Jason Donovan

Jason 'Jack' Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 million records, and his début album Ten Good Reasons was one of the highest-selling albums of 1989 with UK sales of over 1.5 million copies. He has had four UK No. 1 singles, one of which was "Especially for You", his 1988 duet with Kylie Minogue. In more recent years, he has returned to acting on television and in stage musicals.

Biography

Jason Donovan was born in Malvern, Melbourne, is the son of actor Terence Donovan, who also appeared in Neighbours as Doug Willis, and Sue McIntosh. His half-sister is former Neighbours star Stephanie McIntosh. Donovan attended De La Salle College, Malvern. His girlfriend since 1998 and the mother of his children is Angela Malloch, a former stage manager. He has three children, a daughter, Jemma (born 28 March 2000) a son, Zac (born 22 March 2001), and daughter, Molly (born 9 March 2011). Donovan and Malloch were married in Bali in 2008.^[1]

He was the subject of an episode of the BBC TV series Who Do You Think You Are? on 30 August 2010 in which he discovered he is a descendant of the pioneer William Cox, who built the first road across Australia's Blue Mountains in 1814. Donovan also confirmed he is of Jewish descent through his maternal great-grandmother, Eileen Dawson (née Lyons). His great-great grandparents Joseph & Rosetta Lyons originated from Whitechapel, London.

Television career and Neighbours

Donovan made his first television appearance at the age of eleven in a guest role on the Australian series Skyways. In the episode, his on-screen sister was played by future co-star Kylie Minogue. He also featured in the series I Can Jump Puddles before reaching fame in 1986 in the soap opera Neighbours as Scott Robinson, replacing actor Darius Perkins, who had played the role for the first year of the series. His character's most notable story arc was his onscreen romance and wedding to Charlene Robinson (played by Kylie Minogue).

He won his first Logie Award for "Best New Talent" in 1987 and received a commendation in the category "Performance by a Male Actor In a Series" from the Television Society of Australia's Penguin Awards. In 1988 he was awarded the 'Silver Logie' for the "Most Popular Actor" on Australian television.

In addition to his regular role in Neighbours, Donovan appeared as "Happy Houston" in the 1988 Australian World War II mini-series The Heroes, based on the historical novel by Ronald McKie. He won the 1990 Logie Award for "Most Popular Actor in a Mini-Series".

Donovan left Neighbours in 1989. In 2009, he announced that he had been asked to return in 2010 to tie in with the show's 25th anniversary, but said that he was unable to do so due to other work commitments.^[2]

1988–1991: Pop career

While he was still appearing in Neighbours, Donovan followed Minogue (who had already left the series by this point) in signing a recording contract with Mushroom Records in Australia, and with PWL in the UK. His first single, "Nothing Can Divide Us", was released in 1988. Like Minogue's material, it was written and produced by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman (known as Stock Aitken Waterman). The single reached number five in the UK, number one in Hong Kong and Japan, and the top 40 in several other countries.

Donovan's next single was a duet with Minogue. "Especially for You" was released in December 1988, and after spending four weeks at No. 2 in the UK, it hit No. 1 in January 1989. It was the fourth-highest selling single in the UK in 1988, and 17th in Australia for 1989. Donovan and Minogue also dated for a time during this period.

His next single, "Too Many Broken Hearts," reached number one in the UK in March 1989. He released his début album, Ten Good Reasons, in May 1989, which also reached number one (for three weeks). For two weeks, Donovan held the number one positions in the singles chart and the albums chart simultaneously, when his next single, a cover of Brian Hyland's "Sealed With a Kiss", entered the UK charts at number one. Between 1988 and 1992, Donovan garnered 16 Top 40 hit singles in the UK.

In December 1989, he took part in Band Aid II's version of "Do They Know it's Christmas", which also included Minogue.

1991–1993: Joseph, and The Face

Donovan continued to act alongside his pop career, and in 1990 he appeared in his first feature film Blood Oath (aka Prisoners of the Sun).

With questions about his ability to sing, and the break-up of his relationship with Minogue due to her relationship with INXS singer Michael Hutchence, in 1991 Donovan accepted the lead role in the restaged London Palladium version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, directed by Steven Pimlott. Donovan had his third solo UK #1 single with one of its tracks, Any Dream Will Do, while the production won the 1992 Laurence Olivier Awards for set design and costume design. However, Donovan later left the production citing "exhaustion" as the reason, and he was replaced in 1993 by TV presenter Phillip Schofield.

In 1992, Donovan launched a successful libel action against The Face magazine which had published allegations that he was gay. Donovan won £200,000 in damages and the magazine had to pay a further £100,000 in costs,^[3] but the action of his lawsuit made him appear homophobic to some sections of the media and had the effect of alienating much of his audience. Donovan tried to make amends and claimed that he did not sue the magazine out of greed or because he was homophobic, but because he had been accused of lying to his fans. He also came to an agreement with the publishers of the magazine, which would have closed down had they paid him the full amount he was awarded (though this amount could well have been reduced upon appeal anyway). Regardless, Donovan's career never recovered from his act of litigation. Although he had been a mild drug user who had smoked cannabis joints up until this point, in the months after his libel action Donovan began using cocaine.^[4] In a 2007 interview in the magazine Marie Claire and also in his 2007 autobiography Between The Lines: My Story Uncut, Donovan admitted that suing The Face was the biggest mistake of his life.^[4]

Now no longer signed to PWL, who had released his first two albums and a "greatest hits" compilation, Donovan moved to Polydor Records. The year after his libel action against "The Face", he released his third album, All Around The World (1993). However, the album was not a success and failed to make the UK Top 20 (all of Donovan's albums up until then had been Top 10) and was not released at all in his native Australia. Donovan was subsequently dropped by his new record company, effectively marking the end of his career as a pop star.

