A frequent performer at US air force bases, on one visit he found his appearance was advertised as the Val Doonican Show. Initially alarmed, he grew to enjoy this star billing. At the end of the 1950s, he wanted another change and joined a concert tour with Anthony Newley, opening in Manchester, where he met his future wife, the cabaret artist Lynnette Rae. They married in 1962 and had two daughters. It was on the Newley tour that his solo act emerged. At one cast party, everyone had to do a turn, and Doonican borrowed a Spanish guitar, perched on a stool and sang an Irish song. Newley asked him if he had ever considered something of the sort on radio or TV. Doonican officially retired in 1990 [21] but was still performing in 2009. He had a second home in Spain, [22] and was a keen golfer and a talented watercolour painter. [5] Another hobby he enjoyed was cooking. [23] In June 2011, he was recognised by the Mayor of Waterford, who bestowed on him "The Freedom of the City". [24] Death and tributes [ edit ]

In 1963 he was booked to appear on Sunday Night at the Palladium, which led to him being offered his own show on BBC TV which ran for more than 20 years. He went on to have five hits in the top 10: Walk Tall, The Special Years, Elusive Butterfly, What Would I Be and If The Whole World Stopped Loving. Michael Valentine Doonican [1] (3 February 1927– 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed vocal style. 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) He always insisted that he was not a show-biz person and had gone into the profession because of his love of music. “We are not as important to the outside world as we are sometimes led to believe,” he told the Stage in 2010. “It’s best never to assume that the next engagement will be easy, or that at last you’ve arrived. We are simply a little light relief.” 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’.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.’ Programming" (PDF). Broadcasting. 29 March 1971. p.76 . Retrieved 24 July 2014. [ permanent dead link] ( PDF) When his father died in 1941, the teenage Doonican had to leave De La Salle College Waterford to get factory jobs fabricating steel and making orange and grapefruit boxes. [3] He began to perform in his hometown, often with his friend Bruce Clarke, and they had their first professional engagement as a duo in 1947. [2] 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]

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 often talks about the great happiness of his childhood – his ‘Special Years’. However, his family were poor and he shared a room with his three brothers: his four sisters slept on the other side of a partition wall and his parents in the living room. When he was still young, one of his sisters contracted TB, forcing her to move into their parents’ room, and his father to move into a shed at the end of the garden. This eccentric arrangement continued until Val was fourteen, when his father died, but enabled him to spend a great deal of ‘quality time’ with his dad. The likes of Val Doonican is unlikely to be seen again' ". Irishpost.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015 . Retrieved 4 July 2015. The Blue And The Grey – Songs From The American Civil War (with the George Mitchell Singers, World Record Club, 1970)

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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 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.166. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.