Daniel O’Donnell Reflects on His Struggles Starting Out in Showbiz: “There Were More People on Stage Than in the Crowd”
DONEGAL — Today, Daniel O’Donnell stands as one of Ireland’s most successful entertainers, a multi-millionaire performer with more than 40 years in the business and a string of chart successes — including his latest self-titled album, which entered the British charts at number three. But the country star’s journey to the top was anything but easy. In a candid reflection, O’Donnell recalled the tough, uncertain early years when fame seemed almost impossible, and survival often meant improvisation.
His first tentative steps into music came on January 28, 1981, when he appeared at The Ragg in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, as a member of his sister Margo’s band. “I can still remember The Ragg so well,” he said. “Stand Beside Me was the first song I sang. In one way, it just seems like yesterday, but I realise that 40 years have passed since that night.”
Back then, O’Donnell was strumming an unplugged electric guitar — he didn’t yet know how to play it — but he was learning the ropes alongside Margo. After two years, he struck out on his own, beginning a solo career marked by setbacks that would have discouraged many.
“There were nights when me and the band of six would have to sleep in the back of our van because we couldn’t afford accommodation,” he remembered. Worse still, on one occasion, the van itself — along with all their equipment — was repossessed as they prepared to travel to England for a show in Manchester. “We had to borrow musicians at the venue to play,” he said. “We somehow made it through.”
Mini-disasters became a constant theme. He vividly recalled a rainy night in Donegal when, after collecting his first ever batch of colour posters, a car puncture left the boot open and the posters scattered into the fields. “Most of them just blew away,” he laughed ruefully.
In those early years, audiences were often tiny. “There were often more people on the stage than in the venues,” O’Donnell said. In one memorable night in Julian’s of Midfield, Co. Mayo, the band performed to just six people. Another night in Cork, his friend Josephine Burke was taking admission fees at the door. “The entrance was so far from the stage, but I could still see her — because there were so few in the place. We spent what we made that night on chicken and chips in the chipper.”
Despite the struggles, O’Donnell pressed on, forming his own group, Country Fever, in 1983 after releasing My Donegal Shore and Stand Beside Me. The years leading up to 1986 were filled with hardship. “For every step forward, there would be three steps back,” he admitted. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to do it.”
What sustained him was the kindness of others. Fans and friends often stepped in to help with expenses. “Anne Birrane, who I met in The Two Brewers pub in England, gave me the money to pay for the band to come over the first time we toured there,” he said. “Another woman, Bridie Gaffney, sent me 50 punts in 1983 to cover insurance on the van. I didn’t even ask — people were just terribly good to me.”
There were also havens like Early’s Bar on Arranmore Island, where O’Donnell could count on a decent payday and an enthusiastic crowd. “It was the only place we did well at home in those years,” he said. “We’d get 300 punts, which was a fortune for us then.”
Looking back now, O’Donnell recognises that those years of hardship shaped his compassion for young artists struggling to break through. “I think maybe that’s why I have such an interest in younger singers starting out,” he reflected. “Because I found it so difficult to get going myself.”
Today, his career is marked by platinum records, global tours, and an enduring fan base. Yet the memories of sleeping in vans, losing posters to the wind, and scraping by on meagre gig earnings remain vivid. “Sometimes I stop and think, ‘Did that really happen?’” he mused. “But it did — and maybe that’s what makes me appreciate everything I have today.”