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Transcribed from the supplied newspaper photograph for easier reading. Original reporting: Stephanie Bell, Sunday Life, 7 January 2024.
Gary Gamble’s multiple talents have seen him travel the world in many guises.
A best-selling country music star who has just launched his ninth album, he is also famous for his uncanny Daniel O’Donnell tribute act Daniel O’Double, which is still packing out venues worldwide after two decades.
Also a popular broadcaster, Gary has presented his own country music show on Sky TV and now enjoys the craic presenting a weekly podcast, entitled Pure and Utter, with his pal Ryan Lynch from Tyrone.
And as if all the above doesn’t keep him busy enough, he has now added writing and acting to his extensive repertoire.
This year his first adult comedy show, Sorry For Your Loss, has played to packed venues across Ireland and the UK.
But of his many achievements, the 40-year-old Donegal native, who now calls Tyrone home, says he has his eye on one prize: picking up a gong at the Northern Ireland Country Music Awards on January 29.
“I am really thrilled to be asked to perform at the awards and still haven’t made my mind up whether I am going on stage as myself or as Daniel O’Donnell. Maybe I will do both,” he says.
“This is my first time at the Northern Ireland Country Music Awards and what I love about them is that they are (voted for) by the public. It would be really lovely to win an award in appreciation of my hard work.”
Gary got into country music by accident aged 19.
He was training to be a pilot with Aer Rianta when his dad, singer Martin Gamble, who performed in a two-piece, asked him to stand in last minute for his partner who couldn’t perform.
“I had only done eight hours of flying but I realised that being on stage with dad was where I wanted to be. I still like flying and take the odd lesson. I could have been the singing pilot,” he jokes.
“I then started singing with my younger brother Shane in a two-piece for three years all over Ireland. It was great craic.”
He then moved to Manchester where he set up a Westlife tribute band, playing the role of band member Mark Feehily.
While there he became good friends with Alan Carr (inset), who was on the cusp of breaking into TV at the time.
He recalls: “I was living with a friend, David, who knew Alan and he would regularly crash at our flat. He took us everywhere with him, to all the comedy clubs and drag shows.
“It was before he was really famous. When he would have come to Ireland to do a show, he would have asked us to get a crowd together and come and support him.
“I remember he started presenting The Friday Night Project on Channel 4, and that year he came to Dublin for my birthday and I showed him around.
“Even though he is now really big on TV, he still keeps in touch.”
When Gary returned to Ireland, his career then took off in an unexpected direction when he won a Stars In Their Eyes competition in his local pub performing as Daniel O’Donnell.
He bears such an uncanny resemblance to the famous Donegal crooner that even some Daniel O’Donnell fans have been unable to tell the difference.
He recalls how it started: “I won £1,000 in the competition and I nearly dropped. Then I was asked to go on radio, and then do a party in a nursing home, and then a granny’s birthday — and it just took off.
“Daniel then invited me to one of his concerts. I walked out on one side of the stage and everyone thought I was him.
“He then came on from the other side and people didn’t know where to look.
“He had brought me on for a bit of craic. I wore a wig and Daniel pulled it off on stage and everyone laughed. He said: ‘You look more like me than I do.’
“He has been a great support and told me that as long as I was making people happy I should keep doing it.”
Gary has taken his tribute act, Daniel O’Double (right), all over the UK and as far away as Canada, the US and Spain.
He has also presented on radio in Ireland and worldwide on Highland Radio and hosted a weekly country music programme, called The Gary Gamble TV Show, for Sky TV’s The Spotlight.
In recent years, he has turned to writing and his first comedy show, Sorry For Your Loss, has been a huge hit across Ireland and the UK.
Gary explains: “We’ve done 32 shows in 22 venues this past year and they were all sold out.
“It’s an adult comedy show. I play two of three sisters. I’m writing another one at the moment. It’s good craic and I hope to go on tour with it in June.
“It has been a crazy year. I have also been in the studio recording my ninth album, Take A Gamble On Gary, which launched in December.
“I’m touring with Ireland The Show, which celebrates Irish dancing and music, and we will be taking (the show) back to Canada.
“It has been hectic. In September, I reached a point of exhaustion and had to take time off. It meant cancelling shows with Nathan Carter and Jimmy Buckley, but you have to listen to your body and mine needed the rest.
“This year is shaping up to be just as busy. I am enjoying singing, the comedy and just making people happy.”
Gary will be joining a stellar line-up of country stars on January 29 for the Northern Ireland Country Music Awards (NICMA) in Armagh City Hotel.
Now in its fourth year, the event is the biggest celebration of country music in Northern Ireland, putting the spotlight on both rising and established stars of the music scene.
The awards will be hosted by Malcolm McDowell, Downtown Radio’s Big T and Radio Ulster’s Hugo Duncan and voting is now open through NICMA’s Facebook page.
Tickets for the 2024 awards ceremony are also now on sale online at Eventbrite/Northern Ireland Country Music Awards 2024.