Dana Rosemary Scallon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dana Rosemary Scallon, also known as Dana (b. August 30, 1951, Derry, Northern Ireland), is a successful contemporary Catholic Christian singer turned Irish politician.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Scallon was born Rosemary Brown in Derry, Northern Ireland, and attended Thornhill College there. In 1970 as a teenager she represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, singing "All Kinds Of Everything" (written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith), resulting in the country's first victory in the contest. This song followed "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel to the top of the UK charts and sold over a million copies worldwide.
She had further hits including "Who Put The Lights Out" written by Paul Ryan and the Lynsey De Paul/Barry Blue penned "Crossword Puzzle". After a label change to GTO, Dana's career took off again with hits like "Please Tell Him I Said Hello" (Shepstone-Dibbens), "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (Eric Carmen), "Fairytale" (Paul Greedus) and the amusing "Something's Cooking in the Kitchen" (D.Jordan). Always religious, she re-ermerged yet again singing religious songs, such as "Totus Tuus" (Dana-Scallon), commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979.
In the 1980s, she moved with her husband, Damien Scallon, and family to the United States, where they were involved with the Christian broadcasting network, EWTN. There she became very popular as a Catholic Christian singer and released many albums by HeartBeat Records. When not hosting her own radio and television programs, Dana was a popular performer at conferences and in public performances across the United States. She returned to Ireland in 1997 to become a candidate for the office of President of Ireland where, though an independent candidate with no party political organisation behind her, she came in a credible third, ahead of the candidate of the mainstream Labour Party. In 1999, again as an independent, she contested and won a seat in the European Parliament representing the Connacht-Ulster European elections constituency.
[edit] Politics and Beyond
She has declined to associate with any political party. She campaigns on "family values," most notably in her opposition to abortion. Her decision in 2001 to oppose a government proposed amendment to the Irish constitution to place some restrictions on abortion, which put her at variance with many pro-life organizations, the mainstream political parties and the Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland, on the basis that in her eyes the anti-abortion amendment would introduce certain loopholes, lost her much of her original support. The defeat of that amendment was blamed on ultra-conservative elements, who were accused by other anti-abortion campaigners of destroying the likely last chance to impose stricter abortion restrictions in Ireland.
In 2002, Scallon contested a seat in Galway West in the Irish general election, again as an independent. In what was seen as a backlash against her stance in the previous abortion referendum, she lost disastrously, scoring just 3.5% of the vote in her constituency.
Scallon lost her seat in the elections to the European Parliament in June 2004, although her share of the vote on that occasion (13.5%) was somewhat higher than opinion polls had indicated in advance of the election.
In 2004, Scallon again set her sights on the office of President of Ireland, but incumbent Mary McAleese was elected uncontested when Scallon failed to secure a nomination.
By February 2005, Dana returned to the world of entertainment when she spent time on Ireland's RTÉ television series "The Afternoon Show" in a weight loss challenge preceding her daughter's summer wedding that year. In April of 2006, she appeared in the RTÉ program Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels in which she was paired with a celebrity dancer who taught her to do Irish step dancing to modern music each week in the series.
Viewers would phone in votes for the best celebrity dancer each week with the celebrity obtaining the lowest vote leaving the series. Dana continued to prove her popularity as an entertainer by making it to second place after a month-and-a-half of dancing. In that same month, she also debuted a new album. "Totus Tuus" was released on the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II and was dedicated to the person he was.
