Dana

Born Rosemary Brown on August 30, 1951, in Islington, London, singer Dana secured victory at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest while representing her native Ireland. Her parents had shifted the household from Derry, Northern Ireland, to the United Kingdom a year earlier, only to resettle in Derry once she reached the age of five. The six-year-old then claimed the first in a long series of talent contests, and Decca’s Rex subsidiary extended her a recording contract shortly before her sixteenth birthday. Issued under the name Dana, her opening single paired manager Tony Johnston’s “Sixteen” with her own “Little Girl Blue.” Subsequent releases encompassed the 1968 sides “Come Along Murphy” and “Heidschi Bumbeidschi” plus 1969’s “Look Around.”

Already established on the regional cabaret circuit, Dana received her initial invitation to represent Ireland at Eurovision in 1969. Although “Look Around” placed second in the national selection, she returned the next year with “All Kinds of Everything,” prevailing both domestically and in the international final. The song ascended to the summit of charts spanning the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, and Singapore, prompting the simultaneous release of a matching album. Follow-up “I Will Follow” failed to register, yet “Who Put the Lights Out” reached number 14 in Britain during early 1971. Four further years elapsed before she attained consistent chart presence; intervening singles that missed the mark included 1971’s “Today” and “Isn’t It a Pity,” 1972’s “New Days...New Ways” and “Crossword Puzzle,” and 1973’s “Do I Still Figure in Your Life” and “Sunday Monday Tuesday.” In the interim she made her screen debut in the Ron Moody and Jack Wilde feature The Flight of the Doves while becoming a fixture at summer seasons staged at theaters across British holiday resorts.

Dana reemerged on record in 1974 after signing with GTO. Her first offering for the label, “Are You Still Mad at Me,” drew no response, but the following year “Please Tell Him That I Said Hello” climbed into the Top Ten. “It’s Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas” peaked at number four later in 1975, and 1976 yielded a Top 40 treatment of Eric Carmen’s “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” together with the Top 20 “Fairytale.” The albums Have a Nice Day and Love Songs & Fairy Tales also appeared during this span. Another quiet period preceded the 1979 chart return of “Something’s Cooking in the Kitchen,” issued alongside the aptly named LP The Girl Is Back. Although her British profile remained intermittent thereafter, Dana sustained superstar status in Ireland and simultaneously emerged as a prominent figure in the early Christian-rock movement. Her 1985 autobiography Dana — An Autobiography examines those religious convictions at length. “Totus Tuus,” named after Pope John Paul II’s motto, topped the Irish charts following the pontiff’s 1979 visit to the country, and 1980 brought her first number-one album, the inspirational collection Everything Is Beautiful. That success prompted the wholly devotional 1981 release Totally Yours on the Christian Word imprint; while secular recordings continued, subsequent output centered on further religious projects.

In 1990 Dana, her husband, and their two children settled in Birmingham, Alabama, where the family aligned with the Catholic network EWTN. She served as a regular television host and recorded for the Catholic HeartBeat label. The family remained stateside until 1997, when Dana entered Irish politics as an independent candidate. She finished third in that year’s presidential contest, outpolling the mainstream Irish Labour Party. Two years later she captured a seat in the European Parliament, retaining it until 2004. Since then Dana and her husband Damien have operated their own imprint, DS Music Productions, whose releases include the Pope John Paul II tribute Totus Tuus and the 2007 children’s collection Good Morning Jesus: Prayers & Songs for Children of All Ages.