MANY artists over the years have recorded the classic Irish ballad, Danny Boy.

I first sang the song publicly, live and acapella on Mike Sweeney’s BBC Radio Manchester show and it was really well received. Then when I recorded it in the studio, Irish TV and The Messenger came along to film and cover the story of it. That really helped spread the word about my version, which has a unique Sinatra-esque style to it, paying respect to my love of Rat Pack swing.

The song did really well and I was very proud when the Irish television network RTE featured it, gaining it even more exposure across Ireland. Following that, several Irish newspapers ran the story of my Danny Boy.

My father was from Newry in County Down, Northern Ireland, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when Newry City Football Club, who have just been promoted to the Irish Premiership, adopted the song as their club anthem.

Then former cruiser-weight world boxing champion and current bare-knuckle boxing champion Bobby ‘The Celtic Warrior’ Gunn heard about my take on the song and used it as his ring walk music.

He said the song had special meaning to him and he took comfort and inspiration from it, so I was thrilled to have my song used for that purpose.

I was also very honoured when it was used at the commemoration ceremonies for the great famine in Ireland and Canada.

‘Devlin’s Danny Boy’ as it was nicknamed, was sent to the Irish Film Board for inclusion in films being made over there. It started getting radio play not just in the UK and Ireland but in Denmark, Canada, USA, Russia and even Japan!

I was amazed to get notified of how well the song was doing all across the globe and the downloads kept coming.

So, I decided that I could use this song, along with my other single, to do some good locally and set it up for download, with the funds going to the victims’ families of those who lost their lives at the Manchester Arena last year.

I have also used the song to raise funds for the children’s hospital and community groups by donating sales from it. It always astounds me how one single song can do so much good if put to use properly.

I’m very proud of my Danny Boy and the good it has done, be it as a reminder in Ireland to those paying respects to lost loved ones in the Great Famine, inspiring a sportsman in competition or raising funds for those in need. It may be a melancholy and emotional ballad but it has brought a lot of people a lot of happiness and I couldn’t be prouder of it.

You can hear my version of Danny Boy at www.waynedevlin.com

To finish, isn’t it typical! Not only has my Val broken her foot so now she’s laid up unable to do anything, but now those fairies who sneak in when I’m not looking and cook my meals and clean everywhere have also gone missing!

Just my rotten luck!