Dana Rosemary Scallon was born Rosemary Brown on August 30, 1951 to a devout Catholic family in Derry, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Along with brother Gerry and sister Susan, she grew up during “The Troubles,” that is during the more than 30 years of deadly bombing attacks, gunfights, and strife between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Up the street from the Brown family also lived the family of actress Roma Downey, who has also publicly recalled the terror of the times.
Rosemary attended a parish school and learned music from a dear
… More friend and religious sister working at the school. Soon she was entering local and regional song competitions with some success. In 1969, Rosemary was asked to represent all of Ireland (the Republic and the North) in the prestigious Eurovision Song Competition with the tune “Look Around.”
Because she felt her given name "Rosemary Brown" was too long to use professionally, this performer chose to use the name "Dana" -- an old Gaelic word meaning "bold" or "mischievous." Later she learned that there was another Dana in history who was queen of an ancient Irish tribe that had been dedicated to music, poetry, and dance. So, being true to her new name, Dana sang her heart out at the 1969 Song Competition. She came in second place and returned to Ireland.
Rosemary had entered Thornhill College and was studying to become an English teacher, but in 1970, she was again asked to represent Ireland by singing the "bubblegum" jazz tune “All Kinds of Everything” in the Eurovision competition to be held in Amsterdam that year. This time she won the competition beating out Julio Iglesias who represented Spain that year. Upon returning to Derry, Dana, her mother, and her grandmother (who had acoompanied her to Amsterdam), were met at the airport by 5000 new adoring fans. When all of Ireland learned of her Eurovision win -- the first for Ireland, ever -- Irish army leaders called a cease-fire in the country. A state of celebration began with peace and harmony existing for days.
Dana had become an overnight singing sensation. The commotion now surrounding her prevented her from returning to college. “All Kinds of Everything” became a number one hit in countries all over Europe. Dana’s success was followed by other hits including “Fairytale.” She had become such a familiar personality on TV, that one British magazine voted her “The Most Popular Girl on Television.” She even traveled to the United States to appear on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.
In 1971, she did her first full-length motion picture performing the role of ‘Sheila’ in the children’s film “Flight of the Doves” starring Jack Wild of “Oliver!” and “H.R. Pufnstuff” fame. Dana also sang the tune "The Far Off
Place" in both Gaelic and English in the film.
In 1978, Dana married Damien Scallon becoming Rosemary Scallon. Dana and Damien visited Hollywood, but decided not to move there, in spite of Dana's growing popularity, because they did not want to raise their children in that environment.
The couple started to write songs, Christian tunes, together. When Pope John Paul II visited the Shrine to Our Lady of Knock (County Galway, Ireland), Dana and Damien were moved to write “Totus Tuus” in tribute to the pontiff’s motto. Another song, “Little Baby Yet Unknown” was written as a lullaby for her beloved unborn daughter when Dana was threatened with a miscarriage. The baby survived and eventually the Scallons were blessed with a total of four children -- two boys and two girls.
In the 1980’s, Dana started producing more Christian music and recordings. Husband Damien would co-write songs with Dana while brother Gerry produced a number of songs. In the 1990’s, she was invited to appear on Mother Angelica’s television program on EWTN. Dana was so popular that she was invited to host a permanent TV series. So she and Damien moved to Birmingham with their children. While Dana hosted the program “Say Yes” for five years, Damien worked for the network directing programs for pilgrims visiting the fledgling network.
Dana grew in popularity amongst Catholic Americans singing at concerts and conferences. She sang in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October of 1993 and in Albuquerque, New Mexico in August of 1996. She sang at two World Youth Days with Pope John Paul II presiding. Her tune “We Are One Body” became the theme of one of those events.
During 1997, while starting a new EWTN TV program ("We Are One Body"), Dana felt called to run for the Irish Presidency. Though she had only lived in the Republic for a few weeks in her life, she wanted the Irish people to have a choice in an election since seven years earlier President Mary Robinson had basically appointed her successor, President Mary McAleese, without competition or public dialogue on the matter.
Whereas this was a legal endeavor, she started to use her married name "Rosemary Scallon" publicly. Because most of the voting public knew her just as "Dana," though, she simply tacked that name on in the beginning of her full name and thus became known as "Dana Rosemary Scallon."
Mrs. Scallon came in a respectable third place in the 1997 presidential election. Eventually, she was elected to the position of Member of the European Parliament from Connacht-Ulster (for the new European Economic Union or EU). Once again, Dana was representing Ireland to Europe. She was persistently pro-life in all of her votes, speeches, and dealings with the EU. She also staunchly defended the pro-life Irish Constitution against detractors in the EU Parliament. Eventually she was dubbed “Ireland’s Pro-Life Heroine.” A snippet from one of her many speeches clearly showcases this position: “As a matter of conscience and of my own integrity, my position must remain the same as it has always been - that I uphold the dignity of every human being from conception to natural death.”
In 2002, Mrs. Scallon ran for the position of Teachtaí Dála (TD) from Galway West to represent that area in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. She did not win that campaign.
A highlight of 2004, was when Mrs. Scallon was given the St. Benedetto award by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, for her work to advance laws protecting the unnorn and the sacredness of all life. She eventually lost MEP re-election attempts, although she did better than opinion polls suggested whe would. Mrs. Scallon next tried to run for the Irish presidency again in 2004, but was unable to garner the required backing of 20 members of the Dáil/Seanad Éireann or that of 4 administrative county governments. At one point, the government in power was accused of forcing local representatives to not give their support to opposition candidates. Mrs. Scallon even asked the president in office , Mary McAleese, to step down from office to force an election; however, that never happened and Mrs. McAleese assumed leadership over the Irish people without any dialogue, opposition, or elections thanking everyone (including her hand picked Prime Minister) for their support.
As a private citizen, Dana started to appear on entertainment television again in Ireland. These included a weight-loss challenge on RTE’s “The Afternoon Show” as she prepared for her eldest daughter’s wedding. She also made a guest appearance on a cooking show, "The Restaurant," also the RTE Network.
Dana re-entered the political fray, somewhat, as a private citizen in 2005, when she vocally supported efforts to get the Irish government to close all businesses as a moment of mourning on the day of Pope John Paul II's funeral in Rome. Although the Mary McAleese government had already called for a week of official mourning without any consequence, numerous Irishmen had booked flights to Rome to attend the funeral so many businesses had reduced work forces that day anyway.
Dana placed second in the 2006 celebrity challenge series “Celebrity Jigs ‘n’ Reels.” In this series, Irish celebrities were paired with professional Irish step dancers. The couple had to learn a new dance (set to modern music) each week for a live TV presentation. Viewers then voted for their favorites forcing the dancers who received the lowest weekly scores to leave the competition. Perhaps if Dana’s partner had not injured himself in rehearsals for the finals, meaning that Dana had to perform with a brand new, substitute, dance partner on the live finals broadcast, she might have won the competition for her preferred charity: Irish Hospice.
In 2006, Dana and Damien set up their own production company – DS Music – selling new and re-mixed versions of Dana’s music. Much to the delight of her fans, Dana also started to appear and sing at concerts and conferences in the US and the rest of the world. In October of that year Dana participated in the Children’s Worldwide Holy Hour at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
2007 opened with Dana returning to perform in her hometown of Derry the weekend of Jan 6-7 for the first time in ten years. She sang at the the Millenium Forum Theatre and Conference Center in Derry as part of the Do Ye Come Here Often concert series. When performing as part of that series in Belfast, Dana received a standing ovation. In an interview with Ulster TV about the upcoming concert, Dana commented "I hope nobody in Derry has forgotten me after 10 years without a song." They didn't. 
