Neil Donell (born May 23, 1956) is a Canadian singer who has worked extensively as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

and has been nominated for multiple

Juno Awards The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's music industry. The Grammy Awards are the United S ...

. He is most well-known as the lead tenor vocalist for the classic rock band

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

since 2018, succeeding

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

Jason Scheff Jason Randolph Scheff (born April 16, 1962) is an American bassist, singer, and songwriter who was a frontman for the American rock band Chicago (band), Chicago from 1985 to 2016. Replacing former lead vocalist Peter Cetera, Scheff was the longe ...

and Jeff Coffey. Possessing a four-octave vocal range, Donell has logged more than 10,000 sessions across his career and is one of the most recorded voices in Canadian music history. His credits also include a few small acting roles and performing "Shining Time" with Maren Ord, for the 2000 motion picture ''

Thomas and the Magic Railroad ''Thomas and the Magic Railroad'' is a 2000 children's fantasy adventure film written and directed by Britt Allcroft and produced by Allcroft and Phil Fehrle; the cast includes Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Mara Wilson, Didi Conn, Russell Mean ...

''. Donell performed a new rendition of the song for Rainbow Sun Productions' video presentation commemorating the film's 20th anniversary, which premiered on YouTube on July 19, 2020. Originally from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, Donell has been a resident of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

since the mid-1980s. He has two children.

References

External links

Neil Donell website
* Living people Canadian rock singers Canadian tenors Singers from Montreal 1962 births Chicago (band) members Anglophone Quebec people {{Canada-singer-stub