Michael Valentine 'Val' Doonican[1] (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed vocal style.

The Val Doonican Show, his eponymous variety programme, featured his singing and a selection of guests, and it had a long and successful run on BBC Television from 1965 to 1986.

Doonican won the Variety Club of Great Britain's BBC-TV Personality of the Year award three times.

[2] When his father died in 1941, the teenage Doonican had to leave De La Salle College Waterford to get factory jobs fabricating steel and making orange and grapefruit boxes.

[4] Doonican moved to England in 1951 and joined the Four Ramblers who, in addition to touring the variety stages, were featured on the BBC radio serial the Riders of the Range.

[5] In the radio serial, Doonican played one of a number of bunk-house boys who were heard crooning cowboy songs in the gaps between the action.

The serial ended in September 1953, and the Ramblers continued to tour the variety theatres, being billed as Ireland's Ambassadors of Song.

Soon after his solo career started, he picked up his own radio show in the afternoons on the BBC Light Programme in 1961 called Your Date with Val.

[4] The shows featured his relaxed crooner style, sitting in a rocking chair wearing cardigans or jumpers,[2] sometimes performing comedic Irish songs including "Paddy McGinty's Goat", "Delaney's Donkey" and "O'Rafferty's Motor Car", as well as easy listening and country material on which he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar.

[2] Regular guests included Bernard Cribbins, Bob Todd, the Norman Maen Dancers, the Mike Sammes Singers, and the Kenny Woodman Orchestra.

[15] In the United States, The Val Doonican Show aired on ABC on Saturday evenings at 8:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. Central) from 5 June to 14 August 1971.

[citation needed] He wrote two volumes of autobiography, The Special Years (1980) and Walking Tall (1985) Doonican met his wife, Lynette Rae, when she and the Ramblers supported Anthony Newley on tour.