Successful singer Donna remains true to her roots

Donna Taggart is a massively popular singer, best known for her version of the song, Jealous of the Angels, which has reached 125 million people on Facebook and millions more on YouTube, since it went viral in 2016.  Celtic Lady Volume II, the album on which it featured, reached the top of the US world music album charts as a result, while the single went to number one in the iTunes USA Easy Listening Chart and in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK.

Despite that success, Tyrone-born Donna has kept her feet firmly on the ground – and when she answers the phone to the Tribune, that ground is in front of her kitchen sink.

Her two-year-old son Matthew, is safely ensconced there, playing with potatoes and she’s keeping an eye on him, while Grace, aged four, is watching a DVD of The Lion King. These contingency arrangements are required as their babysitter is ill, she explains as she discusses how her life has changed since the extraordinary success of Jealous of the Angels. Just back from America, Donna is embarking on an Irish tour which will see her return to the Town Hall Theatre on Tuesday, March 6.

Life at home is still relatively unchanged, she says, as she excuses the odd interruption from Grace during our call. But what is new are the thousands of emails and messages she receives from people who want to share their stories and tell her how Jealous of the Angels, written by US singer/songwriter Jenn Bostic following her father’s tragic death, has helped them through hard times.  In the first week, when Donna’s version of the song clocked up 21 million online hits, she received 10,000 emails.

“It was a bit of a shock from going to be almost unknown to an overnight sensation,” she says.

With that amount of correspondence, it’s no wonder Donna describes her career as “like a vocation in many ways”. She’s not saying that in a po-faced way, rather she’s acknowledging her good fortune and the fact that her music can help others.

“I never take it for granted and I thank God every day.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.