Declan Galbraith

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Declan Galbraith at a autograph hour - May 11, 2007

Declan John Galbraith (born 19 December 1991, Hoo St Werburgh, Kent) is an English singer. He is best known for his 2002 hit single, "Tell Me Why", which peaked at #29 in the UK Singles Chart.[1]

Early influence

When Galbraith was a young boy, his grandfather, who played several musical instruments in a band, took Galbraith to fleadhs (concerts). The mix of Scottish and Irish musical traditions.[2]

Musical career

Galbraith insisted on performing spontaneously at the annual Rochester Dickens Festival, a two-day extravaganza where people were invited to dress up in Victorian costumes to celebrate the life and times of the famous author Charles Dickens and his links with their town. Galbraith, dressed up as a chimney sweep, started singing. Soon after this he started to enter local talent contests and within a year he had won 15 titles and more than £1,000.

As a result of his success in the talent shows, the major recording companies soon heard about Galbraith and he was signed to his first recording contract in England. His first recording was "Walking in the Air", which was released on a special Christmas Hits album, also featuring songs by Westlife, Elton John and Elvis Presley. Among some of his most memorable performances have been the Queen's Jubilee at St Paul's Cathedral, when he sang "Amazing Grace" accompanied by the St Paul's Choir and a performance in front of more than 22,000 people at an Elton John] concert. His first self-titled album, Declan Declan, with Irish traditional songs as well as specially written material became a big success and charted in the U.K. and Ireland. Within the year of release, it had soon sold 200,000 copies in Germany.

Another big success came during a nationwide tour of Young Voices concerts when breaking the Guinness World Record. It was at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast in December 2002 when he sang live with some 10,000 children and was also simultaneously linked, by radio and satellite, with more than 80,000 children in their schools all over the UK, who accompanied him in achieving the world’s largest choral sing. His talent and reputation came to the attention of media mogul Haim Saban who signed Galbraith to his music group's new record label, Starwatch, and selected Germany as the first site to launch their first album. Galbraith parted company with Starwatch in February 2010 and is reportedly battling major contractual issues that prevent any releases for the time being.

He joined, as one of the lead singers, Route 66 Theatre Tour in 2010. It was a successful tour in Great Britain for few months. He was also singing "We Are The World" in Beijing - Olympic Dream Ceremony on 27 July 2012 with Dou Dou - a Chinese teen singer. Declan is back on stage. He started 2014 playing gigs in Berlin.

Declan will now spend 2014 recording and performing his new music and for much of the year plans to tour throughout Europe in intimate venues with his first big gig of the year being at the Privat Club in Berlin on 28.06.14. Declan will perform with full band and will play a set of all new songs that he's written.

Fame

Galbraith has garnered fame outside the British Isles, especially in China, where his songs were chosen as part of the Chinese education curriculum for learning English. His songs are used to help Chinese children learn English as his songs are easy to remember and suitable for children. In May 2008, Galbraith undertook a successful two cities tour in China, of Beijing and Shenzhen.[2]

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other popular songs

Covers

References

  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Ltd. p. 146. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Official Declan Galbraith website

External links