His Special Years

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Val had bought himself an amplifier for his guitar, into which had gone most of his savings. Making a case to protect the amplifier, he used an old theatre poster advertising one Lynnette Rae, at the time more famous than Val, who was re-building her career after an operation for throat cancer (ironically, the disease that had killed his father). Having used her as his amp’s guardian angel, Val finally met Lynnette when both she and the Ramblers supported the late Anthony Newley on tour. For the first time in his life, Val fell in love. He and Lynn married in the early 1960s, and are the parents to two grown-up daughters, Sarah and Fiona.

A frequent performer at US air force bases, on one visit he found his appearance was advertised as the Val Doonican Show. Initially alarmed, he grew to enjoy this star billing. At the end of the 1950s, he wanted another change and joined a concert tour with Anthony Newley, opening in Manchester, where he met his future wife, the cabaret artist Lynnette Rae. They married in 1962 and had two daughters. It was on the Newley tour that his solo act emerged. At one cast party, everyone had to do a turn, and Doonican borrowed a Spanish guitar, perched on a stool and sang an Irish song. Newley asked him if he had ever considered something of the sort on radio or TV. Programming" (PDF). Broadcasting. 29 March 1971. p.76 . Retrieved 24 July 2014. [ permanent dead link] ( PDF) Freedom of Waterford". Valdoonican.com. 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 23 May 2015 . Retrieved 4 July 2015. He had the top television show on the BBC. He had the warmth, the voice and the sweaters. He was one of the warmest personalities I think we have ever had.

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Val often talks about the great happiness of his childhood – his ‘Special Years’. However, his family were poor and he shared a room with his three brothers: his four sisters slept on the other side of a partition wall and his parents in the living room. When he was still young, one of his sisters contracted TB, forcing her to move into their parents’ room, and his father to move into a shed at the end of the garden. This eccentric arrangement continued until Val was fourteen, when his father died, but enabled him to spend a great deal of ‘quality time’ with his dad. The Val Doonican Show, his eponymous variety programme, featured his singing and a selection of guests, and it had a long and successful run on BBC Television from 1965 to 1986. Doonican won the Variety Club of Great Britain's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times. [1] Early life and career [ edit ] Martin Roach (ed.), The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums, Virgin Books, 2009, ISBN 9780753517000, p.94

The family said: "Until 87, he was as fit as a flea. It was just old age, I'm afraid - the batteries ran out." Doonican officially retired in 1990 [21] but was still performing in 2009. He had a second home in Spain, [22] and was a keen golfer and a talented watercolour painter. [5] Another hobby he enjoyed was cooking. [23] In June 2011, he was recognised by the Mayor of Waterford, who bestowed on him "The Freedom of the City". [24] Death and tributes [ edit ] Behind the scenes, Doonican was described as "a perfectionist who knew his limitations but always aimed to be 'the best Val Doonican possible.'" [2] He was sometimes compared to American singer Perry Como, though he claimed his main influence was Bing Crosby. [19] He appeared in three Royal Variety Performances. [2] On 31 December 1976, Doonican performed his hit song "Walk Tall” on BBC One's A Jubilee of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver Jubilee. He appears as himself in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's " The Intro and the Outro", saying "hello there" over the general hubbub. [27]The Bar-Stewards Sons Of Val Doonican at The Acoustic Festival of Britain". Acousticfestival.co.uk. 1 June 2014 . Retrieved 2 July 2015. After seeing him in cabaret in London in 1964, impresario Val Parnell booked him to appear on Sunday Night at the Palladium on 31 May 1964. [2] Most unusually, Doonican returned to the show the following week as well. [11]