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Dana Rosemary Scallon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dana Rosemary Scallon, singer and former politician, was born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951, in London, England, and raised in Derry, Northern Ireland, the original home of her parents. Her career began when she won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with "All Kinds of Everything", a worldwide hit with estimated sales of over two million. Thirty-plus singles and thirty-plus albums later, Dana's career continues, now as a writer and performer of Contemporary Catholic music. She took time out to represent Connacht-Ulster as a Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004.
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Scallon was born in Frederica Street, Islington, London, where she lived for five years until her family moved back to Derry, Northern Ireland, from where they had moved six years earlier to find work. Her parents were musical – Dad played the trumpet and Mum the piano – and they encouraged their three sons and three daughters to take up an instrument, and to sing and dance. Young Rosemary Brown was a quick learner; she won a talent contest at the age of six. Years later she was introduced to her future manager, Tony Johnston, after singing and strumming her way to another success in 1965. This local headmaster and part-time promoter took her under his wing while she prepared for her GCE O-levels at Thornhill College.
In 1967, after gaining seven good O-levels, a demo tape was sent off to Michael Geoghegan, the manager of Rex Records (Decca) in Dublin, who promptly signed her up. Her debut single was called "Sixteen" (her age at the time), written by Johnston, with the self-penned "Little Girl Blue" on the flipside. It came out on 17 November 1967 but failed to take off, though it did get her noticed in local TV and radio.
A new name was required to go with her new "career". Names she could live with were short-listed before letting her school friends have the final say – and they chose "Dana".
Now in the sixth form, she was appearing in cabaret and folk clubs in the area. On Easter Saturday 1968, dressed in an evening gown, she was driven slowly through the streets in a white Rolls-Royce. Cheered on by crowds of well-wishers, she arrived at Clontarf Castle in Dublin. 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 suggested she take part in the Irish National Song Contest in February 1969. With mixed feelings she did and was chosen to sing "Look Around" by Michael Reade. Shown live on Ireland's RTÉ – and feeling terrified – she did well and came second. Relieved not to have won, she decided her future lay in passing her A-levels and becoming a music and drama teacher. Then, over Christmas, an invitation to try again came from the show's producer, Tom McGrath. Thinking one last fling wouldn't hurt before getting a "proper" job, she accepted his offer. However, this time she won with "All Kinds of Everything" by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, two printers from Dublin. Their song, along with Dana, would now represent Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam on Saturday 21 March.
The last of twelve to perform that night, and wearing an embroidered cream mini dress, she sang the song while perched on a stool. Her competitors included Mary Hopkin for the UK (the favourite with "Knock Knock Who's There", and famous for the chart-topping "Those Were The Days" in 1968) and Spain's Julio Iglesias (soon to become famous). Dana beat them all and registered Ireland's first success in the contest. Thousands welcomed her home, first at Dublin Airport, then at Ballykerry Airport, then at the Guildhall in Derry for the official welcome home party (she had to be carried in and out to avoid the crush), and finally at the family home in the Bogside. She described the journey to her flat in Rossville Street 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.
This now eighteen-year-old schoolgirl took the winning song to the top of the Irish singles chart for nine weeks and the UK singles chart for two weeks. Similar positions were achieved in faraway places like Australia, South Africa and Singapore. It soon became a million-seller. And it soon became necessary to make an LP. Twelve songs were earmarked for a two-day session at Decca's West Hamstead studios on 25 and 26 April. Named after "that song", and showing her in "that dress", her debut album was in the shops by June. Although not an instant hit, sales grew as her career progressed. (Dana's Eurovision dress, designed in Dublin by Maura O'Driscoll and embroidered by Derry-born Lily McElhinney, is now on display in the Tower Museum in Derry.)
