dana

Dana Rosemary Scallon, formerly Dana (born August 30, 1951), is a successful former singer turned Irish politician.

Background

Scallon was born Rosemary Brown in Derry, Northern Ireland and attended Thornhill College in Derry. In 1970 as a teenager she represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest, singing "All Kinds of Everything" (written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith), and brought home the country's first victory in the contest. She had some minor hits in the British and Irish music charts subsequently. Always religious, she became more famous for singing religious songs, such as "Totus Tuus", commemorating the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979.

In the 1980s, she moved with her husband, Damien Scallon, and family to the United States, where they were involved with the Christian broadcasting network, EWTN. There she became very popular as a Catholic Christian singer. When not hosting her own radio and television programs, Dana was a popular performer at conferences and in public performances across the United States. She returned to Ireland in 1997 to become a candidate for the office of President of Ireland where, though an independent candidate with no party political organisation behind her, she came in a credible third, ahead of the candidate of the mainstream Labour Party. In 1999, again as an independent, she contested and won a seat in the European Parliament representing the Connacht-Ulster European elections constituency.

Politics

She has declined to associate with any political party. She campaigns on "family values," most notably in her opposition to abortion. Her decision in 2001 to oppose a government proposed amendment to the Irish constitution to place some restrictions on abortion, which put her at variance with many pro-life organizations, the mainstream political parties and the Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland, on the basis that in her eyes the anti-abortion amendment would introduce certain loopholes, lost her much of her original support. The defeat of that amendment was blamed on ultra-conservative elements, who were accused by other anti-abortion campaigners of destroying the likely last chance to impose stricter abortion restrictions in Ireland.

In 2002, Scallon contested a seat in Galway West in the Irish general election, again as an independent. In what was seen as a backlash against her stance in the previous abortion referendum, she lost disastrously, scoring just 3.5% of the vote in her constituency.

Scallon lost her seat in the elections to the European Parliament in June 2004, although her share of the vote on that occasion (13.5%) was somewhat higher than opinion polls had indicated in advance of the election.

In 2004, Scallon again set her sights on the office of President of Ireland, but incumbent Mary McAleese was elected uncontested when Scallon failed to secure a nomination.

By February 2005, Dana returned to the world of entertainment when she spent time on Ireland's RTÉ television series "The Afternoon Show" in a weight loss challenge preceding her daughter's summer wedding that year. In April of 2006, she appeared in the RTÉ program "Celebrity Jigs and Reels" in which she was paired with a celebrity dancer who taught her to do Irish step dancing to modern music each week in the series. Viewers would phone in votes for the best celebrity dancer each week with the celebrity obtaining the lowest vote leaving the series. Dana continued to prove her popularity as an entertainer by making it to second place after a month-and-a-half of dancing. In that same month, she also debuted a new album. "Totus Tuus" was released on the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II and was dedicated to the person he was.

Singles

• 1970 All Kinds Of Everything UK No.1
• 1971 Who Put The Lights Out UK No.14
• 1975 Please Tell Him That I Said Hello UK No.8
• 1975 It's Gonna Be A Cold Cold Christmas UK No.4
• 1976 Never Gonna Fall In Love Again UK No.31
• 1976 Fairytale UK No.13
• 1979 Something's Cookin' In The Kitchen UK No.44
• 1982 I Feel Love Comin' On UK No.66

Political career

• 1997 - ran for presidency of Ireland in Irish presidential election, 1997 (finished 3rd of 5)
• 1999 - elected to the European Parliament in the European Parliament election, 1999
• 2002 - failed to be elected in the Galway West constituency in the Irish general election, 2002
• 2004 - lost European Parliament seat in the European Parliament election, 2004
• 2004 - failed to get nomination to run in the Irish presidential election, 2004

External links

• Elections Ireland: Dana Rosemary Scallon — electoral history from the ElectionsIreland.org website
• Dana Scallon — Official Website for Dana Rosemary Scallon