of fans witnessed the occasion, with factories and schools given a half-day holiday. They spent their honeymoon in Grenada. The couple first met, albeit briefly, in 1970, when Dana had a street named after her in Hilltown (Dana Place) and a reception was held in Damien's Ardmore Hotel in Newry. Within a year of their wedding, and after five previous attempts, Damien's hotel was completely destroyed by a bomb.
Dana returned after her career-threatening operation with a "new" voice, new look and new album, aptly named "The Girl is Back", in 1979. This Barry Blue production gave her a contemporary sound and a hit single, the four-minute calorie burning "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen". And, as if to show her voice was at least as good as before, she sang the middle eight of one track, "Without Your Love (I Can't Live)", in a perfect falsetto.
[edit] 1980s — Catholic taste
Dana's parents had a strong sense of religious duty; she and her siblings were taught the importance of daily prayer and of going to Mass on Sundays. Despite a few doubts along the way, she never lost her faith. After becoming famous, she was often invited to take part in religious shows, like Sing a New Song for the BBC in 1971. That led to an appearance before 20,000 people in Hyde Park for the Christian Festival of Light, the climax of a rally against "sexploitation". Epilogues for Southern TV followed, and then a Christian documentary, Who is Rosemary Brown, was made in 1974. BBC Radio asked her to present a thirteen-week Christian show called I Believe in Music, broadcast in 1977. It was previously hosted by her idol, Cliff Richard. Then came the Wake Up Sunday series. These popular Sunday morning shows had her calling on different primary schools in the country and teaching the children about life, using song, dance and drama, with examples taken from the bible.
She and Damien wrote their first Christian song, "Praise the Lord", while on honeymoon in 1978. In 1979, soon after Pope John Paul II had visited Drogheda in Ireland, Damien suggested they write a song based on his motto. Ironically, Dana missed seeing the Pope in person due to her commitments to Wake Up Sunday. The song they came up with was the commercial "Totus Tuus" (Totally Yours). It entered the Irish singles chart on 16 December 1979 and stayed there for nine weeks, reaching number one. The much larger American Christian market soon began to interest them, as did making an album. So, with cassette in hand, a visit was made to the National Religious Broadcasters' conference in Washington, opened by US President Jimmy Carter. The result was a contract with Word Records.
Meanwhile, Warwick Records issued "Everything is Beautiful" in late 1980. Subtitled "Twenty Inspirational Songs", the album contained pop classics like "Let it Be", "Morning Has Broken" and "My Sweet Lord". It was followed by "Totally Yours" in 1981, her first Christian album for Word. Included on the album was "Little Baby", a song written by Dana and Damien for their first child, Grace, born 18 January 1981. Her summer season in Torquay,with impressionist Peter Goodwright, gave the Scallon family a five month "break" by the sea.
She was soon back in the studios again to make "Magic" in 1982, a pop album for Lite Records. It included four songs by her younger brothers, John and Gerald. Then came another summer season, this time it was in Blackpool with Little and Large. Next came the recording of her second album for Word, "Let There Be Love", containing a variety of tracks from up-tempo to an old Irish hymn sung in Gaelic. The pantomime season followed and Dana was off to Hull where she starred in a production of Snow White.
Falling pregnant again, Dana gave birth to her second daughter, Susanna Ruth, on 18 August 1983. Christmas time arrived to find the mother-of-two playing the part of Snow White once more. So popular had been the production in Hull that it had now transferred to the West End. There it played to packed houses and the original seven-week run was extended to twelve. One young boy caused the poisoned Snow White to "corpse" after shouting out for everyone to hear, "You stupid thing, I told you not to eat it!".
A tour of America took place in 1984 to promote the Word LPs. She spread the word in concert halls, churches and colleges, as well as TV and radio. The tour was a success but it nearly didn't happen; her outgoing flight began to shed debris as it passed over Reading, necessitating a return to Heathrow for an emergency landing. Billy Graham's Mission England gave Dana a platform; she had previously performed at his Boston crusades. Great Yarmouth was the venue for her summer season with Tom O'Connor, and Westminster Hospital was the venue for the birth of her son, John-James, delivered to the sound of fireworks on 5 November 1984. Then another run of Snow White panto's, this time in Wolverhampton, brought a familiar end to another busy year.
After fifteen years in show business, Hodder and Stoughton published her first book, Dana – An Autobiography, in 1985. Often funny, it told of her close-knit family life, her infant years in London and schooldays in Derry, ballet lessons, music lessons, talent contests, song contests, the start of the Troubles, the road to Eurovision, life as a pop star, panto's, romance, marriage and motherhood – and why she boiled eggs for five hours to make a salad. It also told of her growing devotion to God that led her to become a Catholic music singer.
