Daniel John Mark Luke "Danny" O'Donoghue is an Irish singer-songwriter known for
being the frontman of the Irish pop band The Script and as a coach on the first
two series of the television singing talent show The Voice UK.
Early life Danny O'Donoghue was born in Dublin,
Ireland to Shay O'Donoghue, a member of the band 'The Dreams', and Ailish
O'Donoghue. He is the youngest of six children and was raised in Ballinteer,
Dublin. As a child, O'Donoghue was initially against the idea of being a
musician; however, he ended up dropping out of school to pursue a musical
career. Early career
Danny O'Donoghue was originally a member of a late 1990s band called Mytown with
friend Mark Sheehan, after being signed to Universal Records in 1999. After its
moderate success, O'Donoghue moved to Los Angeles with Sheehan to write songs
and produce for artists such as Britney Spears, Boyz II Men and TLC.
After one year of writing, O'Donoghue and Sheehan moved back to Dublin and,
recruiting drummer Glen Power, started working on their own material. They
formed the band The Script in 2001. The Script
The band released their eponymous debut album on 8 August 2008. O'Donoghue
co-wrote all the songs on the album. The album went on to become a commercial
success, especially in their home country of Ireland, peaking at number
one on the Irish Album Chart. The band has since released three more albums:
Science and Faith in September 2010, #3 in September 2012, and No Sound Without
Silence in September 2014. The Script have toured since early March 2013 for
their #3 tour in the UK. They performed in some of the UK's largest arenas and
cities such Birmingham, London and Manchester.
The Voice UK In 2012 O'Donoghue made his first
appearance in The Voice UK alongside Jessie J, will.i.am and Tom Jones as a
coach. The decision was supported by bandmates Glen Power and Mark Sheehan,
who said: "Danny did The Voice to put a face to The Script. We know about
producing, song writing and performing – we’ve been doing it since we were 14 or
15. Danny on a show about singing was good for us. People saw how passionate
he is about music, how much it means to him and it made our band better known."
The appointment of O'Donoghue as coach initially drew criticism, with Twitter
users branding him "Danny I Dunno Who" and comedian James Corden joking about
it at the 2012 BRIT Awards. O'Donoghue retaliated saying "James who? Whatever.
It’s up to other people to make up their own minds. I know I’m on this show for
what I’ve done in my career. I’ve spent 15 years in the music industry, it’s all
I know." Since then, however, the show has helped contribute to O'Donoghue's
popularity, with O'Donoghue stating there was a "big outpouring of love for
The Script" but adding that it "could have gone the other way." In the first
series, he coached Bo Bruce, who went on to become the runner-up. Since then, she
has had moderate success. He was asked to appear as a judge for The Voice again
in 2013 after leading 'Team Danny' to great success. In the second series,
Andrea Begley from his team went on to unexpectedly win.
O'Donoghue also co-wrote the track "Alive" for Bo Bruce's album Before I
Sleep. On 16 July 2013, O'Donoghue announced he
was leaving the show to concentrate on The Script. He was replaced for the
third series by Ricky Wilson. Personal life
O'Donoghue's father died of a stomach aneurysm on 14 February 2008 at the age
of 63. The rose tattoo on O'Donoghue's left arm is to commemorate the date. The
song "If You Could See Me Now" from their album #3 is written in memory of
him. References
External links Danny O'Donoghue at the Internet Movie
Database DannyODonoghue.Net