Jane McDonald (born 4 April 1963) is a British singer, actress and media personality, who first became famous following her appearance on the BBC docusoap The Cruise. Known for her strong Yorkshire accent, she has since co-presented a number of daytime shows, including Loose Women which she presented from 2004-2010.
McDonald's parents are Peter and Jean. Her mother and grandmother ran a boarding house on Eastmoor Road in Wakefield, and her Scottish father was a miner who did extra work as a chimney sweep. She is a Christian Spiritualist, as she announced on Loose Women. McDonald spent her early years listening to the radio, her favourite pastime. As a little girl her favourite place was sitting in the rainbow coloured spotlight cast through her front door's stained glass window.
Music
McDonald toured many clubs in the north of England, with her father acting as her roadie. She provided all of her own equipment, which she had to replace after it was destroyed in a large bar-fight. McDonald's first position on a cruise ship was on the Black Prince, and following that, the Horizon. After her father's death, she returned to sea and began working on the Zenith. Later she was to work on the Century, where she met Henrik Brixen. Her time on the Century was not a happy one, due to pay delays, technical difficulties, and stressful working conditions. After this she took some time off with Henrik, but was eventually tempted back to sea as a headliner on the Century's sister-ship, the Galaxy. Shortly after accepting the position, McDonald was contacted by Chris Terrill of the BBC, who asked her to be the star of his docusoap, The Cruise. The Cruise was watched regularly by 14 million viewers, and after years of hard work, she became a celebrity overnight. Her wedding to Henrik Brixen in 1998 was televised by the BBC and watched by a large audience, although the couple have since divorced.
After signing a major-label recording contract, McDonald began to carve out a mainstream Showbiz career, first as a guest presenter on BBC's National Lottery and subsequently with her debut album Jane McDonald, which spent three weeks at Number 1 in the UK Album Chart.
In 2000, McDonald released her autobiography Follow Your Dreams published by Harper Collins. In 2002, McDonald played the part of the Nurse in a run of Romeo and Juliet - The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's glittering West End. She has also performed in productions in Kirkby Lonsdale and Basingstoke.
In November 2006 she began a UK tour, which featured a number of special guests including the massed voices of Sing Live UK. The tour ended on 2 November 2006. In 2007, McDonald commissioned Yorkshire fashion designer Haute Couture dress maker Kaye Heeley of Angel Couture to help with the Jane McDonald Collection.
McDonald toured in 2008 beginning in Blackpool on 1 August of that year to showcase new songs from her Number 7 (UK album charts) album, Jane. This album was her first using her own record label.
In May 2010 Jane embarked on a 'one night only' performance at the world famous London Palladium, which was to be filmed for DVD. Among the public in the audience were Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page, Emmerdale's James Thornton, Loose Women's Kate Thornton, Lynda Bellingham, Lesley Garrett and Andrea McLean. Also there on the night were Bananarama and three of the Four Poof's and a Piano from Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Jane's family were also there to support her including her mum Jean and her fiancée Eddie Rothe.
Latest news on Jane's official website states that she will be releasing a new single, a cover of Liquid Gold's 1980 #2 hit, "Dance Yourself Dizzy", will be available on iTunes on Sunday 22 August and available from other sites such as Yahoo from 5 September 2010.
McDonald will be touring Australia and New Zealand in 2011.
Television
As well as appearing on The Cruise, McDonald presented the television programme, Star For A Night, which helped launch the singer Joss Stone and also showed us the first glimpse of 2008's X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. She has also appeared on the reality shows, Have I Been Here Before and Drop the Celebrity. McDonald also appeared in the Wicked Women concert and sang "This Is The Moment" from the Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde. McDonald appeared on one episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
McDonald appeared on a celebrity special of Ready Steady Cook. She and her fellow chef won over the audience with their dish of 'half baked carp' with a cheese sauce, and claimed the cash prize. She donated all the money to Wakefield Hospice, a local charity of her home town.
From 2004 to 2010 she was a regular presenter on the ITV daytime television programme Loose Women. It was confirmed on 16 July 2010 that McDonald would depart Loose Women in the summer, taking at least a year's break to concentrate on her music career and to tour Australia and New Zealand. She left at the end of the series on 6 August 2010. She has also been a panellist on The Wright Stuff in both 2005 and 2006.
McDonald appeared in a documentary called Return to the Cruise, which celebrated the tenth anniversary of The Cruise finding out how much McDonald enjoyed her fame and success. This was shown over several nights of the week beginning 11 August 2008 on BBC Two. She was a guest on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 22 March 2008, with Christopher Biggins in 'Grab the Ads' playing Tarzan and Jane. On 20 July 2008, she featured on The Sunday Night Project. She also appeared on the celebrity edition of Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? in September 2008 where she won £50,000 for the Wakefield Hospice.
From Friday 1 October Jane makes a swift return to ITV1 as a contributor to The Alan Titchmarsh Show. She will stay until Christmas.
