Alan Doyle
Alan Doyle | |
---|---|
![]() Alan Doyle 2017 at the blacksheep festival, Germany | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Alan Thomas Doyle |
Born | Petty Harbour, Newfoundland | May 17, 1969
Genres | Folk rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, producer, songwriter, actor |
Instruments | Singing, acoustic guitar, bouzouki, electric guitar |
Years active | 1993–present |
Associated acts | Russell Crowe, Great Big Sea, Dean Brody |
Website | alandoyle.ca, www.greatbigsea.com |
Alan Thomas Doyle CM (born May 17, 1969)[1] is a Canadian musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea.
Life and career[edit]
Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland,[2] in a Roman Catholic family.[3] He attended Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. It is also there that he met Séan McCann, Bob Hallett and Darrell Power with whom he formed Great Big Sea. He primarily plays electric and acoustic guitars, and the bouzouki for live performances, but he has been known to play mandolin and banjo.
Before Great Big Sea, Doyle played in a duo with John Brenton called Staggering Home. As a teen he played in his uncle's band, the New Sandells.
Doyle has also been involved with a handful of stage, television and film productions. As a child, he appeared as an extra in the movie A Whale for the Killing, based on Farley Mowat's book of the same name, which was filmed in his hometown. He has also hosted regional arts awards shows in Atlantic Canada, appeared as a presenter on the Juno Awards and done a turn onstage in his hometown's "24-Hour Musical" performance of Grease. In 2005, he composed music for the CBC comedy Hatching, Matching and Dispatching, which stars Mary Walsh. In 2006, he worked on scoring the film Young Triffie's Been Made Away With, directed by Walsh. Doyle has also produced an album for his sister, Michelle Doyle.
Doyle has been linked to Russell Crowe and his bands 30 Odd Foot of Grunts and The Ordinary Fear of God, having produced and co-written several songs on Crowe's album, My Hand, My Heart, and played several shows with Crowe. In 2011, they released The Crowe/Doyle Songbook Vol.III with 9 songs in both acoustic demo and finished format, for 18 tracks total. This friendship also led to Doyle's casting as Allan A'Dayle alongside Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Durand, and Scott Grimes in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, released May 14, 2010.[4] He played Dingy in the film Winter's Tale, also with Crowe and Durand, as well as Will Smith and Colin Farrell.
He collaborated with Law & Order music composer Mike Post and wrote and performed a song named "Middle of Nowhere", written for the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Broad Channel".[5]
Doyle has guest starred on three episodes of the CBC Television series Republic of Doyle as the character Wolf Redmond. Season 2, episode 2 introduced him as an inmate sent to prison on charges of B&Es and a few robberies. Doyle guest starred with Russell Crowe, Kevin Durand, and Scott Grimes on the first show of Republic of Doyle 's third season after the four had costarred on Robin Hood. His third appearance – the second with Grimes – was on season 4, episode 6. He appeared in an episode of Murdoch Mysteries' tenth season[6]
In 2012, Doyle released his first solo album, Boy on Bridge. The title is a nod to Doyle's credit as the "boy on bridge" in the movie A Whale for the Killing, when he was a young boy. The first single from the album is "I've Seen a Little" and the album features collaborations with Canadian musicians Hawksley Workman, Jim Cuddy, Ron Hynes, and actor-musician Russell Crowe, among others. The video for the second single, "Testify", was nominated for a 2012 Juno. The creation of the album was captured by a film crew, resulting in a documentary also named Boy on Bridge[7] directed by Joel Stewart and John Vatcher.
Doyle, with Great Big Sea, was featured on Canadian country artist, Dean Brody's 2012 album titled Dirt, singing on the track "It's Friday".
In 2014, Doyle released a book entitled Where I Belong, about his youth growing up in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Doyle's second solo album, entitled So Let's Go, was released January 20, 2015.[8][9]
In 2017, he guest stars in a Murdoch Mysteries episode, "A Murdog Mystery".
Doyle's third solo album A Week at the Warehouse, was released on October 13, 2017. His second book titled A Newfoundlander in Canada: Always Going Somewhere, Always Coming Home, was released on October 17.
