Ah, Jason Donovan. He certainly gayed up my room in my early teens. Thanks to the duet he did with Kylie, I was able to plaster posters of him and her all over my wall without much suspicion. And if I squinted late at night, I could cut Kylie out of my line of vision all together. Anyway, Jason and Kylie were tv's best loved couple in the 80s as Scott and Charlene on Neighbours. And once Kylie hit the charts, it wasn't long before Jason wanted a bit of the action too. Although his first tune, Nothing Can Divide Us was a pleasant if forgettable little ditty, it wasn't until he cut his hair and pop star'd it up that he became huge. Of course, there was Especially For You, but his first single proper in my eyes was the catchy guitar driven SAW pop of Too Many Broken Hearts. And if Unchained Melody was an inspired pick for Gareth in the 00's, Sealed With A Kiss was perfect for Jase the Face, giving him three number ones in a row. The second album kicked off with festive fave, When You Come Back To Me, being kept off the top by Band Aid II. But perhaps more of the same wasn't working for Jason (particularly as Kylie had the sublime Better The Devil You Know) as the law of diminishing returns kicked in, and pleasant pop ditties like Every Day, Another Night and Rhythm Of The Rain failed to make top 5. It's I'm Doing Fine that was a major disappointment – the fifth single from his second album, it peaked at 22, but was a fun musical pastiche paying much tribute to Beatles songs. Indeed, it would work equally well today for McFly or Click Five to update and take into the higher echelons of chartdom. And after that it all went a bit wrong (well apart from doing Joseph and topping the charts with Any Dream Will Do of course). His singles stopped going top 20 (even the superior guitar pop of Mission of Love and a quite lovely cover of As Time Goes By) and soon Jason mania was over. He tried another album in 1993, but the lead off single All Around The World peaked at 41 and a second single, Angel, never got released. But now he's back! Thanks to the power of I'm A Celebrity, he has a myspace site with 2 not bad new songs on and a UK tour. But here's a little tip – for your comeback single Mr D., beg steal and borrow A Little Too Perfect by Alexsander Dendstadt– it's an amazingly catchy ditty and perfect for your vocal stylings. Here's Jason's greatest hits done right…
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Nothing Can Divide Us
Especially For You
All I Wanna Do
Too Many Broken Hearts
Sealed With A Kiss
Every Day
When You Come Back To Me
Hang Onto Your Love
Another Night
Rhythm Of The Rain
I'm Doing Fine (mp3)
Any Dream Will Do
RSVP
Happy Together
Mission of Love
As Time Goes By (mp3)
All Around The World
Angel
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LINK: Buy Jason Donovan's greatest hits
LINK: Jason's myspace site