Her follow-up 45 failed to follow in its forerunner's footsteps. In fact, "I Will Follow You" flopped. Not wishing to become a one-hit wonder, she put everything into "Who Put the Lights Out" by Paul Ryan, her next single. Released in January 1971, this sad song cheered her up by spending eleven weeks in the charts. But that would be her last UK hit for Decca. She joined the newly formed GTO Records in 1974. Her first release for them, "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello" (Shepstone/Dibbens), put her back in the charts. As did "It's Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas" (Greenaway/Stephens), "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (Eric Carmen), "Fairytale" (Paul Greedus) and the amusing "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen" (D.Jordan).
Dana had now become an all-round entertainer. She played the part of a tinker girl in The Flight Of The Doves (1971), the children's adventure film starring Ron Moody and Jack Wild; she took part in summer seasons, her first was in Scarborough with Frank Ifield; she once sang at a rock festival in Holland (although a booking error, she was well received); she undertook British and European concert tours, and performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall; she starred in a sell-out week at the London Palladium with Tom Jones; she appeared in cabaret shows at venues like the Batley Variety Club and London's Talk of the Town, and was voted Top Female Vocalist in the National Club Acts Awards in 1979; she made numerous TV appearances while promoting her records, as well as presenting two series for BBC TV, A Day With Dana in 1974, and four series of Wake Up Sunday in 1979. Pantomimes were also on the agenda and these became a particular favourite of hers after she starred in Cinderella in 1970.
In 1976, while promoting "Fairytale", she lost her voice. Emergency surgery removed a growth (non-malignant) from a vocal chord. Newspaper headlines like "DANA MAY NEVER SING AGAIN" appeared. She started to believe them during her long and difficult – but eventually successful – convalescence.
On 5 October 1978 she married Damien Scallon, a hotelier and businessman from Newry. The wedding took place at St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry with four hundred guests. Thousands turned out to witness the occasion, with factories and schools given a half-day holiday. Their honeymoon was spent in Grenada. The couple first met, albeit briefly, in 1970, when Dana had a street named after her and a reception was held in Damien's Ardmore Hotel in Newry. Nine months after 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 burner, "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.
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, singing 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 and why she began to make Christian music.
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.
In 1990, the Scallon family 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 Irish 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 Fail made several approaches to her to join[1].
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, Scallan is due to publish a new autobiography [3].
| Singles | Albums |
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- ^ As revealed in an interview, Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, 3 November 2007, RTE Radio 1 http://www.rte.ie/radio1/eamondunphy/
- ^ As revealed in an interview, Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, 3 November 2007, RTE Radio 1 http://www.rte.ie/radio1/eamondunphy/
- ^ http://www.waterford-news.ie/news/story.asp?j=27044&cat=entertainment
| 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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| 1950s | Lys Assia • Corry Brokken • André Claveau • Teddy Scholten |
| 1960s | Jacqueline Boyer • Jean-Claude Pascal • Isabelle Aubret • Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann • Gigliola Cinquetti • France Gall • Udo Jürgens • Sandie Shaw • Massiel • Frida Boccara • Lenny Kuhr • Lulu • Salomé |
| 1970s | Dana • Séverine • Vicky Leandros • Anne-Marie David • ABBA • Teach-In • Brotherhood of Man • Marie Myriam • Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta • Gali Atari & Milk and Honey |
| 1980s | Johnny Logan • Bucks Fizz • Nicole • Corinne Hermès • Herreys • Bobbysocks • Sandra Kim • Johnny Logan • Celine Dion • Riva |
| 1990s | Toto Cutugno • Carola • Linda Martin • Niamh Kavanagh • Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan • Secret Garden • Eimear Quinn • Katrina and the Waves • Dana International • Charlotte Nilsson |
| 2000s | Olsen Brothers • Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL • Marie N • Sertab Erener • Ruslana • Elena Paparizou • Lordi • Marija Šerifović |
Categories: Accuracy disputes | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since July 2007 | 1951 births | Living people | Eurovision winners | Irish female singers | Members of the European Parliament from Ireland | Northern Irish Roman Catholics | Irish independent politicians | Northern Irish musicians | People from Islington | People from Derry | English-language singers