DECLAN J DONOVAN, the young songwriter from Harlow near London, is doing well. Interestingly, not so much because his songs have been streamed over 600 million times since his breakthrough, his 2 million monthly fans on Spotify, or his rank as #1 in the UK singer/songwriter charts on iTunes. Taking care of himself in the last two years is what made him truly happy. His career started similarly down to earth. A fan of British rap music early on, he saw an acoustic song by Ed Sheeran on TV one day and was blown away: “I felt like it was the thing I had been waiting for my whole life and fell in love instantly. I went out the next day and got guitar lessons – that was my introduction to becoming a musician.” In 2014, he sang his song “Fallen So Young” at his brother‘s wedding and later uploaded it to SoundCloud at the request of those around him. What happened next was unexpected: In no time, his vulnerable vocals and intimate lyrics thrilled over a million fans.