The bite went out of my pop career, but my cooking has become a real hit
THE road to pop stardom is fraught with tales of talented young stars who were discarded after briefly flirting with success — but Donal Skehan is one who has made it back to the top table thanks to his culinary skills.
One- quarter of former pop group Industry, the Howth native is better known these days for his home cooking and RTÉ series Kitchen Hero.
He admits that after his band ‘dropped off the face of the Earth’ he had little choice but to focus on the other passion in his life — and now he is set for global success.
Donal recalls: ‘As we were in the band, I was writing my first cookbook so I always knew it was something I hoped to do and maybe if Industry had been more successful I would have dropped one for the other — but as pop bands tend to, we dropped off the face of the Earth!
‘And I went with the one that was successful and that was the cook book.’
The 27-year-old is philosophical about the failure of the band who split up in 2010 after a year together, and says he remains close with the band members.
He remarks: ‘Life made its own decision. I absolutely loved being in the band and if I could do it tomorrow I would totally be there. Morgan [Deane] has just had a baby and has a second one on the way and Michele [McMGrath] is modelling and Lee [Hutton] is working in a talent agency so we are all doing our own thing, but you never know.’
But if he thought the comeback trail would be a piece of cake, a recent viewing of ITV’s Big Reunion show which reunites Nineties pop acts helped dispel the notion. He adds: ‘I was watching The Big Reunion with my girlfriend and I was saying, “I’d love to do that” and my girlfriend said, “Well you would have to have had success to do that” — talk about keeping your feet on the ground!
‘She just subtly reminded me that we didn’t sell a million records.’
Still, Donal is lucky to have his culinary career to pursue and he admits of his fastrising profile: ‘I’ve never ever been this busy in my life before — it’s great fun though!’
His most recent success was courtesy of Jamie Oliver, who took Donal on board on his FoodTube internet channel.
He also met a UK agent and looks poised for success on a much wider stage — having just signed up for a culinary series with Fox International, which has the potential to land him millions more fans.
‘If I did nothing, nothing would happen — it has to be a continuous thing,’ says Donal. ‘We just got back from Rome — I was recording this series called Grandma’s Boy where I’m going across to Italy and for the last week I was spending time with Nonna Lena, and she was my grandmother for the show and was teaching me how to cook some classic Italian recipes.
‘The idea is that we go around and learn these authentic recipes.
‘It’s great fun and this was the pilot and it got commissioned now with Fox International, so we’re going back to film more.’
Donal is the latest Irish chef to win an i nternational series and he i s clearly delighted with the venture.
He explains: ‘ They have the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and they have just bought over this new food channel called Kitchen 24. It’s huge in the Netherlands and it’s going to be rolled out across Europe as well.
‘It’s already big in Argentina and South Africa and the combined viewership is in the millions and millions and millions. They say those things but until you see it I think it’s hard to comprehend!’
Donal doesn’t boast any Italian heritage but explains: ‘ That’s what’s lovely about the programme. It’s a learning process and they chose me for the programme because my background is home cooking.
‘When you see chefs doing these programmes in the past they are almost trying to teach the grandmother new tricks and that’s not what this is about, it’s really about grasping these great old recipes.
‘And it was a lovely experience doing it.’ He added: ‘Although we’re only one programme down, talk to me at the end of the 32-day shoot, I might be saying something else!’
Donal cut his TV teeth on his ongoing series on RTÉ Kitchen Hero and he says that the latest audience response to the show has helped boost his confidence when it comes to aiming abroad.
He remarks: ‘I would love to [have a show in the UK] that has always been an aim but it’s a very difficult thing to do. But now that I’ve been doing TV for a few years, the confidence is up.
‘I got a great vote of confidence in terms of the TV series has done better than it’s ever done before here, the first show went out to a big audience. [The average for the series so far is 324,300.]
‘It was a massive thing to come back with because you always worry about the first one back.
‘So it’s been really well-received so it gives me great confidence in helping you to think yes there is a possibility [of success]. ‘And
what people in Ireland don’t realise is that the show gets sold to a whole load of other countries — it’s just been sold to Sweden so it will start there in a few months and it’s already on in Brazil and France and it’s just been sold to Asia as well so it’s going to be on there too.’
He adds: ‘I rang them [RTÉ] the other day and they said they are thrilled with the series so far and that they are delighted that it’s continuing to grow in popularity — so that’s a bloody good sign, I can breathe a sigh of relief. If it was lagging, I would be worried, so it’s great.’
The chef has a wide following but many of his fans are young. And with a trendy onscreen style and perfectly coiffed ’do, his appeal to the teenage audiences comes as little surprise.
Donal laughs when the topic of his younger following arises and says: ‘When you do cooking demonstrations, they are a great way of seeing who is your audience. I would say it’s family entertainment but we definitely get what I like to call the Jedward overspill. I think it’s the hair! They do the screaming and keep us entertained. When I’m being followed on Twitter by ‘Jedward Loves’ and One Direction fans, I know the hair is doing wonders!’
Raised around the food industry, Donal says his current occupation owes a lot to his upbringing. ‘It’s all home cooking so that’s my background,’ he says. ‘My parents are in the food business so it’s been something I grew up with — my grandad had a fruit and vegetable shop on Dorset Street since the Forties and my dad took over. It’s been the family business ever since and with a family business, everyone is involved.
‘There was always a great sense of working to get what you want and that’s what I grew up with. And my grandmother on my mum’s side, she passed along the good cooking ethos, so it was passed down for sure.’
Never resting on his laurels, Donal is currently putting the finishing touches to his new book. He says: ‘It’s called HomeCooked and it’s coming out on October 10.
‘We moved the publication date this year because we’re looking towards the Christmas market and it’s a fairly competitive market — a lot of cook books come out at that time, all the Irish ones and you’re up against the English ones as well.
‘But this one I’m really, really proud of as I do all the photography and I do the recipes. I pretty much do it all and I can say quite happily that this is the best one yet and even from the reaction we had from the TV show goes to show it will be a strong one.’
The irrepressible star was also on Junior MasterChef on the BBC last year, and the foodloving expert is eyeing up a return to the show. He says: ‘It’s due to be back — they told me to clear my schedule next summer, so it’s going to be back and I’ll record it in August next year and then it will air in October as far as I know.’
It seems he has his plate full...