1995–1999: Drugs

Donovan later admitted that by 1995 he had a serious drug problem, taking around two grams of cocaine a day. In early 1995, he attended model Kate Moss's 21st birthday party at The Viper Room in Los Angeles, where he suffered a drug-induced seizure (the same venue at which River Phoenix had died of a drug overdose in 1993). Donovan was rushed to hospital and claims that the last face he remembered seeing was that of Michael Hutchence.^[1]

Later in 1995, Donovan starred in the natively produced Australian film called The Last Bullet^[5] with Koji Tamaki, directed by Michael Pattison, which was set in World War II on the Pacific island of Borneo in the last days of 1945.

In 1998, Donovan took the lead role of Dr. Frank N. Furter in the UK touring production of The Rocky Horror Show, where he met stage manager Angela Malloch. After the pair had a brief relationship, Malloch became pregnant and gave Donovan an ultimatum that he had to kick drugs once and for all if he wanted to be part of their child's life.^[1]

In various articles in late 1999, Donovan 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.^[6]

Donovan has claimed to be drug-free since 2000, the year his first child was born.^[1]

2000–2005: Fatherhood

Donovan's daughter Jemma was born in March 2000. Since then, with his drug problems now under control, he continued to act on stage and television, and had a role in the medical-legal television drama MDA (2003–05), on Australia's ABC network. Since 2003, Donovan has also lent his voice to the Buzz! series of quiz video games.

In late 2004, he was headlining in the stage musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the London Palladium. He finished his original run on 13 March 2005, but was then invited back from June onwards to play in the final two months of the show, until its closure on 4 September 2005. Following this, he has toured the UK performing a few gigs and returned to the stage in January 2006 to star in a UK tour of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. After this, he returned to Melbourne to star in David Eldrige's Australian transfer of the London drama Festen.

2005-2006: Virgin marketing campaign and I'm A Celebrity...

In 2005, Donovan's mobile phone number was circulated around the web in Australia, due to an image that was taken in Sydney. It appeared that Donovan was trying to sell his car, and unwittingly released his mobile phone number to the public. From 10 September, his answering machine had a special message on it, because he was frustrated by the number of calls he was receiving for no particular reason. Virgin placed advertisements in several high-profile Australian newspapers, urging people not to call Donovan, one of their customers.^[7] Virgin Mobile has since admitted the photos were all part of a marketing ploy. Virgin also ran TV advertisements showing Donovan answering prank calls, asking the viewer not to call him, then displaying his number.

Donovan took part in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! in 2006 and finished in 3rd place. While in the jungle, he became good friends with David Gest and Matt Willis. Donovan also took part in many Bushtucker Trials, which included wearing a helmet full of insects and playing a giant game of Operation. Donovan lost out on the King of the Jungle Crown to Matt Willis. However, during an interview on "The Steve Wright Show" on BBC Radio 2 (January 2008), he claimed that his appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! had revitalised his career.

2007–2009: Return to music and soap operas

Donovan performed a medley of songs from Joseph along with other actors who have played the eponymous role (Donny Osmond and Lee Mead) at the Concert for Diana in July 2007.^[8]

In early 2008, Donovan had a role in ITV's post-watershed soap opera Echo Beach; the series was cancelled after 12 episodes. He also presented Sunday Night with Jason Donovan, a programme on The One Network of British local radio stations.

On 25 September 2008, Donovan performed in the canteen at the head offices of Tesco in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. He was promoting his forthcoming album, Let It Be Me, which was released on 10 November 2008. The album, his first for 15 years, reached No. 28 in Britain.

Also in 2008, Donovan performed at the Party In The Park in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

In 2009, Donovan performed as Tick (Mitzi) in the London stage musical production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre. Also in 2009, Donovan began appearing in television commercials (with Kerry Katona and Coleen Nolan) for the frozen food supermarket chain Iceland in the UK.

2010 – present

In September 2010, Donovan took part in the BBC Television Series Who Do You Think You Are?, tracing his family tree back several generations. Donovan's fifth studio album, Soundtrack Of The 80s, was released in October 2010. The album is composed of cover versions of well known 80s hits such as "Drive" (The Cars), "I Just Died In Your Arms" (Cutting Crew) and "Sign Your Name" (Terence Trent D'Arby) and several others. The same year, Donovan played the role of The Artilleryman in the 2010–2011 stage show Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds. The show toured the UK and Europe, starting in November 2010 and finished in Germany in January 2011. Donovan also voiced the part of Toby the Kangaroo in the environmental animated film, Animals United.

In February 2011, Donovan appeared on the BBC series Ready, Steady, Cook. Donovan has appeared in Casualty as a British soldier injured in Afghanistan. In 2011, he performed on the Here and Now Tour, and also toured in a production of The Sound of Music playing Captain Von Trapp. The production co-starred Verity Rushworth as Maria.

From September 2011, Donovan took part in the ninth series of Strictly Come Dancing.^[9] He was partnered with dancer Kristina Rihanoff and finished third in the competition.

Donovan also currently hosts his own show on Heart Network Radio across the UK, on Sunday afternoons between 12 noon to 4pm.^[10]

Discography

Singles

Albums

Acting credits

References

External links

• Jason Donovan at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Jason Donovan on Myspace
• musicOMH Interview with Jason Donovan