Jane McDonald

Infobox singer
Name = Jane McDonald


Img_size =
Birth_name = Jane McDonald
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1963|04|04|df=yes
Origin = Wakefield, England
Instrument = Vocals, Piano
Genre = Pop
Occupation = Singer
Television presenter
Years_active = 1985–present
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL =
Notable_instruments =

Jane McDonald (born 4 April 1963) is an English singer, actress and television personality. She came to fame after appearing on the documentary series "The Cruise" in 1998. She is best known recently for regularly appearing on the daytime TV show, "Loose Women", and has retained her strong Yorkshire accent.

Background

McDonald's parents are Peter and Jean. Her mother and grandmother ran a boarding house in Wakefield, and her Scottish father was a miner who did extra work as a chimney sweep. She is a Christian Spiritualist, as she announced on "Loose Women".

McDonaldspent her early years listening to the radio, her favourite pastime. As a little girl her favourite place was sitting in the rainbow coloured spotlight cast through her front door's stained glass window. [http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=5337]

McDonald toured many clubs in the north of England, with her father acting as her roadie. She provided all of her own equipment, which she had to replace after it was destroyed in a large bar-fight.

McDonald's first position on a cruise ship was on the Black Prince, and following that, the Horizon. After her father's death, she returned to sea and began working on the Zenith. Later she was to work on the Century, where she met Henrik Brixen. Her time on the Century was not a happy one, due to pay delays, technical difficulties, and stressful working conditions. After this she took some time off with Henrik, but was eventually tempted back to sea as a headliner on the Century's sister-ship, the Galaxy. Shortly after accepting the position, Jane was contacted by Chris Terril of the BBC, who asked her to be the star of his docusoap, The Cruise. The Cruise was watched regularly by 14 million viewers, and after years of hard work, she became a celebrity overnight. Her wedding to Henrik Brixen in 1998 was televised by the BBC and watched by a large audience, although the couple have since divorced.

After signing a major-label recording contract, McDonald began to carve out a mainstream Showbiz career, first as a guest presenter on BBC's National Lottery and subsequently with her debut album "Jane McDonald", which spent three weeks at #1 in the UK Album Chart.

In 2000, McDonald released her autobiography "Follow Your Dreams" published by Harper Collins.

In 2002, McDonald appeared in a run of "Romeo and Juliet - The Musical" at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's glittering "West End". She has also performed in productions in Kirkby Lonsdale and Basingstoke.

In November 2006 she began a UK tour, which featured a number of special guests including the massed voices of Sing Live UK. The tour ended on 2nd November 2006. 2007 McDonald commissioned up and coming Yorkshire fashion designer, Haute Couture dress maker [http://www.angel-couture.co.uk Kaye Heeley] of [http://www.angel-couture.co.uk Angel Couture] to help with the Jane McDonald Collection.

A new UK tour is beginning at Blackpool on 1st August 2008.

For the past 4 years Jane has been a regular presenter on the ITV show "Loose Women" - a popular daytime TV show.

Television career

As well as appearing on "The Cruise", McDonald presented the television programme, "Star For A Night", which helped launch the singer Joss Stone. She is also a regular panellist on the afternoon TV talk show, "Loose Women" and briefly Five's "The Wright stuff". She has also appeared on the reality shows, "Have I Been Here Before" and "Drop the Celebrity". Jane also appeared in the "Wicked Women" concert and sang "This Is The Moment" from the Broadway musical "Jekyll and Hyde". Jane appeared on one episode of "Never Mind The Buzzcocks".

McDonald joined "Loose Women" in 2004, and is now a regular favourite on the show. She frequently mentions her home town, Wakefield, on the show for various reasons, usually when talking about her childhood.

McDonald appeared on a celebrity special of "Ready Steady Cook". She and her fellow chef won over the audience with their dish of 'half baked carp' with a cheesy sauce, and claimed the cash prize. She donated all the money to Wakefield Hospice, a local charity of her home town.

McDonald is to appear in a documentary called "Return to the Cruise" in the spring, which will celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Cruise and find out how much Jane is enjoying her fame and success. This will be shown over several nights of the week beginning the 11th August 2008 on BBC 2. She was a special guest on "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway" on the 22nd of March, with Christopher Biggins in 'Grab the Ads' playing Tarzan and Jane. On the 20th July 2008, she featured on The Sunday Night Project. She is to appear on celebrity edition of Are You Smarter Than A Ten Year Old in September 2008.

Music career

Jane McDonald started her showbiz career performing in pubs and clubs around her local area, then gaining a contract with a label after being discovered.

As well as performing to packed theatres McDonald also writes a number of her own songs. These include "If I Knew Then", "Not A Day Goes By", "Time For Love", "Some You Win Some You Lose", "The Hand That Leads Me", "Winner", "I See It In Your Eyes", "When I Look At You", "Kiss Me One More Time", "Behind Closed Doors", and "Sweet Talker".

Albums

*"Jane McDonald" - #1 (UK) July 1998
*"Inspiration" - #6 (UK) June 2000 (Co-Produced by Djamel Badaoui Sony BMG)
*"Love at the Movies" - #24 (UK) October 2001 (Co-Produced by David Sandcastle Sony BMG)
*"The Collection" (April 2003)
*"You Belong to Me" - #21 (UK) February 2005
*"From Me To You" - Limited edition 4 track CD of Jane's own songs - available from the official website (September 2006)
*"Because You Loved Me" - 18 track, Best Of Collection - August 2007
*"Jane" - #7 (UK) [cite journal
title = The Official UK Albums Chart for the week ending 23 August 2008
journal = ChartsPlus
issue = 365
pages= 5-8
accessdate = 2008-08-20
publisher = IQ Ware Ltd
location = Milton Keynes] -August 2008

ingles

*"Cruise Into Christmas Medley" #10 (UK) December 1998 (Includes the songs 'Winter Wonderland' & 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town')

DVDs

*"Jane McDonald In Concert" (1999)
*"Jane McDonald Live in Las Vegas" (2001)
*"Being Jane" (Special DVD only available at her concerts or via her management team, filmed 2005)

She has now appeared on stage in concert with the 60's group the Searchers and it's rumoured the Searchers are appearing at her Wakefield show and the two acts are filming a live DVD together in time for release at Christmas!

Personal life

She married Henrik Brixen in 1999, and divorced him in 2001. She was also married previously, which did not last.

She is now in a relationship with Eddie Rothe who is drummer with The Searchers band -- they were sweethearts when Jane was about 17 years old and he was a drummer in Liquid Gold who sang Dance Yourself Dizzy and she worked in a Wakefield bar.

Controversy

On 6 July 2008, McDonald was accused of being a "male pub singer pretending to be a woman", by Alan Carr on the Sunday Night Project, co-hosted by David Hasselhoff, on the news that a male pub singer was slowly naturally turning into a woman. Carr stated that this was called "Jane McDonald Syndrome". ["Sunday Night Project (Alan Carr)]

Previously, in 2004, she had been slated by Louis Walsh, stating that Pop Idol winner Michelle McManus was a "larger version" of McDonald. [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/idol/a13295/louis-walsh-slates-idol-michelle.html Pop Idol - News - Louis Walsh slates 'Idol' Michelle - Digital Spy ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=5337 Jane's profile at itv.com] .
* [http://www.jane-mcdonald.com Official website] .
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jane+McDonald Jane McDonald] discography at Discogs.