Singer and TV personality

Born: February 3, 1927;

July 1, 2015.

Val Doonican, who has died aged 88, was an Irish singer and television entertainer who became known of his unthreatening, avuncular style (the title of one of his albums was Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently) and his BBC Christmas specials, which usually featured him in a jumper or golf jacket on a rocking chair.

However, he also had a major recording career and considerable commercial success. In the 1960s and 70s, he was often in the charts with his versions of traditional Irish folk numbers such as Delaney's Donkey and songs such as Walk Tall and Elusive Butterfly. Val Doonican Rocks, But Gently also knocked The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band off the number one slot. In all, he recorded more than 50 albums, which sold millions.

By the late 1970s and 80s he was a big star on television with his own eponymous show, which ran on the BBC for more than 20 years. It featured Doonican singing pop songs in a crooner style (long before it became trendy to do so) and doing duets with some of the biggest stars of the day, including Bing Crosby and Howard Keel.

Doonican sometimes joked about his success, saying it took 17 years for him to become an overnight success, and he had a point. Before he appeared on ITV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium and was offered a recording contract, he had been performing and touring for many years. After the Palladium, he was a big star.

Born in Waterford in the south-east of Ireland, he was one of eight children. The family was poor and his childhood was not always easy as his father was an alcoholic. After he died when Doonican was just 14, the teenager was forced to go out and work in a factory making boxes.

However, from a young age, he was also making music and after meeting a fellow musician Brian Clarke, the pair toured Ireland in a caravan. Eventually, the pair joined a dance band before Doonican joined the Four Ramblers and began appearing on radio.

He spent the next eight years touring with the Four Ramblers before being offered a part in a concert party being staged by Anthony Newley in 1959. After seeing Doonican perform, Newley suggested Doonican should go solo, and he did.

After auditioning for the BBC, he was offered a spot on radio and his mix of songs and stories proved popular and led to a national tour. But it was only when he appeared on Sunday Night at the London Palladium that he became a big star.

By the end of the 1960s, he had had five Top 10 albums and many hit singles including The Special Years, What Would I Be? And If The Whole World Stopped Loving.

He was then offered his BBC show which ran from 1965 until 1986, and made him famous for his rocking chair and homely outfits. The show usually ended with him sitting in the rocking stair, telling a little story and then singing the final number. There were also 25 Christmas specials.

Doonican was always grateful for his success and the chance it gave him to meet many of the stars he loved as a child. "You can't imagine," he said, "that you're going along in your young life, buying records of people that you think are fantastic and, in my case, I ended up singing duets with them on my show."

But he was also modest and often struggled to watch the Christmas specials. "They became something of a national institution, attracting audiences of up to 19 million," he said. "It felt embarrassing seeing myself. We'd sit as a family enjoying ourselves but as soon as my show started, I'd nip off to another room," he said.

When the TV series eventually finished in the mid-1980s, Doonican continued to record and tour, although he rarely appeared on television. He stopped performing altogether in 2009 after 60 years in showbusiness.

Away from music, his great hobby was painting and he exhibited several times.

After his death, his daughter Sarah said: "Until 87, he was as fit as a flea. It was just old age, I'm afraid - the batteries ran out."

Sir Bruce Forsyth, who appeared on Doonican's shows many times, also paid tribute. "He was always a lovely man to work with," he said. "He had the top television show on the BBC. He had the warmth, the voice and the sweaters. He was one of the warmest personalities I think we have ever had."

He died in Buckinghamshire and is survived by his wife Lynn, daughters Sarah and Fiona and grandchildren Bethany and Scott.