Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I feel for the young musicians getting themselves on the road and investing everything they have and suddenly it has all stopped
The only reason I am doing it is for band and crew
GIGS GONE Daniel with Nathan Carter
DANIEL O’donnell has admitted he is lucky to have made his fame and fortune before Covid-19 – and now feels for struggling younger artists and crews.
Having enjoyed decades of success worldwide since he shot onto the music scene in the 1980s, Daniel said he is coping fine with the slower pace of life this year.
However, acutely aware of the hardships others are facing within the decimated industry, his main aim at the moment is to help his crew start making some money again.
Planning to hold a concert next month to bring in some much-needed income for his dedicated colleagues, he told the Daily Mirror : “It will be lovely but the only reason I am doing that is really for the band and the crew.
“If I just wanted to connect with the fans I could do it on Facebook.
“And a lot more people have watched the Facebook shows than have bought tickets for this.
“We are still hoping people will buy nearer the time because this is solely to get some revenue for the band and the crew and the people that are involved and dividing the money when it is all there.
“I didn’t want anything out of it myself, it’s the purpose of this show.”
The concert will be live-streamed for fans worldwide from the Millennium Forum Theatre in Derry on Sunday, November 1, at 7pm.
Like many others in the events industry, Daniel had to cancel a year’s worth of gigs since Covid-19 hit and has even lost out on a TV show which was due to be filmed in June.
However, worried for others who are worse off than him, he said: “Obviously the tours and all of that have been postponed but I’m at a different place in my career than the young singers starting out.
“I feel for the young ones out getting themselves on the road and maybe investing ever ything they have and then all this came and it has all stopped and they’ll have to start again. And I feel for the musicians and crews and all of those who work behind the scenes that cannot go out and make a living.
“And I know there are lots of people like that and the Government payments were there, I don’t know if they were all able to get them or not, but that’s why I don’t feel for myself if I have to be honest.
“It’s tough, and when I say that I am very aware that there are a lot of industries in great difficulty but I
TIGHTEN THE BELT Mike Denver can only speak for our own situation and what I know.
“I do know that people in the arts were the first to stop and will be the very last to get back.”
Following fellow countr y stars Nathan Carter, Lisa Mchugh and Mike Denver’s pleas to the Government for help to save the music scene recently – admitting they haven’t made a cent in six months – Daniel went on to explain that just being well known and famous unfortunately doesn’t pay the bills.
The 58-year-old said: “A l ot of times, there is a lot reported about how much we earn and how much you have when it might not actually be the case. There are a lot of people, even though your name is out there and everyone knows who they are, but are still working from week to week and have mortgages and all that like everyone else has and when they were able to work were living very well.
“But nobody saw this coming. Some people don’t expect the rainy day.”
And he added that while he is keeping afloat now, he won’t be able to hang up his mic forever just yet.
He said: “We are not wild extravagant but at the same time you couldn’t go on indefinitely without doing something.
“But I am nearly 60, I’m 58, so I’m fine. We are fine thank God.” Meanwhile the singer, who travelled to the UK this week to do promotional work for his new album, defended his decision to make the trip.
He said: “I had an album coming out on Friday so I had to come over here [London] to do promotional work and that sort of thing.
“When you say you have to travel for work, sometimes people think that my travel is optional. And you go and do it because this is the only thing I can do at the minute.
“You just have to be very careful, I wear my mask everywhere I go and just have to quarantine.
“That’s just the way that you have
I know people in the arts were the first to stop and will be the very last to get back DANIEL O’DONNELL ON HOW THE MUSIC INDUSTRY HAS BEEN DECIMATED
to live and I think if you can do that successfully then you can function in a kind of a way.”
The brand-new album Daniel features his Remember Me duet with wife Majella, which they performed on The Late Late Show earlier this year.
But despite rave reviews for the stunning performance, he said she has no interest in a career in music.
Returning home to Donegal this weekend as the county gets ready to begin Level 4 lo ckdown , Daniel admitted he is lucky to have such a beautiful sanctuary in his dream home and landscape, recently renovated by Dermot Bannon.
But heading into a winter like no other, he and Majella are preparing for a quiet Christmas separated from their kids and grandchildren, like families all over the country.
Daniel said: “We will have to accept that Christmas will be Christmas in name only.
“I just don’t think we can decide to go back to having Christmas as normal and then go back to it. You have to accept for the next number of months this is how we have to live.
“There’s absolutely nothing we can do about it and you just have to accept it.
“You can’t spend all the time being dissatisfied, that only adds to your upset.”