[3] Donnelly was born and raised in Vancouver and North Delta, playing ice hockey from the age of 12.

[4] After earning a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia,[5] he began singing national anthems for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League while working for a Scranton, Pennsylvania parish.

[4] He made a cameo appearance in the TV show Psych, playing an opera singer in the season four premiere episode "Extradition: British Columbia", and then another cameo appearance as a singer in the final episode "Apotheosis" of the science fiction series Caprica.

[6][2][7][8] On October 3 2014, Donnelly tripped over a carpet at Centre ice while performing the national anthem at a VEES game.

On December 4, 2020, the Vancouver Canucks cut ties with Donnelly, via Twitter, after it came out that he planned on singing at an anti-mask rally.