Career

Born in Oswego, New York

Oswego, New York

Oswego is a city in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 18,142 at the 2010 census. Oswego is located on Lake Ontario in north-central New York and promotes itself as "The Port City of Central New York"...

, Donahue was raised in Oregon, where he began playing drums professionally in the early 1980s, serving in numerous bands including Lucy Crank, Road Kill, Flash Back, Zoo Gang, RMS McConnel, AKA and Intensity. In mid-1997, he joined Eugene

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

 band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Cherry Poppin' Daddies

The Cherry Poppin' Daddies are an American band established in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. Formed by Steve Perry and Dan Schmid , the band has experienced many membership changes over the years, with only Perry, Schmid and Dana Heitman currently remaining from the original line-up.The Daddies' music...

, shortly after the release of the group's breakthrough album Zoot Suit Riot

Zoot Suit Riot (album)

Zoot Suit Riot: The Swingin' Hits of the Cherry Poppin' Daddies is a compilation album by American ska-swing band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on March 18, 1997 on Space Age Bachelor Pad Records....

. Donahue was a member of the Daddies during the height of the band's commercial popularity, performing on their national television appearances and receiving both gold and platinum

RIAA certification

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...

 records for Zoot Suit Riot in 1998. Donahue left the Daddies in 2008, serving the longest tenure of any of the band's drummers.

In 2001, while the Daddies were on hiatus, Donahue was selected to play as part of Yngwie Malmsteens backing band for his 2001 War to End All Wars

War to End All Wars (album)

War to End All Wars is an album by Yngwie J. Malmsteen, released in 2000 by Spitfire Records in North America simultaneously with Pony Canyon's release in Japan and Dream Catcher's in Europe. While on tour for this album, singer Mark Boals left the band, and was replaced for a brief period by Jorn...

tour. During this time, he also worked as a session drummer

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 and acted as an occasional member of the piano rock

Piano rock

Piano rock, sometimes referred to as piano pop, is a style of popular music that is based around the piano—and sometimes piano-related instruments such as keyboards–with piano typically replacing rhythm guitar as the rhythm instrument...

 band The Visible Men

The Visible Men

The Visible Men are an American piano rock band formed in 1999, consisting of Dustin Lanker , Dan Schmid , Jordan Glenn and later Jimi Russel .-Biography:...

 alongside several other Daddies members.

Donahue continues to drum for an extensive number of Eugene and Springfield

Springfield, Oregon

Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area...

 rock and alternative

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 bands, including Prodd, SuperTrout, Etouffe and classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

 cover band

Cover band

A cover band , is a band that plays mostly or exclusively cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the cover band format marketable for smaller gigs, and these bands may be known as a wedding band, party band and function band. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is...

 Mr. Wizard. He is currently touring with Florence

Florence, Oregon

Florence is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 8,466.-History:The Florence area was originally inhabited by the Siuslaw tribe of Native Americans. Some state that the city was named for state senator A. B...

-based country

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Amy Clawson.

Cherry Poppin' Daddies

• Soul Caddy
  Soul Caddy
  Soul Caddy is the fourth studio album, fifth chronologically, by American band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on October 3, 2000 by Mojo Records.-Album overview:...
  
  (2000) - drums
• Susquehanna
  Susquehanna (album)
  Susquehanna is the fifth studio album by American band the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, released on Space Age Bachelor Pad Records in February 2008, and later re-issued on Rock Ridge Music in September 2009....
  
  (2008) - drums

Miscellaneous

• The Visible Men
  The Visible Men
  The Visible Men are an American piano rock band formed in 1999, consisting of Dustin Lanker , Dan Schmid , Jordan Glenn and later Jimi Russel .-Biography:...
  
   - In Socks Mode
  In Socks Mode
  In Socks Mode is the debut album by American band The Visible Men, released in 2002 on Leisure King Productions.-Overview:The instrumentation of In Socks Mode could be considered minimalist: most of the songs consist solely of piano and bass guitar, with slightly more than half of the tracks...
  
  (2002) - drums
• Sean McDonald
  Sean McDonald
  Sean McDonald is Executive Editor and Vice President of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Authors he has edited include Sloane Crosley, Junot Díaz, Nuruddin Farah, James Frey, Gorillaz, Aleksandar Hemon, John Hodgman, Steven Berlin Johnson, Walter Mosley, Tyler Perry, Erik Reece, David Rees, the RZA,...
  
   - Simply Nothing
  Simply Nothing
  Simply Nothing is the debut album by singer/songwriter Shawn McDonald on Sparrow Records released August 10, 2004.-Track listing:# Take My Hand – 3:45# Gravity – 4:10# Hold On – 3:58# Simply Nothing – 4:02# Beautiful – 4:59# Don't Walk Away – 3:17...
  
  (2004) - drums
• TobyMac
  TobyMac
  Toby McKeehan , better known by his stage name TobyMac , is a Christian recording artist, music producer, hip-hop/pop artist, singer-songwriter, and author....
  
   - Welcome to Diverse City (2004) - drums
• D.B.Bonham - Life of Ease (2005) - drums
• The Visible Men
  The Visible Men
  The Visible Men are an American piano rock band formed in 1999, consisting of Dustin Lanker , Dan Schmid , Jordan Glenn and later Jimi Russel .-Biography:...
  
   - Love:30
  Love:30
  Love:30 is the second studio album by American piano rock band The Visible Men, released in 2005 on Leisure King Productions.-Overview:In contrast to the minimalist approach heard on In Socks Mode, Love:30 is rooted more in psychedelic eclecticism, featuring a richer keyboard-driven sound and the...
  
  (2005) - drums
• Reefer Punks - Play It Loud (2005) - drums
• Reefer Punks - Son of Play It Loud (2006) - drums