Casey Donovan (singer)

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This article is about the singer. For the porn star, see Casey Donovan (porn star).
Casey Donovan
Background information
Born May 13, 1988 (age 18)
Origin Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Genre(s) Pop
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Years active 2004–present
Label(s) Sony BMG (2004–2006)
Website Official website

Casey Donovan (born May 13, 1988) is a singer of Australian origin. She was the winner of the second season of the reality/talent-search television series Australian Idol. She has had patchy success since then and on 17 July, 2006, it was announced that Donovan had been dropped by her label Sony BMG because of concerns about her image and poor sales of her albums.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Donovan was the youngest person to win the Australian Idol competition. She won the competition at 16 while still a student at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney, Australia. She comes from a family of musicians, with several of her relatives pursuing musical careers, including her father, a member of indigenous country band The Donovans.

Casey Donovan winning the second season of Australian Idol in 2004
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Casey Donovan winning the second season of Australian Idol in 2004

While Donovan performed well throughout the Australian Idol competition, receiving effusive praise from all three judges, she was not widely considered a favourite to win. During the competition, she received some outside success, winning the Most Promising New Talent Award at the 2004 The Deadlys, which honor indigenous talent in Australia. Nevertheless, she surprised many by first making it to the final at the expense of Courtney Murphy, and then defeating widespread favourite Anthony Callea in the final. Her first single, "Listen With Your Heart" was released digitally on November 21, 2004 and officially in stores on November 29, 2004. It debuted at #1 on the ARIAnet singles chart, while her album For You debuted at #2 on the album charts. Her second single "What's Going On?" debuted in the top 20 in February 2005. Her third single "Flow" was released on July 24 2005 but only managed to reach #51.

In just 12 months and now just 17 years of age, Casey has won Australian Idol, three Deadly awards (Most Promising New Talent 2004, best album and best single 2005), received two ARIA nominations (best album, best single), had a #1 debut single and #2 debut album, and holds the record for fastest download of a single on Telstra's Bigpond. While Callea has been afforded more support, Casey has been busy building her fan base with small intimate gigs at venues such as The Basement (with Wendy Matthews) and The Vanguard, as well as a residency at the Sandringham Hotel. She recently was invited to Brisbane to perform at the Foxtel 10th Birthday Party and to Melbourne for her first gig in that state held at the Grand Central receiving rave reviews. Casey has spent much of the time this year writing, as well as collaborating with respected Australian song-writers, new material for her next album which is due for release mid 2006.

On March 26 2006, she performed at the Closing Ceremony for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Donovan's main musical influences are cited as Nirvana, Incubus and Metallica.

Casey is widely recognised as the least successful Australian Idol winner, with only two Top 40 singles. Winners and runners-up (including Anthony Callea, who ultimately lost to Casey) from the first three seasons of Australina Idol have all enjoyed at least double this number.

Casey is currently finishing her independent EP to be released late 2006 or early 2007.

[edit] Australian Idol

Songs performed on Australian Idol:

[edit] Controversies

  • Sony BMG have dropped her from their record lineup, stating that her family problems do not fit the image they want to promote.
  • She appeared in front of a court and gave an interview to the media, saying that she was taking a restraining order against her family. This is thought to have triggered Sony BMG's plan to drop her.[citation needed]
  • In an interview for the Sydney Morning Herald, Casey was quoted as saying that she smoked excessively and ate Snickers bars for breakfast. Her publicist intervened shortly after to state that certain parts of the interview were taken out of context.
  • Some publications and concerned groups also criticised Donovan for her size and heavy smoking, noting that she was a potentially influential public figure and role model.[citation needed]
  • The day after Casey Donovan's victory in the Idol finals, Telstra's website inadvertently linked to caseydonovan.com, at the time a gay porn site, rather than caseydonovan.com.au. The mistake was repeated in a full page advertisement in The Age the next day.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album cover Album information
For You
  • Released: December 13, 2004 (Australia)
  • Chart Positions: #2 (Australia)
  • Certifications: 3x platinum (Australia)

[edit] Singles

Year Song Australia Certification Album
2004 "Listen with Your Heart" 1 2x Platinum (ARIA) For You
2005 "What's Going On?" 18 For You
2005 "Flow" 51 For You

[edit] Australian Idol performances

During the 2004 Australian Idol series, Donovan sang:

[edit] External links

Australian Idol
Hosts and Judges
Andrew G | James Mathison
Mark Holden | Marcia Hines | Ian "Dicko" Dickson | Kyle Sandilands
Winners
Guy Sebastian | Casey Donovan | Kate DeAraugo | Damien Leith
Runners-Up
Shannon Noll | Anthony Callea | Emily Williams | Jessica Mauboy
Seasons
Idol 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006
Other
List of semi finalists | Young Divas | Australian Made: The Hits | List of commercial releases
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