His Special Years

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a b c d e f g Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.93. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Doonican won the BBC Television Personality of the Year award in 1966. [2] He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1970. Eamonn Andrews, a fellow Irishman met him at the 18th green of the South Herts Golf Club as Doonican played a round of golf. [ citation needed] He wrote two volumes of autobiography, The Special Years (1980) and Walking Tall (1985)

The Val Doonican Show, his eponymous variety programme, featured his singing and a selection of guests, and it had a long and successful run on BBC Television from 1965 to 1986. Doonican won the Variety Club of Great Britain's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times. [1] Early life and career [ edit ] Val continued to play cabaret and occasional theatre gigs but despite being a regular radio personality, no recording contracts were forthcoming for him. He was spotted at a concert by Val Parnell, who at that time arranged the acts for ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’, booked onto the show and performed an eight minute spot that, he says, changed his life. By the Monday, there were recording contracts and TV show offers flooding his manager’s office. Truly, as Val said many times, he was ‘an overnight success after seventeen years.’The singer, who was born Michael Valentine Doonican, often joked that it took him 17 years to gain overnight success. He started performing in his home town, was featured on Irish radio and appeared in Waterford’s first-ever television broadcast. In 1951 he moved to England to join the Irish quartet The Four Ramblers, who toured and performed on BBC Radio. The group also supported the late Anthony Newley on tour, who persuaded Doonican to launch his solo career. Behind the scenes, Doonican was described as "a perfectionist who knew his limitations but always aimed to be 'the best Val Doonican possible.'" [2] He was sometimes compared to American singer Perry Como, though he claimed his main influence was Bing Crosby. [19] He appeared in three Royal Variety Performances. [2] On 31 December 1976, Doonican performed his hit song "Walk Tall” on BBC One's A Jubilee of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee.

Doonican was born on 3 February 1927 in Waterford, Ireland, [1] the youngest of the eight children of Agnes (née Kavanagh) and John Doonican. He was from a musical family and played in his school band from the age of six. [2] Whilst on that particular tour, Anthony Newley held a birthday party. All the acts had to perform, but not in their usual roles. Thus, singers did impressions and comedy turns, with Lynn regaling the audience as an impressionist. The Four Ramblers did not have another ‘turn’ and Val stepped forward, guitar in hand, and perched on a stool and singing a couple of ballads and ‘Paddy McGinty’s Goat.’ At the end of his performance, Anthony Newley suggested that his solo spot was more commercially marketable than the Ramblers act and urged Val to ‘go solo’. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the United Kingdom where he had five successive Top 10 albums in the 1960s as well as several hits on the UK Singles Chart, including

Freedom of Waterford". Valdoonican.com. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015 . Retrieved 4 July 2015. In 1951, still touring Ireland with Bruce Clarke’s band, Val was approached by representatives of the Four Ramblers and invited to join them in England, where they are best remembered for ‘Riders of the Range’ on BBC Radio. They also presented Workers’ Playtime, their salaries augmented by gifts from the factories whence the broadcast was being made. Looking forward to his first free products, he found that his ‘Playtime’ debut was in a corset factory! It is not recorded whether he made use of the proffered samples on this occasion!! a b c d e f g h i j Dennis Barker, "Val Doonican: obituary", The Guardian, 2 July 2015. Retrieved 3 July 2015

At six, Val played in the school band, and later his brother John taught him to play the mandolin. Although his education at De La Salle college, Waterford, ended when his father died, and Val had to go to work in an orange box factory, he was sustained by his musical interests, by the determination of his older siblings and by a belief that life would hold more for him.

He would have told a story for 40 years and every night it would be like the first time he told it. I used to say to young comedians, go and watch Val and how he tells a story. He was unbelievable. As his were variety shows, his TV programmes gave a number of other performers, such as Dave Allen, early exposure. [2] Regular guests included Bernard Cribbins, Bob Todd, the Norman Maen Dancers, the Mike Sammes Singers, and the Kenny Woodman Orchestra. At its height The Val Doonican Show, which featured both American and British acts, had 20million viewers. [15] In the United States, The Val Doonican Show aired on ABC on Saturday evenings at 8:30p.m. (7:30p.m. Central) from 5 June to 14 August 1971. [16] His time with the Four Ramblers introduced Val to the joys of golf, honed his professional singing skills and arrangements, and led to the tour that was to revolutionise his life… Doonican's 1965 song, "I'm Gonna Get There Somehow", has been used in adverts for Irish toy store Smyths. The same song was used in a Boots Christmas advert in 2023.