In the early 1980s while with The Thompson Twins, Berlin, and The Psychedelic Furs, O'Donnell was a big fan of synthesisers produced by Sequential Circuits, which produced such classics as the Prophet 5, Prophet T8, and Prophet VS. While on tour with The Psychedelic Furs, O'Donnell set the record for having the most Sequential models onstage at one time.

TENURE WITH THE CURE

O'Donnell first joined The Cure in 1987, replacing Lol Tolhurst on keyboards, after being long time friends with the drummer Boris Williams. With O'Donnell on keyboards, this permitted Porl Thompson to focus on guitar fulltime, instead of assisting Tolhurst on keyboards for many of the songs. His songwriting contributions can be heard on the album Disintegration notably the song "Untitled" and "Fear of Ghosts," which is the B-Side to the hit single "Lovesong."

Following the band's Prayer Tour in 1989, tensions intensified between the band members. O'Donnell left the band temporarily in 1990 due to a difference of opinion with some of the other members, but then rejoined in 1995. He helped record several studio albums, including Disintegration, Wild Mood Swings, Bloodflowers, and The Cure. He also appears on the live album Entreat as well as Trilogy. Some of his best keyboard performances can be heard on the songs "Homesick", off Disintegration, "Out of This World" and "The Last Day of Summer" off Bloodflowers.

Even though he co-wrote only one album with the Gallup/Smith/Thompson/Williams lineup, he is considered the keyboardist of the band during that period having been the only member of the band where piano/keyboards were his primary instrument, unlike Laurence Tolhurst and Perry Bamonte who moved to keyboards from other instruments, and back again in Perry's case.

Further friction and exodus

In 2004, there were rumours that O'Donnell was unhappy with the band and was planning to quit. In particular, O'Donnell did have big problems with the band, notably not getting along with The Cure's producer Ross Robinson. When O'Donnell started working on his solo album The Truth In Me in early 2005, he revealed he had no plans on leaving. However, shortly after in May, Robert Smith decided to reconfigure The Cure as a trio, without O'Donnell and Perry Bamonte. Smith apparently felt that they were on too different philosophies to continue to work together and fired O'Donnell over email.

SOLO WORK

O'Donnell has his own label "99 Times Out of 10" or "99X/10" for short, and is assisting on Erin Lang's musical works. The Truth In Me, an all-instrumental album was scheduled for release on May 16 2006, following many delays. Additionally, he has provided exposure to young, underground musicians through his label sampler. The sampler was released during the latter half of 2005 and made available through his website.

In April 2006, whilst in discussion with Label and Artist management group Worlds Fair, O'Donnell was offered a record deal with release through their new label Great Society and Warner Brothers distribution and marketing. The album --- scheduled for release on October 24, 2006 in the US --- is slated for worldwide release in 2007.

DISCOGRAPHY