Dana Rosemary Scallon (born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951) is better known simply as Dana, an Irish singer and former politician. Her career began when, as an A-level student, she won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with "All Kinds of Everything", a subsequent million-selling worldwide hit. Over thirty singles and thirty albums later, Dana's career continues, now also as a writer and performer of Catholic music – like "The Rosary" album, another million-selling worldwide hit. She ran in the Irish presidential election of 1997 and surprised everyone with her performance. Basing her campaign on the Irish Constitution, 100/1 outsider Dana Rosemary Scallon (Independent) finished third, with double the votes of the one-time-favourite Labour Party candidate. Within two years this surprising newcomer to politics had become Connaught-Ulster's first female member of the European Parliament.
[edit] BackgroundDana was born in a bomb-damaged four-storey terraced Georgian house at 89 Frederica Street[1][2] in Islington, London. Her father worked nearby at King's Cross Station as a porter. A native of Derry in Northern Ireland, he'd been forced to relocate his family due to the high unemployment there after the war. Dana was five when her parents were again forced to move – the London smog affected their children's health and doctors recommended they return to the cleaner air of Derry. She was brought up on the 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 newly-built flats in Rossville Street. (Much admired at the time, these nine-storey apartment blocks were demolished after twenty years.) 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. Youngest daughter Rosemary was a quick learner, winning a talent contest at the age of six in 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 becoming a ballet teacher. 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 prizes. In the early sixties she began performing with her sisters, Eileen and Susan. The trio won praise for their singing in charity concerts organized by their father. Then Eileen chose hairdressing over harmonies and left to study in Birmingham, leaving behind a duo who managed to secure a summer season at the Palladium. This Portrush theatre booking was later followed by Decca offering the pair a recording contract. But Susan chose marriage over music and left to live in America with her new husband, a member of the USAF. In 1965, the now solo Rosemary Brown took part in a folk music competition at the Embassy Ballroom on Strand Road. Stage fright caused her to perform with eyes closed, but it didn't stop her taking first prize: a chance to record a demo tape with help from the sponsor, Tony Johnston. This local headmaster and part-time promoter took her under his wing while she prepared for her GCE O-levels. She passed all her exams, achieving seven good grades, before her finished demo tape was sent to Rex Records (Decca) in Dublin. Manager Michael Geoghegan promptly signed her up. Her debut single was written by Tony Johnston and called "Sixteen", her age at the time, while the B-side, "Little Girl Blue", was her own composition. 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 singing career – "Rosemary Brown" was out, but her school nickname was in – "Dana". Her classmates 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 studying A-level music and English, she became popular in Dublin's cabaret and folk clubs, 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. 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; a victory would see her compete in the Eurovision Song Contest in Spain. With mixed feelings she made it through to the final in Dublin where she sang "Look Around" by Michael Reade, later released as her fourth single. Shown live all over Ireland, a nervous Dana 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 everythingTom 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 next years event. The now "retired" singer, busy revising for her upcoming exams, 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 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. The two amateur songwriters, both twenty-eight and working as compositors for a Dublin newspaper, joined Dana to represent the Republic of Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, held that year in Amsterdam on Saturday 21 March. She was the last of twelve to appear 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[3] and white high-heels, and with her long dark hair held in place by a white plastic clasp, she chose to perform her song[4] 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 of many successes in the contest. Despite having just won the biggest song-contest in the world, 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. After meeting and greeting the local dignitaries, her refuelled "Operation Dana" emblazoned plane took off for Ballykelly military airport – the first time a passenger flight from the Republic had ever landed in Northern Ireland. Crowds lined the streets as she made a fifteen mile journey in a black limousine to the Guildhall in Derry. Thousands were gathered outside the hall where a civic reception was waiting to honour her – she had to be carried to and from the building to avoid being crushed. It was after midnight before she arrived home, exhausted. 