Jane McDonald

Jane McDonald
Born	4 April 1963 (1963-04-04) Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress, singer, media personality, broadcaster
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Richard - ???(1990-1997) (divorced) Henrik Brixen (1998–2002) (divorced)
Partner	Walter "Eddie" Rothe (2008–present)
Website
http://www.jane-mcdonald.com

Jane McDonald (born 4 April 1963) is a British singer, actress and media personality and broadcaster, who first became famous following her appearance on the BBC docusoap The Cruise. Known for her strong Yorkshire accent, she has since co-presented a number of daytime shows, including Loose Women which she presented from 2004, taking a break in 2011 to focus on her music. Jane loves' Wakefield.

Biography

Early life

McDonald's parents are Peter and Jean McDonald (née Ferguson). Her mother and grandmother ran a boarding house on Eastmoor Road in Wakefield, and her Scottish father was a miner who did extra work as a chimney sweep. She is a Christian spiritualist, as she announced on Loose Women. McDonald spent her early years listening to the radio, her favourite pastime and thus her inspiration. As a little girl her favourite place was sitting in the rainbow coloured spotlight cast through her front door's stained glass window. Despite reports to the contrary, she is not related to newreader Sir Trevor McDonald, despite the shared surname.

Music

McDonald toured many clubs in the north of England, with her father acting as her roadie. She provided all of her own equipment, which she had to replace after it was destroyed in a large bar-fight. McDonald's first position on a cruise ship was on the Black Prince, and following that, the Horizon. After her father's death, she returned to sea and began working on the Zenith. Later she was to work on the Century, where she met Henrik Brixen who was the Ships Plumber. Her time on the Century was not a happy one, due to pay delays, technical difficulties, and stressful working conditions. After this she took some time off with Henrik, but was eventually tempted back to sea as a headliner on the Century's sister-ship, the Galaxy. Shortly after accepting the position, McDonald was contacted by Chris Terrill of the BBC, who asked her to be the star of his docusoap, The Cruise. The Cruise was watched regularly by 14 million viewers, and after years of hard work, she became a celebrity overnight. Her wedding to Henrik Brixen in 1998 was televised by the BBC and watched by a large audience, although the couple have since divorced.

After signing a major-label recording contract, McDonald began to carve out a mainstream showbiz career, first as a guest presenter on BBC's National Lottery and subsequently with her debut album Jane McDonald, which spent three weeks at Number 1 in the UK Album Chart.

In 2000, McDonald released her autobiography Follow Your Dreams published by Harper Collins. In 2002, McDonald played the part of the Nurse in a run of Romeo and Juliet - The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's glittering West End. She has also performed in productions in Kirkby Lonsdale and Basingstoke.

In November 2006 she began a UK tour, which featured a number of special guests including the massed voices of Sing Live UK. The tour ended on 2 November 2006. In 2007, McDonald commissioned Yorkshire fashion designer Haute Couture dress maker Kaye Heeley of Angel Couture to help with the Jane McDonald Collection.

McDonald toured in 2008 beginning in Blackpool on 1 August of that year to showcase new songs from her Number 7 (UK album charts) album, Jane. This album was her first using her own record label.

On 9 May 2010, McDonald embarked on a 'one night only' performance at the world famous London Palladium, which was to be filmed for DVD. Among the public in the audience were Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page, Emmerdale's James Thornton, plus Loose Women 's Kate Thornton, Lynda Bellingham, Lesley Garrett and Andrea McLean. Also there on the night were Bananarama and three of the Four Poofs and a Piano from Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. McDonald's family were also there to support her including her mother Jean, and her fiancée Eddie Rothe. Rothe had been a member of the 60s group The Searchers from 1996–2010, he retired to spend time with her. He, also in the 70s, was a member of Liquid Gold and appeared Les Gray's band Mud.

McDonald released a cover of Liquid Gold's 1980 #2 hit, "Dance Yourself Dizzy", on iTunes on Sunday 22 August 2010 and it then became available from other sites such as Yahoo from 5 September 2010.

Her 2011 UK Tour began with a preview night at Potters Lesure Resort in Great Yarmouth on 3 April 2011. Official Opening Night for the 2011 Spring tour took place at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool and finished in Peterborough on 11 June. McDonald was due to tour Australia and New Zealand in the Summer of 2011, however due to her extensive tour of the UK and an hectic schedule, the Australian tour has been postponed until future notice. The UK tour then continued into the Autumn, beginning on 1 September in Milton Keynes and finished on 30 October at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton.