Discography[edit]
Albums[edit]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CAN [10] |
US Heat [11] |
US Folk [12] | |||
Boy on Bridge |
|
11 | 37 | 20 | |
So Let's Go[8] |
|
13 | — | — | |
A Week at the Warehouse |
|
26 | — | — | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Extended plays[edit]
Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Sales |
---|---|---|---|
CAN [13] | |||
Rough Side Out |
|
2 |
|
Singles[edit]
Year | Single | Peak chart positions |
Album |
---|---|---|---|
CAN Country [16] | |||
2012 | "I've Seen a Little" | — | Boy on Bridge |
"Testify" | — | ||
2014 | "So Let's Go"[9] | — | So Let's Go[8] |
2015 | "The Night Loves Us" | — | |
2017 | "Summer Summer Night" | — | A Week at the Warehouse |
"Bully Boys" | — | ||
2019 | "We Don't Wanna Go Home" (featuring Dean Brody) |
43 | Rough Side Out |
2020 | "What the Whisky Won't Do" (featuring Jess Moskaluke) |
— |
Guest singles[edit]
Year | Single | Artist | Peak positions | Album |
---|---|---|---|---|
CAN Country [17] | ||||
2017 | "Soggy Bottom Summer" | Dean Brody | 18 | Beautiful Freakshow |
Music videos[edit]
Year | Video | Director |
---|---|---|
2012 | "I've Seen a Little"[18] | Margaret Malandruccolo |
"Testify" | ||
2013 | "My Day" | Shehab Illyas |
2015 | "So Let's Go" | Margaret Malandruccolo |
"The Night Loves Us" | Shehab Illyas | |
"1,2,3,4" (with Ed Robertson)[19] | Sean Smith/Joel Stewart | |
2017 | "Summer Summer Night" | |
2018 | "Beautiful To Me" | Steph Young |
Honours[edit]
- He was awarded the Canadian Version of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.[20]
- He was made a Member of the Order of Canada (CM) on May 10, 2018.[21]
References[edit]
- ^ Doyle, Alan [@alanthomasdoyle] (October 20, 2018). "Me and @MaryBrowns. Both born in 1969" (Tweet). Retrieved November 18, 2018 – via Twitter.
- ^ Newman, Kevin (November 7, 2014). "Kevin Newman tours Alan Doyle's hometown". CTV. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ Krett, Kim (October 1999). "Great Big Sea blends 'the Rock' music with pop". The Carillon. Vol. 42, no. 7. University of Regina. Archived from the original on June 15, 2009. Retrieved March 12, 2007.
- ^ http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/03/06/doyle-scott.html Archived March 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" episode, "Broad Channel" (9.3, originally aired April 13, 2010)
- ^ https://twitter.com/alanthomasdoyle[bare URL]
- ^ "Boy on Bridge (2013)". IMDb. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c "So Let's Go". Alandoyle.ca. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Alan Doyle - So Let's Go". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
- ^ "Alan Doyle Chart History – Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
- ^ "Alan Doyle Chart History – Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
- ^ "Alan Doyle Chart History – Folk Albums". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2012.
- ^ "Changes Becomes Justin Bieber's Eighth No. 1 Album". FYIMusicNews. February 24, 2020. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
- ^ "Rough Side Out by Alan Doyle". Apple Music. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
- ^ Bjorke, Matt (February 25, 2020). "Top 10 Country Albums Chart in Pure Sales: February 24, 2020". Roughstock. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
- ^ "Billboard Canada Country National Airplay - Week of February 1, 2020". Nielsen BDS Radio. The Nielsen Company. Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
- ^ "Dean Brody feat. Alan Doyle - Canada Country". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
- ^ "I've Seen a Little". Alandoyle.ca. Retrieved June 18, 2012.
- ^ "1,2,3,4 – Alan Doyle". Vevo. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
- ^ "Alan Doyle's Diamond Jubilee Medal Citation". Governor General of Canada. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
- ^ "Alan Doyle's Order of Canada Citation". Governor General of Canada. Retrieved March 3, 2022.
External links[edit]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alan Doyle. |
- 1969 births
- Living people
- 20th-century Canadian male singers
- 21st-century Canadian male singers
- Canadian folk rock musicians
- Canadian folk singers
- Canadian male guitarists
- Canadian male singers
- Canadian rock guitarists
- Canadian rock singers
- Canadian songwriters
- Great Big Sea members
- Male actors from Newfoundland and Labrador
- Members of the Order of Canada
- Musicians from Newfoundland and Labrador
- People from Newfoundland (island)