Al O’Donnell, a popular folk singer since the 1960s, has died aged 71. His strong clear voice, accompanied by his banjo and guitar playing, brought together influences from his Irish, Scottish and north of England roots.
He won considerable popularity with audiences over a 50- year career and the respect of a distinguished cohort of international folk musicians.
Alastair Noel O’Donnell was born in Dublin. His father was a Geordie with Donegal roots and his mother was a teacher from Dumfries in Scotland.
His early years were spent in the Harold’s Cross suburb of Dublin. His parents emigrated to Grantham in the English midlands, where he won a place studying graphic design at the Nottingham College of Art.
There he learned the traditional song Seeds of Love from Alan Atkinson, who would become a lifelong friend.
London folk scene
In the mid-1960s the young O’Donnell went to London to join the burgeoning folk music scene, appearing in clubs and pubs with Peggy Seeger, Martin Carthy, Ray and Archie Fisher, the McPeake Family (
Will Ye Go Lassie Go?
) from Belfast, the Watersons from Yorkshire, and Billy Connolly, then known as a folk singer.
O’Donnell also performed at Ewan McColl’s Ballads and Blues club in Soho, the Tinkers Club in Hampstead, and the Lamb and Flag, among others.
In 1960s London musicians gathered at Cecil Sharp house in Camden, a noted centre for the folk music revival. Others honing their talents on the London scene included Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and Davey Graham, all fighting to have folk music heard at the height of Beatlemania.
An early success and an enduring favourite in his repertoire was O'Donnell's version of The Spanish Lady, a traditional song of unrequited love: "First she saw me, then she fled me, lifting her petticoat over her knee".
He recorded two LPs, Al O'Donnell in 1972, and Al O'Donnell 2 in 1978. He went on to appear at the Inverness and Cambridge folk festivals in the 1970s and toured extensively in the UK and Europe.
Back in Dublin, he met his wife-to-be, June Kirwan, at a party in the Kenilworth Square home of Peggy Jordan, who promoted folk music events at Mick McCarthy’s Embankment pub at Saggart among other venues.
O’Donnell found himself competing against the emerging Dubliners and Sweeney’s Men, of which he was briefly a member, and exciting new talents like Paul Brady and Donal Lunny.
O’Donnell’s achievement was to make himself heard in this crowded field. He introduced audiences to his unique take on the folk repertoire at venues like the International Bar in Wicklow Street.
Bearpit
In the terrifying bearpit of Saturday “Ballads at Midnight” sessions in the Grafton cinema, he silenced rowdy audiences with haunting renditions of songs like
Slievenamon
, translated for him by his good friend the piper Séamus Ennis.
Al O’Donnell was also a gifted graphic artist whose work was seen nightly on Irish television.
He created title sequences for a wide range of programmes, including current affairs, arts and sport.
The link between the day job as a graphic artist and the after-hours performing artist was clear to his RTÉ design colleague William Finnie. "It was all about storytelling, his songs and his illustrations: he was telling stories, that was what he wanted to do."
O’Donnell joined RTÉ’s design department in 1969 and served as a senior graphic designer until his retirement at the end of 2003.
After 2003, O'Donnell continued to play in folk clubs. Ramble Away, a double CD of his music was issued in 2008.
In 2010 he joined The Dubliners for a short tour of Germany.
He had been very ill for the past year and died of pneumonia.
He is survived by his wife June, his children Ruan, Conor and Melissa, and his brother Fran.