Roly went from a singing artist to artist on canvas

THE singing artist from India, Roly Daniels, had Ireland’s second biggest selling song of the ‘70s with Hello Darling.

Roly is now in semi-retirement, an artist on canvas as he paints beautiful scenery pictures of his adopted country in acrylics.

His biggest hit spent a staggering three months in the Irish charts in 1972 reaching number two. The only song that kept it off the top spot was The Men Behind the Wire, an anthem then during the troubles in Northern Ireland.

But apart from Hello Darling, Roly had over a dozen other chart hits including Sunny Tennessee, The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, Funny Face, My Wild Mountain Rose, Mr Jones and many more.

Roly and his Donegal wife Sarah live in a beautiful setting in the lush countryside near Dublin Airport and their home is adorned by many of his paintings. But, while his paintings have featured in some exhibitions, it’s a hobby for him rather than a career change!

His love for the art of singing and the art of painting goes back to his years at school in India.

“I always liked painting and I can remember doing so when I was at school at 10 or 12 years of age with a little ‘Reeves’ box of watercolour paints and one small brush. I always loved horses and from a young age I would sit and draw horses,” said the man who won at Cheltenham with his horse Hazy Dawn in 1982.

The current issue of Ireland’s Own looks at Roly’s career as a singing artist and now an artist on canvas. He is the magazine’s cover artist in a six-page feature about his life and times.