Dana Rosemary Scallon
Dana Rosemary Scallon, known as "Dana" (born August 30, 1951 in Islington, London, England) is an Irish singer, pantomime performer, and a former member of the European Parliament. She won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with "All Kinds of Everything", a subsequent worldwide million-seller. She resided in Birmingham for much of the 1990s, hosting a Christian music and interview series on EWTN.
Early life and music
She was born "Rosemary Brown", the 5th of seven children of a King's Cross Station porter and trumpet player from Northern Ireland. When she was five, the family moved back to a public housing estate in Derry to escape the smog of London. She attended St Eugene's Primary School and then enrolled at Thornhill College. A singing talent from childhood, she had won several local contests while also participating in local choirs and taking piano, violin and ballet lessons.
In the early 1960s Rosemary formed a trio with two of her sisters, often performing at charity concerts organized by their father. When one sister left, the remaining duo landed a summer-long booking at the Palladium and a recording contract with Decca. Rosemary's other sister, however, left to join her new husband, a United States airman, in America. Stricken with stage fright, Rosemary the solo singer managed to win a folk competition at the Embassy Ballroom with her eyes shut. The contest's sponsor, Tony Johnston, helped her complete her equivalency degree and recorded a demo that convinced Decca to sign her on as a solo artist. She released a single in 1967 that brought some attention from local TV and radio.
Performing under her school nickname "Dana", she became a fixture in Dublin's cabaret and folk clubs. She was crowned "Queen of Cabaret" and feted with a parade and a reception at Clontarf Castle on the Saturday before Easter 1968.
Eurovision
At the suggestion of Decca's local agent, Phil Mitton, Dana auditioned for the Irish National Song Contest, a preliminary for the 1969 Eurovision competition. She reached the finals in Dublin, but came in second.
RTÉ chief Tom McGrath invited her back to compete the next year. She accepted even though she was preparing to retire from active performing to pursue teaching. The song, "All Kinds of Everything" by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, was picked for her by McGrath and propelled her to victory. She went on to represent Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision contest, held in Amsterdam. She performed perched on a stool on stage and defeated England's Mary Hopkin and Spain's Julio Iglesias to secure Ireland's victory.
Dana was given a hero's welcome upon her return to Ireland, especially in Northern Ireland. "All Kinds of Everything" shot to #1 on the Irish chart, as well as the UK, Australian, South African and Singaporan charts, on its way to passing 1 million sales. She quickly recorded an album, with orchestral accompaniment. Her follow-up single "I Will Follow You", failed to make much of a splash. Given the choice of giving up, she decided to fight for her recording career, and succeeded with Paul Ryan's "Who Put the Lights Out", which spent 11 weeks on the UK charts.
In 1974 Dana switched to GTO Records. Her first single on that label, "Please Tell HIm That I Said Hello" returned her to the top 10. Her 1975 holiday single "It's Gonna be a Cold Cold Christmas" by Roger Greenaway and Geoff Stephens, reached #4 and remained a classic. Now an established Irish singing star she appeared in films and festivals and sold out a week of concerts at the London Palladium. She also maintained her "Queen of the Cabaret" reputation with regular appearances in top London clubs. The BBC gave her two shows of her own: a series called A Day With Dana in 1974 and four series of Wake Up Sunday in 1979. BBC Radio followed suit with a series of I Believe in Music in 1977.
Meanwhile, Dana began performing stage pantomime in a blockbuster production of Cinderella in Oxford. In September of that year, however, she was hospitalized with a non-malignant growth on her left vocal cord, requiring surgery. The single "Fairytale" was sustained in the charts with the publicity from her dire medical prognosis. The experience strengthened her religious faith. On October 5, 1978 she married Damien Scallon, a hotel-owner from Newry, at St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry.
Christian music
In 1979, recovered from her surgery, Dana recorded a new album entitled "The Girl is Back", which had modest success. Pope John Paul II's visit to Ireland that year inspired her to write a song based on his personal motto, "Totus Tuus", which topped the Irish charts. Long associated with Christian causes and Sunday-morning programs, Dana and her husband looked for opportunities to reach a broader market for Christian music, and found one in the United States. They attended the National Religious Broadcaster's Conference in Washington D. C. in 1980 and secured a contract with Word Records.
Her first album of Christian songs, "Totally Yours", was released on Word in 1981. She continued to record pop music, including the 1982 album "Magic" and the official World Cup song for the Northern Ireland team, "Yer Man". She also continued her stage career, starring in "Snow White" at Hull and later in London's West End and Wolverhampton. She toured the United States in 1984, including appearances at Billy Graham's Boston crusades. She penned an autobiography in 1985. She performed Totus Tuus before a packed Superdome crowd during John Paul II's visit to New Orleans in 1987.
Birmingham
Also in 1987, after one of Damien's hotels was damaged for the seventh time by a terrorist bomb, he took a job managing retreats for EWTN and moved the family to Alabama. They rented a house in the Cherokee Bend area of Mountain Brook and enrolled their children at Saint Rose Academy. Dana was welcomed to the network as well, hosting the "Say Yes" and "We Are One Body" programs. She left Word and signed with HeartBeat Records for her later Catholic albums. In 1993 she again performed for the Pope at a World Youth Day event in Denver, Colorado.
Irish politics
Dana was naturalized as a dual citizen of the United States and Northern Ireland in 1997, and moved back there a year later because she had been drafted as an independent candidate for President of Ireland. She garnered 15% of the popular vote, finishing third in the race won by Mary McAleese, ahead of the Labour Party candidate. Most of her votes came from rural districts where conservative values are more strongly held.
In 1999 Dana won a seat on the European Parliament, representing Connacht-Ulster on a family values and anti-abortion platform. During her five-year term she opposed the development of a European constitution. She also spoke out against a 2001 proposal to amend the Irish constitution to legalize the "morning-after pill" and intrauterine contraceptive devices. With the support of the mainstream parties, the amendment was put to a popular referendum, which failed in 2002. That same year she was defeated in a campaign to represent Galway West in the Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament). In 2004 she failed to hold her seat in the European Parliament and also did not secure a nomination for President.
Return to performing
Leaving politics behind, Dana joined a weight-loss challenge on RTÉ's "The Afternoon Show" in 2005. In 2006 she competed with Ronan McCormack on "Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels", finishing second on the popular dance contest.
That same year, she and Damien launched their own music label, DS Music Productions, and released a compilation of songs deidcated to John Paul II's memory. That was followed by "Good Morning Jesus: Prayers and Songs for Children of All Ages", which was featured in a special series on EWTN. HeartBeat filed a lawsuit against DS Music Productions for alleged copyright violations.
In 2007 Dana appeared as a guest judge for "Young Star Search", a Belfast CityBeat radio contest. In 2009 she was brought on as a judge for "The All Ireland Talent Show". The same year she returned to EWTN as host of "Dana and Friends."
References
- Cannon, Julie Ross (September 20, 1997) "Dana spurs Irish press into information quest." Birmingham News
- Cannon, Julie Ross (October 12, 1997) "Alabama resident launches Irish presidential campaign." Birmingham News
- "Dana Rosemary Scallon" (May 27, 2010) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia - accessed May 29, 2010
- "'If you are pro-life or pro-family you are regarded as one-dimensional'." (May 29, 2010) The Irish Times
External links
- DS Music Productions website
- Dana profile at ewtn.com