This Irish singer was perhaps the biggest international star to come from the showband era and has had huge appeal both in Ireland and Internationally.\u00a0 He had 57 UK & Irish hit singles in the 1960\u2019s, 70\u2019s, 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s and brought out 22 albums up to his sudden death in 2007. While he never broke America, he played in Chicago, New York, Boston and Las Vegas as well as many other countries around the world, including Russia.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m talking about Joe Dolan.<\/p>\n
This biography is split into 4 pages in order to allow for Joe was born Joseph Francis Robert Dolan on 16th<\/sup>\u00a0October 1939 in Mullingar, County Westmeath and was the youngest of eight children.\u00a0 His father owned a bicycle shop in the town and was also a barber.\u00a0 When Joe was eight, his father died and he was left at home with his brother Ben, because the rest of the family had either emigrated or settled down. In 1954, Joe started an apprenticeship as a newspaper compositor with the local newspaper, the Westmeath Examiner, which he completed in 1958. At 15, his mother also died, but not before she encouraged him to learn the piano and sing in school. He won a national talent contest called Beginners Please, the equivalent at the time of today\u2019s X Factor.<\/p>\n The Dolan household was always noted for music.\u00a0 Joe was to be seen in those early days playing the washboard accompanying his sisters\u2019 singing in the house.\u00a0 Indeed it was no surprise that the brothers decided to put a band together and play the local dancehall circuit.<\/p>\n Joe had a high voice and was able to reach two and a half octaves without the use of falsetto and he also made great use of a technique called melisma which gives the vocal chords a melancholic edge reminiscent of Arabic religious chanting. Vocal workouts 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.\u00a0 His voice has been compared to that of Demis Roussos.<\/p>\n Joe started playing the guitar and Ben played the saxophone in a number of local bands before starting their own \u2013 The Drifters.\u00a0 There was, however a possible confusion with the American band the Drifters, so they changed the name to Joe Dolan and The Drifters and later, to Joe Dolan and His Drifters.<\/p>\n
\n25 Videos and the full Discography.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n
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