Television

As well as appearing on The Cruise, McDonald presented the television programme, Star for a Night, which helped launch the singer Joss Stone and also showed us the first glimpse of 2008's X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. She has also appeared on the reality shows, Have I Been Here Before and Drop the Celebrity. McDonald also appeared in the Wicked Women concert and sang "This Is the Moment" from the Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde. McDonald appeared on one episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

McDonald appeared on a celebrity special of Ready Steady Cook. She and her fellow chef won over the audience with their dish of 'half baked carp' with a cheese sauce, and claimed the cash prize. She donated all the money to Wakefield Hospice, a local charity of her home town.

Since 2004, McDonald has been a regular presenter on the ITV daytime television program Loose Women. appearing on the show three times a week. It was confirmed on 16 July 2010 that McDonald would depart Loose Women in the summer, taking at least a year's break to concentrate on her music career and to tour Australia and New Zealand. She left at the end of the series on 6 August 2010 and returned on 16 January 2012. She has also been a panelist on The Wright Stuff in both 2005 and 2006.

McDonald appeared in a documentary called Return to the Cruise, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of The Cruise finding out how much McDonald enjoyed her fame and success. This was shown over several nights of the week beginning 11 August 2008 on BBC Two. She was a guest on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 22 March 2008, with Christopher Biggins in Grab the Ads playing Tarzan and Jane. On 20 July 2008, she featured on The Sunday Night Project. She also appeared on the celebrity edition of Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? in September 2008 where she won £50,000 for the Wakefield Hospice.

Since 1 October 2010, McDonald has been a regular contributor to The Alan Titchmarsh Show.

Since 10 January 2011, McDonald has narrated all three series of the Channel 4 reality show Celebrity 5 Go to...

On 25 February 2011, McDonald made a return to Loose Women as a guest panelist as a one off appearance.

On 14 March 2011, McDonald reviewed the daily newspapers with Kelvin MacKenzie on ITVs This Morning.

On 5 July 2011, McDonald appeared as a competitor on ITV's 10 Mile Menu. The show challenged two teams to cook a three-course meal using only local produce from a ten mile radius. Each team was made up of a professional chef and a celebrity guest. McDonald's partner was renowned chef Jun Tanaka (chef). McDonald and Tanaka went on to win the programme by outcooking actress Terri Dwyer and professional chef Aldo Zilli.

On 9 August 2011, McDonald was a celebrity guest on the brand new ITV 1 show Lets Do Lunch with Gino and Mel A cooking show which involved huge participation from the audience, maybe the opportunity to cook along side Gino and the guest stars as well as sharing their cooking stories and dilemmas.

On 16 October 2011, McDonald telephoned into ITV's The Xtra Factor from a live concert in Bridlington to stick up for contestant Samantha Brookes after a cruise-ship slur to contestant Samantha Brookes by judge Gary Barlow

On 27 October 2011 a newspaper article evolving around McDonald was the "Subject Of Converstion" on that morning's episode of The Wright Stuff McDonald phoned in after several members of the public to express her opinion about the article.

On 25 November 2011 McDonald was inivted to perform at the David Foster and friends concert at The Mandalay Bay Events Center centre in Las Vegas.

On 14 December 2011 it was announced by McDonald, when she phoned into the studio, much to the surprise of co-host Sherrie Hewson that she will be returning to Loose Women as of 16 January 2012. She now appears on the show three times a week.

Radio

On 13 November 2011, McDonald co-hosted the Paul O’Grady Show on BBC Radio 2 for a live “Music Juke Box” as part of 2011's Children In Need charity event.

Discography

Albums

• July 1998 - Jane McDonald - Number 1 (UK) *Double platinum
• June 2000 - Inspiration - Number 6 (UK) (Co-produced by Ted Carfrae and Djamel Badaoui, Sony BMG)
• October 2001 - Love at the Movies - Number 24 (UK) (Co-Produced by David Sandcastle, Sony BMG)
• February 2005 - You Belong to Me - Number 21 (UK)
• August 2008 - Jane - Number 7 (UK)

Compilation and special albums

• April 2003 - The Collection
• September 2006 - From Me To You - limited edition four track EP
• August 2007 - Because You Loved Me - compilation album
• October 2010 - Live At The London Palladium (Live recording of the DVD) - Number 31 (UK)
• October 2010 - Just For You (four track CD available from concerts)

Singles

• "Cruise Into Christmas Medley" - Number 10 (UK) December 1998
• "And I Am Telling You (I'm Not Going)" 2003 (UK)
• "Dance Yourself Dizzy" August 2010 (UK)

DVDs

• Jane McDonald in Concert (1999)
• Jane McDonald Live in Las Vegas (2001)
• Being Jane (Special DVD only available at her concerts, The Jane McDonald Online Store, or via her management team, filmed 2005)
• The Very Best Of Loose Women (2008)
• Jane McDonald - Live At The London Palladium (18 October 2010)

Books

• Jane McDonald - Follow Your Dreams (Autobiography, 2000)

External links

• Official website
• Jane's fans forum
• Jane's profile at itv.com
• Discogography at Discogs