[edit] Discography
singles
- 1967 Sixteen / Little Girl Blue
- 1968 Come Along Murphy / Patrick O'Donnell
- 1968 Heidschi Bumbeidschi / Ten Second Girl
- 1969 Look Around / No Road Back
- 1970 All Kinds Of Everything / Channel Breeze UK #1
- 1970 I Will Follow You / With A Little Love
- 1971 Who Put The Lights Out / Always A Few Things UK #14
- 1971 Today / Don't Cry My Love
- 1971 Isn't It A Pity / Swallow Fly Away
- 1972 New Days...New Ways / Love Is A Friend of Mine
- 1972 Crossword Puzzle / Where Is He
- 1973 Do I Still Figure In Your Life / A Ticket To Nowhere
- 1973 Corner Of The Sky - Morning Glow / Sunday Monday Tuesday
- 1975 Are You Still Mad At Me / There's Nothin' You Can Do To Change My Mind
- 1975 Please Tell Him That I Said Hello / Darlin' Come Home Soon UK #8
- 1975 It's Gonna Be A Cold Cold Christmas / The Goodbye Song UK #4
- 1976 Never Gonna Fall In Love Again / Have Love Will Travel UK #31
- 1976 Fairytale / Country Girl UK #13
- 1976 I Love How You Love Me / Darlin' Come Home Soon
- 1977 Put Some Words Together / Look Before You Leap
- 1979 Something's Cookin' In The Kitchen / Slipaway UK #44
- 1979 I Can't Get Over Getting Over You / Everynight
- 1979 Totus Tuus / Cliffs Of Dooneen
- 1980 When A Child Is Born / It's No Secret
- 1981 Dream Lover / Dance
- 1982 I Feel Love Comin' On / Lovely Baby UK #66
- 1982 You Never Gave Me Your Love / Marathon
- 1985 Little Things Mean A Lot / (Crying) Till The Morning Light
Albums
- 1970 All Kinds Of Everything
- 1974 The World Of Dana
- 1975 Have A Nice Day
- 1976 Love Songs And Fairytales
- 1979 The Girl Is Back
- 1980 Everything Is Beautiful
- 1981 Totally Yours
- 1982 Magic
- 1984 Let There Be Love
- 1984 Please Tell Him I Said Hello
- 1985 If I Give My Heart To You
- 1987 No Greater Love
- 1989 Forever Christmas
- 1990 All Kinds Of Everything (compilation)
- 1991 Dana's Ireland
- 1992 Lady Of Knock
- 1992 The Rosary
- 1993 Say Yes!
- 1996 The Gift Of Love
- 1996 Hail Holy Queen
- 1996 Dana: The Collection
- 1996 In The Palm Of His Hand
- 1997 Humble Myself
- 1998 Stations Of The Cross
- 1998 The Best Of Dana
- 2006 Little Baby: Songs For Life
- 2006 Totus Tuus
- 2006 Good Morning Jesus!
[edit] Political career
- 1997 - ran for presidency of Ireland in Irish presidential election, 1997 (finished 3rd of 5)
- 1999 - elected to the European Parliament in the European Parliament election, 1999
- 2002 - failed to be elected in the Galway West constituency in the Irish general election, 2002
- 2004 - lost European Parliament seat in the European Parliament election, 2004
- 2004 - Lost nomination to run in the Irish presidential election, 2004
[edit] External links
- Elections Ireland: Dana Rosemary Scallon — electoral history from the ElectionsIreland.org website
- Dana — DANA's official website where you can contact Dana, find her music and learn more about her.
| Preceded by Four-way tie: Lulu, Salomé, Frida Boccara, Lenny Kuhr |
Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 |
Succeeded by Séverine |
| Eurovision winners | |
|---|---|
| 1950s | Lys Assia • Corry Brokken • André Claveau • Teddy Scholten |
| 1960s | Jacqueline Boyer • Jean-Claude Pascal • Isabelle Aubret • Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann • Gigliola Cinquetti • France Gall • Udo Jürgens • Sandie Shaw • Massiel • Frida Boccara • Lenny Kuhr • Lulu • Salomé |
| 1970s | Dana • Séverine • Vicky Leandros • Anne-Marie David • ABBA • Teach-In • Brotherhood of Man • Marie Myriam • Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta • Gali Atari & Milk and Honey |
| 1980s | Johnny Logan • Bucks Fizz • Nicole • Corinne Hermès • Herreys • Bobbysocks • Sandra Kim • Johnny Logan • Céline Dion • Riva |
| 1990s | Toto Cutugno • Carola • Linda Martin • Niamh Kavanagh • Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan • Secret Garden • Eimear Quinn • Katrina and the Waves • Dana International • Charlotte Nilsson |
| 2000s | Olsen Brothers • Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL • Marie N • Sertab Erener • Ruslana • Elena Paparizou • Lordi |