Dana finally got to see the Pope in 1987 at the Superdome in New Orleans. She was invited to perform "Totus Tuus" before a gathering of 80,000 or more.
The 80's ended as they had begun – with Dana pregnant. She gave birth to Robert on 25 August 1989 in Newry. The Scallon family was now complete.
[edit] 1990s — USA to MEP
In 1991 they moved to Birmingham, Alabama in the United States, where Damien was now working as the manager for retreats at the traditional Catholic broadcasting network, EWTN. Dana hosted shows for them on TV and radio, called Say Yes and We Are One Body. She became a popular Catholic music singer and released many albums with HeartBeat Records, America's leading Catholic music label.
Dana appeared at conferences and public gatherings across the States. One such occasion was in Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, Colorado, in 1993: To help celebrate the eighth World Youth Day, she was invited to sing her song "We Are One Body", the theme song for the event, live to the Pope. She also sang at the World Youth Day celebrations held in Paris (1997) and in Toronto (2002).
In 1997, before[citation needed] returning home to Ireland, she received US citizenship[citation needed], making her a dual Irish and US citizen.
After returning home to Ireland, Dana Rosemary Scallon became a candidate for the office of President of Ireland. She stood as an independent. She came third, ahead of the Labour Party candidate, but losing out to Mary McAleese.
In 1999, again as an independent, she won a seat in the European Parliament, representing the Connacht–Ulster European elections constituency. She campaigned on family values and her opposition to abortion. She refused to associate with any political party. However Fianna Fáil made several approaches to her to join[1].
[edit] 2000s — the girl is back
Scallon in 2001 opposed a proposed amendment to the Irish constitution that would legalise the 'morning after pill' and IUD. The amendment was defeated in a referendum in 2002, although it was supported by the mainstream political parties. Scallon also had public disagreements at the time with the Catholic hierarchy (notably with Cardinal Desmond Connell), the latter wishing instead to negotiate a consensus solution. [2]
In 2002, she contested a seat in Galway West in the Irish general election, again as an independent. She lost, scoring a mere 3.5% of the constituency vote (the low score might be seen as a backlash against her stance in the previous abortion referendum, or the perception that she was a "blow-in" to the constituency).
In June 2004, Scallon lost her European Parliament seat, taking 13.5% of the vote. Later that year she failed to secure a nomination to the office of President of Ireland against the uncontested incumbent. (All her election results are listed at Elections Ireland.)
In February 2005, Dana returned to the world of entertainment when she spent time on the RTÉ television series "The Afternoon Show" (she took part in a weight loss challenge preceding her daughter's summer wedding). In 2006, she and dancer Ronan McCormack were paired together in the RTÉ celebrity dance series Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels. They made it to the final show and came second.
Also in 2006, Dana and Damien launched their own music label, DS Music Productions. One of the first albums released was "Totus Tuus", a compilation of songs dedicated to the memory of Pope John Paul II and issued on the anniversary of his death. A children's album was released in 2007, entitled "Good Morning Jesus: Prayers & Songs for Children of All Ages". It featured in a special series on EWTN.
In July 2007, she was a guest judge for the final of Belfast CityBeat radio contest Young Star Search.
Scallon has spoken at many colleges and universities in Ireland and America, where she talks about Ireland, her views around the European Union, as well as the relationship between Europe and the United States. She received an Honorary Doctorate at one appearance in Stonehill College in Massachusetts.
In November 2007, Dana took out a new album, with highlights including a newly composed song pleading for peace in Ireland, a version of the Johnny Cash hit ‘A Thing Called Love’ and a rendering of the Carpenters’ number ‘A Kind Of Hush.’
At the end of 2007, Scallon is due to publish a new autobiography [3].
[edit] Eurosong 2008 controversy
Dana was a judge on Eurosong 2008 which decided which entry to send to Eurovision Song Contest 2008 and became headline news when she loudly complained about the winning entry Dustin the Turkey and commented that Ireland should withdraw from the contest, instead of sending Dustin. She was proved right as Ireland failed to qualify from the semi-final and the Irish entry became a joke around Europe.
[edit] Discography
| Singles | Albums |
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[edit] References
- ^ As revealed in an interview, Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, 3 November 2007, RTÉ Radio 1 http://www.rte.ie/radio1/eamondunphy/
- ^ As revealed in an interview, Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, 3 November 2007, RTÉ Radio 1 http://www.rte.ie/radio1/eamondunphy/
- ^ Waterford News & Star:
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Four-way tie: Lulu, Salomé, Frida Boccara, Lenny Kuhr |
Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 |
Succeeded by Séverine |
| Preceded by Muriel Day |
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 |
Succeeded by Angela Farrell |
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