nominal inspiration for the band came from the Admiral's Men, which was a Shakespearean group of actors that came together to perform, whilst still retaining their individual careers. Their first single was released via YouTube on 14 June 2010 on McDonnell's channel: the group covered Cat Stevens' song "Here Comes My Baby", featuring all four members on vocals. The track peaked at No. 61 in the UK. In October 2010 the band released an EP including "Here Comes My Baby"; an acoustic version of the same song; a cover of "Believe in Yourself", the theme of children's television show Arthur; the music video of "Here Comes My Baby"; and a behind-the-scenes video. Sons of Admirals disbanded in May 2011, publishing a statement on their website that "the core goal of the group – to get into the charts, and to increase exposure for the group members' individual talents proved to run against too many of our beliefs and approaches to music and promotion". Solo career A prominent feature of McDonnell's YouTube channel were the songs which she wrote and performed herself, usually on a ukulele, but also with instruments such as the guitar, melodica, and —in one song— a kazoo and a xylophone made of filled water glasses. The most popular of these is "Duet with Myself." On 1 December 2010, in response to demand, she released her debut album, entitled This Is Me, via DFTBA Records. The album features several songs from her channel that were remixed for the album, as well as several previously unreleased songs. In December 2016, she teamed up with Project for Awesome to release A Very Gideon Christmas, an exclusive Christmas EP sung from the perspective of and with the imaginary inflections of her cat Gideon. Music videos In The Absence Of Christmas (2008) A Song About Acne (2009) Duet with Myself (2009) A Song About Love (2010) Chemical Love (2010) A Song About Monkeys (2010) Time to Reply (2012) Charity and media work On 30 September 2008, to celebrate her 18th birthday, McDonnell and Alex Day dyed and then shaved their hair off whilst live on BlogTV for a period of seven and a half hours in aid of Cancer Research UK. They managed to raise nearly £5000. The broadcast viewership peaked at 4,500. Another friend, Jazza John (known as rhymingwithoranges on YouTube) promised to shave his head if they hit £4000 and