Daniel O'Donnell celebrates wife Majella's 65th birthday and welcomes fourth grandchild

‘Times Change’ was recorded for Alzheimer’s Tea Day on May 1 in memory of his mother-in-law and everyone who has the condition, the singer tells Helen O’Callaghan

Tue, 15 Apr, 2025 - 12:27

Helen O’Callaghan

Daniel O'Donnell pulled out all the stops for his wife Majella’s 65th birthday recently, proving their love is still as fresh as it was in 1999.

Sharing a snap of Majella next to a heart-shaped flower display to social media, the country music singer posted: “Getting ready to celebrate Majella’s birthday tomorrow.” O’Donnell has always been a family man, a stepfather to Majella’s children Siobhan and Michael, who have been in his life since they were 11 and nine, and now a grandfather to four.

On the Friday lunchtime, I chat with O’Donnell, who is on a break with Majella in Tenerife, and fresh with news of a grandchild born in Australia.

“A wee boy called Jack, born early this morning, 4am in Australia. He’s not a day old yet! There’s great excitement. It’s a shame we’re so far away; all we’re getting at the moment is pictures, but it’ll be great to connect with what’s happening over the next couple of days. We’ll have live WhatsApps.”

Daniel’s four grandchildren — three boys and a girl, aged nine, seven, four and now the baby — bring the Donegal crooner great joy.

“It’s beyond what you could hope for, especially in my case, because Siobhan and Michael aren’t biological to me, I’m their stepfather, but I’ve had them in my life since they were 11 and nine.

“And I’m blessed — there’s never been any issues or disagreements, never a bit of bother even in their teens. I recently spent a week in Banbridge with Siobhan and Gavin and the three children. And even if Majella wasn’t there, I’d still stay with Siobhan. I’ve a great connection with them.”

The grandchildren call him ‘Gaga’, a name first coined by his granddaughter, Olivia. “She started it, for whatever reason. But my father’s mother — we didn’t really know her — we called her Gaga. And my late sister Kathleen’s grandchildren called her Gaga.”

Connection between generations is something Daniel treasures. “Where I grew up, interaction with people was just huge. There were a lot of older people. My grandmother — my mother’s mother — lived with us after my father died; she died in 1971, at 93.

“Annie McGarvey was next door, and her father, Josie. There were a lot of older couples; they were a huge influence. You had that sense of community; even yet, where I come from there’s that same sense of community.

"Annie taught me how to play whist. I remember sitting in our house, playing two hands each. She taught me how to finesse — even now, playing bridge, I think of Annie telling me how to capture the king. She played it in her youth, in the hall — it was a church thing. So I was playing whist when I was nine or 10, more than 50 years ago.

“I still play it every Tuesday night in the hall when I go home — we even have a WhatsApp group.” Daniel is on a break in Tenerife with Majella. “We came out yesterday. I finished doing three shows for TG4 in Derry.” Growing up by the sea in Donegal, Daniel could see it from the kitchen window if he looked to the left. “When you’re brought up by the sea, you always have a pull to it — it feels like home. Where Majella and I live now in Donegal, we’ve a full sea view.”

But Tenerife — with its view of the sea out the back door of his apartment and of the square, Los Cristianos, out the front — is where he can truly switch off. “It’s the only place I get a real chance to rest. At home, people ask and I end up doing things I hadn’t planned.

Daniel O'Donnell at the launch of the 31st Alzheimer’s Tea Day, set to take place on Thursday, 1st May 2025 across Ireland.

It’s important to be doing nothing sometimes.” The imperative to have a good life-work balance hit him more than 30 years ago.

“I realised it in 1992, when I had trouble with my voice and had to take a break. I realised you can’t be everything to everybody and nothing to yourself. You have to get a balance, and the day you say ‘no’ it’s not because you don’t want to help, but that you need to say ‘no’, so you can say ‘yes’ down the road.

“So there has to be a period of doing nothing and relaxing. I’d never criticise anyone for that, because you can’t run the whole time.” Adding that he has “cut down on the amount of travelling”, he says he’s very good at doing nothing.

“I play a bit of golf, especially at Cruit Island Golf Club, which has breathtaking scenery, looking out at Owey Island, where my mother came from, as well as Arranmore.

“I play a lot of bridge. I enjoy it immensely. I only took it up nine years ago, but it’s a great game. Every time you open a new hand it’s a new picture you have to describe to your partner, or hear them describe to you. I play it a lot online.”

Daniel is supporting this year’s Alzheimer’s Tea Day, which takes place across Ireland on May 1. He has recorded a special song for the day, ‘Times Change’. Written by Shaunie Crampsey, it’s in memory of Daniel’s mother-in-law, Marion, who had dementia.

“I’ve first-hand experience of dementia. I’ve met and known a lot of people who’ve suffered from it and from Alzheimer’s. And there’s great sadness; you almost lose the person who you knew for so many years. It’s like a new personality has invaded their body or mind.

It’s like a car driving away that you can’t get into, slowly driving. You’re there beside it and you know you should be able to, but you just cannot unlock the door. And, in the end you have to realise you must stop trying to unlock it, you must just be happy to walk along beside,” says the man who rates loyalty as the most important quality in anybody.

He understands just how natural it is for a family to try their best to bring their loved one with dementia back, “to make them remember, make them realise”.

But it’s pointless, he says. “They’re not able to remember. With Marion, no matter who came in the door, I’d never say, ‘Do you know who this is?’ Because she wouldn’t know. And if she did, great, but I would say, ‘This is such-and-such, this is my brother, John, coming in’.

“So for that moment she didn’t have to struggle — because it’s hard to know you can’t remember.” When, eventually, Marion needed nursing home care, Daniel recalls it as “the best move ever” from many perspectives.

“She brightened up. I’m not saying everyone should go, but it can be a good thing. I stress this to people agonising about nursing home care for their loved one.”

This year’s Alzheimer’s awareness day, themed ‘Tea is the Best Time of the Day’, encourages communities to gather, share a cup of tea, and fundraise for people living with dementia, as well as their carers and families.

With the number diagnosed with dementia expected to double in the next 20 years, the May fundraiser supports The Alzheimer Society of Ireland’s work in providing much-needed resources and services for 64,000 individuals living with dementia and their families nationwide.

Register here to receive your free organiser’s toolkit, along with everything necessary to host a Tea Day event on or around May 1.

Proceeds will support critical services, like the Alzheimer’s National Helpline, Daycare programmes, home care, family carer training, social clubs, and Alzheimer’s cafes.