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Dana Rosemary Scallon, better known as Dana (born Rosemary Brown on 30 August 1951 in Islington, London), is a Contemporary Catholic music singer, songwriter and former politician. She won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970 with "All Kinds of Everything". During a successful career in pop music, Dana evolved into a popular Catholic music singer, writing and performing songs to such people as Pope John Paul II. In 1999, she became a Member of the European Parliament.
Scallon was born in Frederica Street, Islington, London, where she lived for five years until her family moved back to Derry, Northern Ireland, from where they had moved six years earlier to find work. Hers was a musical family, Dad played the trumpet and Mum the piano, and they encouraged their three sons and three daughters to learn how to play an instrument, to sing and dance. Young Rosemary Brown was a quick learner; she won a talent contest as a six-year-old. Years later she was introduced to her future manager, Tony Johnston, after singing and strumming her way to another success in 1965. This local headmaster and part-time promoter took her under his wing while she prepared for her O-levels at Thornhill College.
In 1967, with seven O-levels to her credit, a demo tape was sent off to Michael Geoghegan, the manager of Rex Records (Decca) in Dublin, who promptly signed her up. Her debut single was called "Sixteen" (her age at the time), written by Johnston, with the self-penned "Little Girl Blue" on the flip side. It was released on 17 November 1967. The record was a flop, but it did open a few doors in local TV and radio stations.
A new name was required to go with her new "career". Names she could live with were short-listed before letting her school friends have the final say – and they chose "Dana".
Now in the sixth form, she was appearing in cabaret and folk clubs in the area. On Easter Saturday 1968, dressed in an evening gown, she was driven slowly through the streets in a white Rolls-Royce. Cheered on by crowds of well-wishers, she arrived at Clontarf Castle in Dublin. After a few speeches and a fanfare, she found herself on stage, sitting on a throne and wearing a tiara – crowned Queen of Cabaret.
Her record company suggested she take part in the Irish National Song Contest in February 1969. With mixed feelings she did and was chosen to sing "Look Around" by Michael Reade. Shown live on Ireland's RTÉ – and feeling terrified – she did well and came second. Relieved not to have won, she decided her future lay in passing her A-levels and becoming a music and drama teacher. Then, over Christmas, an invitation to try again came from the show's producer, Tom McGrath. Thinking one last fling wouldn't hurt before getting a proper job, she accepted his offer. However, this time she won with "All Kinds of Everything" by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith, two printers from Dublin. Their song, along with Dana, would now represent Ireland in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam on Saturday 21 March.
The last of twelve to perform that night, and wearing an embroidered cream mini dress, she sang the song while perched on a stool. Her competitors included Mary Hopkin for the UK (the favourite with "Knock Knock Who's There") and Spain's Julio Iglesias. Dana beat them all and registered Ireland's first success in the contest. Thousands welcomed her home, first at Dublin Airport, then at Ballykerry Airport, then at the Guildhall in Derry where she was carried shoulder high into the official reception, and finally at the family home in the Bogside. She described the journey to her Rossville Street flat as like "breaking into Colditz", with flowers, fruit and fans everywhere. Dana's victory was something to celebrate for the people of Derry: the Troubles had not long started and the Battle of the Bogside had not long finished.
This now eighteen-year-old schoolgirl took the winning song to the top of the Irish singles chart for nine weeks and the UK singles chart for two weeks. Similar positions were achieved in Australia, South Africa and Singapore; in Holland it reached the runner-up spot. It soon became a million-seller. Dana was still number one in the UK when she was booked into Decca's London studios for two days to record her first LP. Named after "that song", it was in the shops by June. More hits followed, including "Who Put the Lights Out" (Paul Ryan), "Crossword Puzzle" (Lynsey De Paul-Barry Blue) and "Do I Still Figure in Your Life" (Pete Dello). A label change to GTO produced more chart entries, like "Please Tell Him That I Said Hello" (Shepstone-Dibbens), "It's Gonna Be a Cold Cold Christmas" (Greenaway-Stephens), "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (Eric Carmen), "Fairytale" (Paul Greedus) and the amusing "Something's Cookin' in the Kitchen" (D.Jordan).
Dana was now becoming an all round entertainer: she played the part of a tinker girl in the childrens adventure film The Flight Of The Doves (1971) starring Ron Moody and Jack Wild; she took part in summer seasons, her first was in Scarborough with Frank Ifield; she undertook British and European concert tours, some with performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall; she starred in theatre runs such as a sell-out week at the London Palladium with Tom Jones; she performed in cabaret shows at venues like the Batley Variety Club and London's Talk of the Town, and was voted Top Female Vocalist in the National Club Acts Awards in 1979; she made numerous TV appearances while promoting her records, as well as two series for the BBC, the first being A Day With Dana in 1974, followed by four series of Wake Up Sunday in 1979. She also made a documentary called Who is Rosemary Brown. Pantomimes were also on the agenda and these became a particular favourite of hers after starring in Cinderella in 1970.
In1976 she lost her voice while promoting "Fairytale". Emergency surgery removed a growth (non-malignant) from a vocal chord. Newspaper headlines appeared, like "DANA MAY NEVER SING AGAIN". She started to believe them during her long and difficult – but eventually successful – convalescence.
On 5 October 1978 she married Damien Scallon, a hotelier and businessman from Newry. The wedding took place at St Eugene's Cathedral in Derry with four-hundred invited guests. Thousands turned out to witness the occasion with factories and schools given a half-day holiday. The couple first met, albeit briefly, in 1970 when Dana had a street named after her and a reception was held in Damien's Ardmore Hotel in Newry. Nine months after their wedding his hotel was destroyed by a bomb.
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