Don Mescall - The Story Goes...
August 2006

As the tenth child in an Irish family of eleven in the late Sixties, Irish singer/songwriter Don Mescall’s family home in Lisnagry, Co. Limerick was void of the traditional folk music of the time, instead filled with the sounds from his many older siblings’ record collections: Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Stirred by a deeply felt connection to that music, Mescall started playing guitar in his late teens and earned his stripes as a performer around the infamous pubs of Ireland, playing six or seven nights a week. 

In 1991, stepping his career up a gear, Mescall moved to the South of England where he continued to develop and hone his songwriting skills whilst working as a gigging musician around London.  During this time he opened for many of the bigger artists who came to play in the city.  One of his first opening slots for a renowned Irish artist, Frances Black, resulted in her going on to record nine of Mescall’s songs.

 In February 1995, his growing reputation and a chance phone call led to his opening for Richie Havens at the renowned Mean Fiddler in London.  As Mescall warmed up for his performance, Havens heard him singing Paradise, a new song he had just written and was deeply moved.  As they say, the rest is history and Havens recorded Paradise on his 2002 Album “Wishing Well”.  The song became one of Richie’s standards and a firm friendship has since developed between the two men, with Don often being invited to appear in concert as Havens’ special guest. 

 Having gained such a stamp of professional credibility, Mescall secured his first publishing deal in 1998 and was subsequently introduced to the art of ‘co-writing’.  He has since gone on to join forces with world-famous songwriters including Graham Lyle (whose hit songs include What’s Love Got To Do With It for Tina Turner), Randy Goodrum (who wrote, amongst others, the US No.1 hit and Grammy Award Winning Song, You Needed Me), Steve Robson (These Days, What Hurts The Most), Scott English (Mandy, Pretty Flamingo), Greg Sutton (Stop with Sam Brown) and Pam Sheyne (the massive Christina Aguilera hit, Genie In A Bottle). 

 As a songwriter, Mescall currently continues to work alone and also to co-write, regularly basing himself in the songwriting heartland of Nashville, Tennessee.  He now works with some of the most respected creative minds in the industry, including Grammy award winner LeAnn Rimes, and Craig Wiseman, who can claim an incredible thirteen No1 hits and 40 million albums sold.  As well as Richie Havens and Frances Black, Mescall’s songs have been recorded by artists such as Neal McCoy, Lulu, Brian Kennedy and Eleanor Shanley etc.

 In December 2005, Mescall signed a record deal with Curb Records in the UK and his much awaited debut album, Innocent Run, was released in February 2006.  The first single, You Don’t Love Me, and the second track to be released, Left in L.A., received massive radio airplay in his native Ireland. 

 Earlier this year, Mescall’s status in Ireland earned him “Best Pop Artist” in the Irish World Awards, followed by the opportunity to write an entry for Ireland’s Eurovision performance, to be delivered by Brian Kennedy in Athens.  Out of 1200 entries, Mescall’s song, “All Over The World”, was voted in second place to Kennedy’s own composition.

 Moving right up to date, projects in mid-2006 include co-writing with fellow Irishman and former Westlife member Brian McFadden on a track for his new album.  Mescall has also co-written "All Over Again" with Randy Goodrum which was taken to a highly respectable No.6 in the UK singles chart as a duet between Ronan Keating and the beautiful voice of English singer Kate Rusby. 

 Following its UK success, the song is to be released on a much larger scale by Keating, partnered with local female vocalists in several countries across the world.  As testimony to the cross-cultural accessibility of Mescall’s writing, Keating was recently invited to perform the song at the prestigious opening ceremony of the European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, teamed with Swedish singer Jessica Andersson.  TV coverage of their outstanding performance brought Mescall’s music to an audience of millions across Europe.

 As a live performer in his own right, Mescall has become known for connecting with audiences at a profound level through his intense and intimately personal lyrics.  By reaching back with honesty into such harsh personal tragedies as the loss of his father as a young boy, and a broken marriage in recent years, Mescall’s songs range from story-telling vehicles of humanity at its most fragile to uplifting anthems of hope and spirituality. 

 Despite his ongoing growth as an artist, all the historical references remain strong in Mescall’s sound and soul – his undeniably Irish narrative, the influence of the classic song-writers of his youth, and echoes of his long-standing bond with the guru that is Richie Havens.  Mescall is clearly an individual who absorbs the complexities of life, feels its effects deeply and reflects that back with grace to touch an audience often in ways that they can’t readily comprehend.