Sometime in the mid-seventies, one of the American TV networks ran the Val Doonican show, I think, as a summer replacement for another show, and that's how I first became acquainted with him. Not, strictly speaking, a folk singer, but he sang some folk songs and other good stuff. Good singer.   Very personable and enjoyable.

He had some good guests on his show. It was there that I first heard Julie Felix. She sang some solos and they did a few duets.

And he had Burl Ives on one evening. Doonican and Ives swapped some pretty good songs, and there was one sequence in which a young woman guest (can't remember who) started dancing the "Funky Chicken." The looks on Ives's and Doonican's faces as they watched her was priceless!

Good entertainer! I'm glad I saw him when I had the chance.

To be a genuinely nice guy, spend your life entertaining a lot of people, then pass away peacefully at a ripe old age. That's the way to do it….

Don Firth