Joe Dolan
| Joe Dolan | |
|---|---|
Dolan on TopPop, 1975
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| Born |
Joseph Francis Robert Dolan 16 October 1939 Mullingar, Ireland |
| Died | 26 December 2007 (aged 68) Dublin, Ireland |
| Cause of death | Intracerebral hemorrhage |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Other names | Joe Dolan |
| Occupation | Band lead singer, solo singer |
| Years active | 1958–2007 |
| Website | www |
Joseph "Joe" Francis Robert Dolan (16 October 1939 – 26 December 2007) was an Irish entertainer, recording artist, and pop singer. Chiefly known in Ireland for his association with showbands and for his innovative style and high pitched singing voice, he had a wide appeal with many international fans. His energetic and charismatic stage performances were well known as was his long standing advertising slogan: "There's no show like a Joe show" .
The only Irish singer to reach number one in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Dolan was a constant presence on the hit parade in Ireland and overseas.
Joe Dolan was born at the County Hospital, now known as the Midland Regional Hospital in Mullingar, County Westmeath on 16 October 1939, the youngest of eight children. He was raised Roman Catholic, just like almost every other Irish showband star. He lost both his parents at a young age – his father, a bicycle shop proprietor, died when Joe was eight; his mother when he was fifteen. He sang in school, and his mother had encouraged him to take up the piano. He made his first stage appearance at a talent show held in a marquee on the Fair Green in his native Mullingar.
Dolan's voice was high with a comprehensive range without the use of falsetto and he made comprehensive use of a technique known as melisma which gives the vocal a plaintive edge reminiscent of Arabic religious chanting. Vocal gymnastics such as this were not common in the 1960s and 1970s but were later made popular by artistes such as Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston, amongst others. His voice has been compared to that of Demis Roussos.
As well as securing his first (and last) "real" job as a compositor in local newspaper The Westmeath Examiner in 1958, Dolan also got his first guitar. After learning some skills on the instrument, he and his saxophone-playing brother Ben started to play in local bands. They soon formed a band of their own – The Drifters. Not long afterward, the band was renamed Joe Dolan and the Drifters and finally Joe Dolan and His Drifters to avoid legal action from the American band of the same name.
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Wikipedia