Dana Rosemary Scallon

Dana Rosemary Scallon (born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951) is better known simply as Dana, an Irish singer and former politician. She achieved fame when she won the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with "All Kinds of Everything", a subsequent worldwide million-seller. Over thirty singles and thirty albums later, Dana's career continues, now also as a leading songwriter and performer of Catholic music.

The singer became a popular pantomime princess – her portrayal of Snow White was so successful it lasted fourteen years, including an extended season in the West End of London. This led her to star in three Children's Royal Variety Shows.

She later entered politics, running in the 1997 Irish presidential election and subsequently being elected as the MEP for Connacht–Ulster.

Background

Dana was born in a bomb-damaged four-storey terraced Georgian house at 89 Frederica Street,<ref>martinunderwood.co.uk – Frederica Street as seen in The Ladykillers, a classic Ealing comedy made while Dana was still living at number 89 (central character Mrs Wilberforce lived at "number 57", a set built at the end of the street).</ref><ref>multimap.com – Frederica / Frederick Street now.</ref> Islington, North London. Her father, who worked as a porter at nearby King's Cross station, was a native of Derry, 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, this time because of the London smog and the harmful affect it had on some of their children; their doctor recommended they return to the cleaner air of Derry, just as London decided to clean up its act.

She grew up in Derry's 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 to an area known as the Bogside, overlooked by the historic city walls. Their three-bedroomed home was on the fifth-floor of one of three blocks of new flats in Rossville Street.<ref>multimap.com – Rossville Street today, where the flats once stood opposite Glenfada Park.</ref> Although much admired at the time, these nine-storey apartment blocks were demolished after twenty years.<ref>derryjournal.com – Dana's destiny-day domicile during demolition.</ref>

Her parents were musical – dad played the trumpet in his own dance band, The Imperial All Stars, and mum was their star pianist – and they passed on their love of music to their three sons and three daughters. They had seven children in all, but third-born Grace died from a penicillin allergy, aged eight months. Fifth-born and youngest daughter Rosemary won the first talent contest she entered: an all-aged event at St Columb's Hall where the singing six-year-old stole the show. Her childhood was filled with music and dance – she was taught to play the piano and violin, taught herself to play the acoustic guitar, sang in the school choir, and loved her ballet lessons so much she considered becoming a ballet teacher. She took part in many more contests and feiseanna (festivals), adding to her early success.

In the early sixties she began performing with her sisters, Eileen and Susan. The trio were praised for their singing in charity concerts organised by their father. Then Eileen chose hairdressing over harmonising 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 Records offering the pair a recording contract (helped by their Aunt Rosaleen and her friend in the music industry). But Susan<ref>heartbeatrecords.net – Dana's sister Susan makes up for lost time.</ref> chose marriage over music and left to live in America with her new husband (a member of the United States Air Force). 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. Tony Johnston, a headmaster and part-time promoter who sponsored the competition, took her under his wing while she prepared for her GCE O-levels.

After gaining seven good grades in her exams, Rex Records (Decca) in Dublin received her demo and manager Michael Geoghegan promptly signed her up. Her debut single was "Sixteen", written by Tony Johnston, 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 needed 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, adorned in a long red floral dress, Dana arrived in Dublin to be driven slowly through cheering crowds in an open-topped white Rolls Royce, part of a motorcade heading for Clontarf Castle. After a few speeches and a fanfare she found herself centre-stage on a throne with a tiara on her head – crowned Queen of Cabaret.

Rex Records' Phil Mitton suggested she audition for the Irish National Song Contest, due to take place in February 1969 – a victory would see her compete in the Eurovision Song Contest in Spain on 29 March. With mixed feelings she made it through to the final in Dublin where she sang "Look Around" by Michael Reade (released as her fourth single). Shown live all over Ireland, a nervous Dana came second (lacking in confidence, she prayed she wouldn't win). Her future, she later decided, lay in passing her A-levels and training to become a teacher in music and English.

1970s – all kinds of everything

Tom McGrath, head of Light Entertainment at RTÉ and producer of the Irish National Song Contest, invited her in December 1969 to try again in next year's event. The now "retired" singer, busy revising for her upcoming exams, accepted his invitation and treated the occasion as her swan song. However, this time she won with "All Kinds of Everything", a song the producer thought would suit her, hence the invite. This mid-tempo ballad became her next single; Phil Coulter, also from Derry and the co-writer of "Puppet on a String" and "Congratulations", provided the musical arrangement for the Ray Horricks production, released on 14 March. Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith were the composers. On 21 March, Dana represented the Republic of Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Amsterdam.

She was the last of twelve to appear that night in front of two-hundred million viewers. Wearing an embroidered white mini dress, she chose to perform her song while perched on a stool. The UK's Mary Hopkin (hot favourite with "Knock Knock Who's There" and already famous for "Those Were The Days") and Spain's Julio Iglesias (not yet famous) were just two of her more fancied competitors. It was Ireland's first of many successes in the show. Despite winning the biggest song-contest in the world, she still believed a future in teaching was waiting for her back home, once all the fuss had died down.

Scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania greeted her triumphant return to Dublin Airport the following Monday. Dublin's dignitaries gave her an official state welcome. Her "Operation Dana" emblazoned plane then took her to RAF Ballykelly (there was no Derry airport) – the first time a passenger flight from the Republic had flown to 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. For safety reasons, the 5 ft 4 in star, whose progress was prematurely halted by the mass of people, was carried from car to building shoulder high "like a carcass". 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 (she eventually fell asleep to the sound of the crowd outside singing that song). 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 three-day battle she'd witnessed from Rossville Flats, the place that was soon to play a major part in the Bloody Sunday tragedy.

