BIO:
Jim McDonough began selling his distinctive brand of soothing piano music in gift shops near his hometown of Monticello in eastern Iowa just six years ago. Today, his ten CDs are available in approximately 1000 stores across the country and via his Web site, www.PianoFavorites.com. His Christmas concert tour -- complete with a 16-piece orchestra, a cast of singers and dancers, and an on-stage snowfall -- has become a holiday tradition for thousands of families across the Midwest, and his music has caught the attention of fans from coast to coast. Through his independent record label, Jim McDonough Productions, Inc., the International Steinway Concert & Recording Artist has already sold nearly 150,000 CDs.
The road to success, though, has been paved with detours. In eighth grade, an accident nearly ended his musical career. A falling piano crushed three fingers on his right hand – and nearly crushed his dreams in the process. Jim emerged from two hours of surgery with pins in his fingers and tiny fractures across his hand. But throughout more than a year of physical therapy, Jim kept playing – with a cast on his right hand – and concentrated on improving his performance with his left hand.
“I was too interested in the piano to give it up,” McDonough says. He devoted nearly every spare moment to working to get back the dexterity in his right hand, and the rigorous rehearsing paid off. In ninth grade, instead of a car, Jim bought a Steinway grand piano to celebrate how far he’d come.
After graduating from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, McDonough worked as a high school band director for two years, then decided to trade his piano keyboard for a computer keyboard and became an air traffic controller. After completing an intensive training program, Jim was stationed in Chicago, at the largest air traffic
facility in the world. But the high-stress world of airplane traffic wasn’t filling the creative need that gnawed at Jim. “There was something missing,” he says. “Music was what defined me, and I had given it up. It was who I was, and it had almost entirely vanished from my life.”
In 2000, he decided to give performing on a cruise ship a shot, and loved every minute. When he returned to Iowa, Jim was offered a contract on the largest cruise ship in the world. So, after two years as an air traffic controller, he decided to dive headfirst into playing piano professionally. “I went from the most stressful job in the word – literally – to the least stressful job in the world,” he says.
On break from the cruise line, Jim recorded his first CD, Requests, which he sold to passengers when he returned to the ship. Dry land eventually beckoned, and in 2002, he moved back to Monticello to concentrate on producing and distributing his music. In Fall 2003, he released his second album, a collection of holiday favorites called Home for Christmas.
Since then, Jim has produced and recorded eight more CDs, including:
• His early-2004 collection of movie music, "Projections: Songs from the Silver Screen;"
• "An Ivory Christmas," a taste of Jim's live holiday show that features a combination of solo piano pieces and holiday tunes with vocals and full orchestrations;
• "Music of the Night," a collection of sophisticated, relaxing and romantic evening-inspired melodies;
• "Simple Gifts," featuring 14 songs of faith and inspiration;
• "With Love," timeless, most-often-requested love songs;
• "Homeward Bound," melodies designed to accompany us on the many stages of our journeys through life;
• "Country Dreaming," featuring 16 classic country melodies;
• "A Christmas to Remember," filled with holiday favorites.
• And his most recent release, "Rat Pack Remembered," a collection of the most beloved hits of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Today, Jim is touring the country, preparing a new CD, and spreading his music to fans from coast to coast.
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