Born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, Donaldson attended Baines School in nearby Poulton, where he met Sean McKay, Phil Walmsley, and John Grinton. They formed the cover band Tumbling Dice, who played songs by the Rolling Stones and other bands. In 1975, they formed Skrewdriver, a band that gained a reputation for attracting violence at their concerts.^[1]

After the original Skrewdriver lineup disbanded in 1979, Donaldson formed a new lineup and began to write songs for a white power audience.^[2] The new version of Skrewdriver openly promoted far-right groups such as the National Front and raised funds for them (and affiliated organisations) through the National Front's music label, White Noise Records.^[2] Skrewdriver became known for its involvement in the White Nationalist movement and its associated music genre, Rock Against Communism.^[2] In 1987, Donaldson and Skrewdriver roadie and album-cover artist Nicky Crane founded Blood & Honour, a neo-Nazi network that distributes white power music and organises concerts.^[2] Donaldson and Crane cited financial mismanagement by the National Front as reason for creating the network, in addition to claims the National Front had become insufficiently racist, since some National Front members had attempted to appeal to a more mainstream audience to improve declining membership rates.^[3]

Donaldson also became leader of two other bands—The Klansmen (a rockabilly band) and White Diamond (a hard rock/heavy metal band)—and released several solo albums. Along with Skrewdriver guitarist Stigger (Stephen Calladine), he recorded the albums Patriotic Ballads volumes 1 and 2, which included covers of folk songs such as "The Green Fields of France". Donaldson's voice also appeared in the song "The Invisible Empire".

On the night of 23 September 1993, Donaldson was involved in a car crash in Derbyshire that resulted in his death the following day, at the age of 36.^[4]

• Justice for the Cottbus Six (1992) (Rock-O-Rama)

• Patriotic Ballads (1991) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Patriotic Ballads II – Our Time Will Come (1992) (Rock-O-Rama)

• All Skrewed Up (1977) (Chiswick) (later re-issued as The Early Years w. extra tracks)
• Peel Session (1977)^[5] BBC Radio 1
• Back with a Bang (1982) (Rock-O-Rama)
• The Voice of Britain (1983) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Hail the New Dawn (1984) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Blood & Honour (1985) (Rock-O-Rama)
• White Rider (1987) (Rock-O-Rama)
• After the Fire (1988) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Warlord (1989) (Rock-O-Rama)
• The Strong Survive (1990) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Freedom What Freedom (1992) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Hail Victory (1994) (ISD Records)

• No Turning Back (1989) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Slay The Beast (1990) (Rock-O-Rama)
• Patriot (1991) (Rock-O-Rama)

• Fetch the Rope (LP, 1989 / Klan Records) (CD, 1991 / Rock-O-Rama Records)
• Rebel with a Cause (LP, 1990 / Klan Records) (CD, 1991 / Rock-O-Rama Records)
• Rock 'n' Roll Patriots (LP, 1991 / Klan Records) (CD. 1991 / Rock-O-Rama Records)

Single:

• Johnny Joined the Klan (1989 / Klan Records) (3 Songs from the "Fetch the Rope" LP)

• The Reaper (1991) (Rock-O-Rama)
• The Power & The Glory (1992) (Glory Discs)

• Lowles, Nick; Silver, Steve (13 November 1998). White Noise: Inside the International Nazi Skinhead Scene. Searchlight Magazine Ltd. ISBN 0-9522038-3-9.
• Pearce, Joe (13 November 1987). Skrewdriver The first ten years – The way it's got to be!. Skrewdriver Services.
• The soundtrack of neo-fascism, Patterns of Prejudice (2013)
• Mark Green "Ian Stuart Donaldson – Memories", PC Records (2007)
• Mark Green "Ian Stuart Donaldson – Rock 'n Roll Patriot", PC Records (2009)