The O’Donnells Release New Single: The Edge of Glory:
Australian family Bluegrass band, The O’Donnells, have announced the release a full studio recording of The Edge of Glory.
The family band won the hearts of Australia when they appeared on Channel 7’s The Voice Generations in Feb 2022. They performed their own version of Lady Gaga’s The Edge of Glory which landed them a spot on Keith Urban’s team.
The family enjoys taking modern pop songs and O’Donnellising them to come up with their own Bluegrass versions. This new release was one of their favourites that they’d converted to their own style. The TV producers liked it as well and this became their first audition song.
Their performance video with the 90 second version of The Edge of Glory continues to be a social media hit with over 3 million plus views on YouTube.
About The O’Donnells:
Since appearing on The Voice, they’ve been wanting to release a full version of the song. It’s now come to fruition along with a video production of the family playing at their home in Logan City, Queensland.
The O’Donnels 2022
The family started back in Cairns, when John and Wendy married in 1987. They were founding members of the Cairns band, the Snake Gully Ensemble, in which they played gigs around Far North Qld.
The O’Donnells moved to Brisbane in 1991 and began playing with the Sunshine Mountain Bluegrass Band. Booked to play a gig in Toowoomba one night in the late 90’s, the rest of the band couldn’t make it. The three kids were invited to jump up on stage and join John and Wendy. The youngest, Katelyn, was 3 years old at the time. They played the gig and stayed.
Fast forward to 2009 and in an effort to keep the busy family together, they started playing in country music festivals. At the end of 2009, the band won the Open Group section of the Qld Country Music Festivals Champion of Champions event.
They continued playing regular gigs including the Redlands Bluegrass Festivals, the Urban Country Music Festival, Gympie Muster, Dorrigo Folk & Bluegrass Festival and MountainGrass (Vic).
The O’Donnells 2010
In Dec 2010, they released a self-titled album, featuring a range of original and classic bluegrass, gospel and country tracks. In 2011, they received a finalist nomination as 2011 Group or Duo Of The Year in the Queensland Country Music Awards for Recording Artists.
As time went on, the kids grew up, left home and started their own families. The band slowed down but continued to play several gigs a year until mid 2020 when Covid cancelled all concerts.
In 2021, Jacqui organised a concert while the family were in Caloundra. We had planned to have one of the grandchildren (John’s son – 8 year old Johnny) join in a few songs with the family band. As he came up on stage, his little sister, Amy (3 years old) jumped up as well. She knew all the words and joined in like a pro.
In 2022, the family was invited to audition for a new TV show, The Voice Generations. This was an exciting adventure for the family and has enabled them to share their music with a global audience.
The family continues to get together regularly and will play as a band when opportunities arise. There are now 3 generations of family in the band: John and Wendy O’Donnell, followed by the next generation: John Jnr, Jacqui and Katelyn, and joined by three grandchildren: Johnny (11) Amy (6) and newest member, Abigail (Jacqui’s 4 year old daughter). The family resides in Logan City, South East Queensland, Australia.
Keep Up With The O’Donnells:
