Jason Donovan
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Image:KylieMinogueJasonDonovanEspeciallyForYoucover.jpg Jason Sean Donovan (born June 1, 1968) is an Australian actor and singer, with world-wide record sales in the region of 30 million copies (singles, albums, compilation inclusions, etc).
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Biography
Born in Malvern, Melbourne, his father Terence Donovan was also a well-known Australian actor (he was a regular in the top-rated police series Division 4 and much later played Doug Willis in Neighbours), and his half sister is current Neighbours star Stephanie McIntosh. He made his name in the long-running Australian TV soap Neighbours, playing the second incarnation of the Scott Robinson character. After leaving Neighbours, Donovan moved to England, and worked there as a singer and actor.
In 1988 he joined Neighbours co-star Kylie Minogue in signing for Stock, Aitken and Waterman's record label PWL and he started to release singles which appealed to his pre-pubescent fanbase. His duet of the song Especially For You with Minogue was the fourth-highest selling single in the United Kingdom that year and 17th in Australia for 1989. Donovan and Minogue dated for a time during this period. Donovan became the biggest pop star of the time with the album "Ten Good Reasons", which yielded the two solo #1 singles "Too Many Broken Hearts" and "Sealed With A Kiss". Between 1988 and 1991 alone, he enjoyed no fewer than 17 UK hit singles. His third and final solo album "All Around The World" was never released in his home country of Australia.
He spent a long run playing Joseph in the West End musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and had a UK #1 hit with "Any Dream Will Do". He has also played Frank 'N' Furter in The Rocky Horror Show musical. On the eve of the London premiere of the Rocky Horror Show Jason was famously interviewed by Dom Joly for the cult British TV sketch show, Trigger Happy TV. In it, a drenched Dom claimed to have been attacked by an irate ice-cream van proprietor, who had supposedly hurled him into the serpentine resulting in his dishevelled appearance. Jason, bemused and outraged at Dom's account, continually interjects, demanding to know the motivation for such an unprovoked attack - at one point asking him, "did you punch the fuck out of him?" At this point the phony ice cream van man appears on the scene, whereupon Dom breaks off the interview to tackle him. The tables are soon turned however, and Dom ends up being chased down a side street. The piece concludes with Jason - at this point utterly bemused - asking questions to camera but which unfortunately were not audible.
In 1992 he sued The Face magazine for libel over allegations that he was homosexual. He won the case but lost credibility in the process.
His career suffered from his drug problems. In 1999, he admitted that he still used cocaine saying "I still have a joint and I still take coke, but not as much as I did two years ago," [1]
He suffers from the skin condition Psoriasis.[2]
According to recent media profiles, his two young children and a steady relationship with their mother have tamed him substantially. He has begun to get more steady work as a serious actor, notably in a role in the highbrow medical-legal drama on Australia's ABC network, MDA in 2003.
In late 2004, he was headlining in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium in England. He finished his original run on 13th March 2005, but was then invited back from June to play in the final two months of the show, until its closure on 4th September 2005. Following this, he has toured the UK performing a few gigs and will return to the stage in 2006 to star in a UK tour of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd from January. After this, he has confirmed he will return to Melbourne to star in David Eldrige's Australian transfer of the successful London drama Festen before continuing with his intention to make a comeback as a folk rock singer.
The multi talented pin-up recently lent his big Aussie voice to the Playstation 2 game 'Buzz'.
2005 Virgin Mobile viral marketing
His phone number, 0403 527 663, has recently been circulating around the web in Australia, due to this image, which was taken in Sydney recently. It appears as if Jason is trying to sell his car, and unwittingly released his mobile phone number to the public. As of 10 September, his answering machine had this message on it, because he was frustrated by the number of calls he was receiving for no particular reason. Virgin has since placed advertisements in several high profile Australian newspapers urging people not to call Mr. Donovan, one of their customers. Virgin Mobile has since admitted the photos were all part of a marketing ploy. Virgin also ran TV advertisements showing Mr. Donovan answering prank calls, asking the viewer not to call him, then displaying his number.
Record releases
Singles
- 1988 Nothing Can Divide Us - #5 UK / #3 AUS
- 1988 Especially for You (duet with Kylie Minogue) - #1 UK / #2 AUS
- 1989 Too Many Broken Hearts - #1 UK / #7 AUS
- 1989 Sealed With A Kiss - #1 UK / #8 AUS
- 1989 Every Day (I Love You More) - #2 UK / #43 AUS
- 1989 When You Come Back to Me - #2 UK / #40 AUS
- 1989 Do They Know It's Christmas? (with Band Aid II) - #1 UK / #30 AUS
- 1990 Hang On To Your Love - #8 UK
- 1990 Another Night - #18 UK
- 1990 Rhythm Of The Rain - #9 UK / #44 AUS
- 1990 I'm Doing Fine - #22 UK
- 1991 R.S.V.P - #17 UK
- 1991 Any Dream Will Do - #1 UK
- 1991 Happy Together - #10 UK
- 1991 Joseph Mega Remix - #13 UK (also shown as: Joseph Megamix)
- 1992 Mission Of Love - #26 UK
- 1992 As Time Goes By - #26 UK
- 1992 All Around The World - #41 UK
Albums
- 1989 Ten Good Reasons - #1 UK/ # 5 AUS
- 1990 Between The Lines - #2 UK
- 1993 All Around The World - #27 UK
Other
- 1989 "The Other Side Of Jason Donovan" (Japanese release)
- 1991 "Greatest Hits" - #9 UK
- 1991 "Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" (with the 1991 London Revival Cast) (Musical Soundtrack) - #1 UK
- 2000 "The Very Best Of Jason Donovan"
External links
- Scott Robinson Neighbours Girls and Boys
- english fansite (english)
- english fansite (english)
- german fansite (german and english)de:Jason Donovan