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 (replacing "Bridge Over Troubled Water"). She also topped the charts in places as far away as Australia, South Africa and Singapore. Her first hit soon became a million-seller. While still at #1 she made her debut album, recorded with an orchestra in just two days; All Kinds of Everything contained four songs she co-wrote (using the name Brown instead of Dana). It was in the shops by June, before its namesake had finished a chart run that lasted sixteen weeks.

Jerry Lordan's "I Will Follow You", the follow-up, failed to follow in its formidable footsteps, failing to feature on the charts. A disappointed Dana met with her agent – he told her she could "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 put everything into her next single, "Who Put the Lights Out" by Paul Ryan. Released in January 1971, it spent eleven weeks in the UK chart where it made #14. There then followed a run of six chart failures, although one, "Crossword Puzzle", written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, gained radio plays and an appearance on Top of the Pops. This lack of success caused her agent to call time on Rex Records; Dick Katz, a jazz pianist who played on all the Goon Shows, had represented stars like Jimi Hendrix, Dusty Springfield and Lulu. He recommended, in 1974, that she join Dick Leahy (former head of Bell Records UK) on his new GTO record label. Her first release for them, "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello" by Shepstone/Dibbens, put her back in the chart for over three months after an absence of over three years; it reached #8 in 1975. "Are You Still Mad at Me" came next but was only a radio hit. Top songwriters Greenaway/Stephens, who wrote that song, offered up their latest creation, written with her in mind: "It's Gonna be a Cold Cold Christmas" – recorded and rush-released in late November 1975 – quickly climbed to #4. It became a classic festive favourite.

Dana, by now a household name, was in demand everywhere. She played the part of a tinker girl in the Flight of the Doves<ref>imdb.com – Flight of the Doves.</ref> (1971), a children's adventure film starring Ron Moody and Jack Wild. Director Ralph Nelson's previous movie was the violent Soldier Blue. Her acting impressed Jack Wild's agent enough to want to sign her up, but it was her singing that got her the part: she was to give a Gaelic/English rendition on acoustic guitar of Roy Budd's "The Far Off Place".<ref>youtube.com – Flight of the Doves film segment introducing Sheila, played by Dana.</ref> Returning to her hotel after filming one day, still dressed like a "bag of chaff", 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 well-known 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. 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. BBC Radio followed suit with a series of I Believe in Music in 1977.

Her busiest and most successful period came in 1975, the year she celebrated two Top 10 hits and collected two major 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 Cinderella panto in Oxford became "the biggest money spinner of its kind in England" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (Eric Carmen) followed "Cold Cold Christmas" into the Top 40. Her fortune 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" by Paul Greedus, she lost her voice. Her left vocal cord, which had been cauterized the year before, required urgent surgery to remove a growth (non-malignant) as well as a small part of the cord itself. One newspaper reported that "DANA MAY NEVER SING AGAIN", just one of a number of sensational headlines that gave her cause for concern during a long and difficult convalescence. In spite of these setbacks "Fairytale" lived up to its name and became her third hit in a row; its chart run of sixteen weeks peaked at #13. It also did well in several other countries, especially in Latin America – in Guatemala it was a #1.

On Thursday 5 October 1978, Dana married Damien Scallon, a hotelier and businessman from Newry. Their wedding was held in the same church 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 when she was given the rare honour of having a street named after her, though not in her home town, but Hilltown – Dana Place<ref>maps.google.com – Dana Place.</ref> was 97 miles from Dana's place in Derry. After the naming ceremony 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.

GTO Records released her fifth LP of the decade in 1979. The Girl is Back was her comeback album after her career-threatening operation. This Barry Blue production gave her a contemporary sound and a Top 50 single – an amusing four-minute calorie burner known as "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen" (D. Jordan), a dance number given the music-video treatment. Her repaired vocal cord was put to the test on the song's complex harmonies, written as a favour by fellow GTO recording artiste Rod Temperton of Heatwave. Although Dana had at last recovered her voice, she lost her long-time agent/manager and friend Dick Katz, who died that year.

A new phase in her career began after Pope John Paul II came to Ireland in September 1979, inspiring her to write with her husband the Irish chart-topper "Totus Tuus".

1980s – family matters

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 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. At the end of the summer, Dana travelled to Norway to perform in an open air concert featuring all but seven of the Eurovision Song Contest winners. Dana was in fact the only performer who lip-synched her Eurovision winner at the concert.

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. Dana released the official world cup song for the Northern Ireland football team, "Yer Man", which was recorded with the full squad heading to Spain for the finals. 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.

Throughout this decade, the musician and composer Peter Moss was her producer, arranger, musical director as well as playing various instruments on her albums.

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 sixth 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, beforeTemplate:Citation needed returning home to Ireland, she received US citizenshipTemplate: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 Parliament 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<ref name="rte.ie">As revealed in an interview, Conversations with Eamon Dunphy, 3 November 2007, RTÉ Radio 1 http://www.rte.ie/radio1/eamondunphy/</ref>.

2000s – Politics

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.<ref name="rte.ie" />

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.

Early in 2007 Dana, her husband Damien, and their company DS Music Productions were sued by Heartbeat Records for copyright violations for several of the albums they released under their new label.<ref>Heartbeat Records Inc v DS Music Production</ref>

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

In 2009, Dana became a judge on The All Ireland Talent Show.

External links

• DS Music Productions Official website for Dana Rosemary Scallon
• HeartBeat Records
• EWTN's Dana Website
• YouTube's Dana channel