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 that would soon become infamous as the scene of Bloody Sunday. This now eighteen-year-old schoolgirl took the winning song, backed by "Channel Breeze"[5] (Johnston), 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. Recorded with an orchestra in just two days, All Kinds of Everything was in the shops by June; highlights included her soprano performance of "Can That Girl Be Me",[6] a song she wrote with Johnston. Jerry Lordan's "I Will Follow You"[7], the follow-up to her famous 45, failed to follow in its formidable footsteps, failing even to feature in the Fab 50. A disappointed Dana met with her agent who told her: "you can go back to Derry and live a normal life or stay here and fight!" Not wishing to be remembered as a one-hit wonder, she stayed, and put everything into her next single, "Who Put the Lights Out" by Paul Ryan. Released in January 1971, this sad song cheered her up by spending eleven weeks in the UK charts. Ireland and Europe also made it a hit. There then followed a run of six chart failures that caused her agent to call time on Rex Records. Dick Katz, a jazz pianist who played on the Goon Shows, represented stars like Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield and Lulu. He recommended she join Dick Leahy (former head of Bell Records UK) on his new GTO label. Her first release for them, "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello"[8][9] by Shepstone/Dibbens, put her back in the charts after an absence of three years. "Are You Still Mad At Me" came next and nearly did the same, though it was a radio hit. But her next single, "It's Gonna be a Cold Cold Christmas",[10] written specially for her by top songwriters Greenaway/Stephens, gave her a classic festive hit. Dana, by now a household name, was 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. Her acting impressed Jack Wild's agent enough to want to sign her up. She also got to sing a song: "The Far Off Place".[11] Returning to her hotel after filming, still dressed in "character", they threatened to call the police if she didn't go away. Summer seasons and pantomimes were keen to work with her – as was a rock festival in Holland where, due to a booking error, she had to face a cool reception from a crowd of headbangers, who warmed to her in the end. She undertook many concert tours, both home and abroard, and starred in famous venues like the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall; with Tom Jones she played a week of sell-out shows 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 – the "Queen of Cabaret" was voted Top Female Vocalist at the National Club Acts Awards in 1979. Numerous TV appearances were made to promote her records; she was a regular on pop music programmes like Top of the Pops and light entertainment shows such as The Two Ronnies.[12] BBC Television gave her two shows of her own: a series of A Day With Dana[13] 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. Her busiest and most successful year came in 1975 when she celebrated two Top 10 hits and collected 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; her panto in Oxford became "the biggest money spinner of its kind in England" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"[14] (Eric Carmen) followed "Cold Cold Christmas" into the charts. Her luck changed dramatically in September when 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 next single, "Fairytale"[15] by Paul Greedus, she lost her voice. Previously troubled by her left vocal cord, which had been cauterized the previous year, it now required urgent surgery to remove what turned out to be a non-malignant growth. Newspaper headlines like "DANA MAY NEVER SING AGAIN" appeared. She started to believe them during a long and difficult convalescence. In spite of these setbacks, "Fairytale" lived up to its name and became UK hit number six for her. It also did well in several other countries, especially in Latin America – in México it was No 1 for eight consecutive weeks and won a gold record. On Thursday 5 October 1978, Dana married Damien Scallon, a hotelier and businessman from Newry. Their wedding was held in the same place her parents were married in: St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry. Factories and schools in the area were given a half-day holiday to enable her fans to witness this special occasion; so many turned up that it took the newly-weds nearly four hours to reach the reception. After a three week honeymoon in Grenada they set up home in Rostrevor. The couple first met in 1970 – she had a street named after her in Hilltown, called Dana Place,[16] and a reception was held in Damien's Ardmore Hotel in Newry. Two years later their paths crossed again and they became friends. (Within a year of their wedding, Damien's hotel was completely destroyed by IRA bombs.) In 1979 she returned after her career-threatening operation with a "new" voice, new look and new album, aptly named "The Girl is Back". This Barry Blue production gave her a contemporary sound and a hit single, an amusing four-minute calorie burner known as "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen"[17] (D.Jordan). And as if to show her voice was at least as good as before, she sang part of one track, "Without Your Love (I Can't Live)", in a perfect falsetto. Dick Katz, her long-time agent/manager and friend, died after its launch. A new phase in her career began after Pope John Paul II came to Ireland in September 1979. [edit] 1980s — family mattersDana'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 became a possible outlet for their music, so a visit was made to the National Religious Broadcasters' conference in Washington, opened by US President Jimmy Carter. This spontaneous trip was rewarded by a recording contract with Word Records. Meanwhile, Warwick Records issued "Everything is Beautiful" in late 1980. Subtitled "Twenty Inspirational Songs", the album contained covers of 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 80s 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 MEPIn 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), in Toronto (2002), and in Sydney (2008). 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[18]. [edit] 2000s — the girl is backScallon 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. [19] 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 [20]. [edit] Eurosong 2008 controversyDana 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. [edit] Discography
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