Jason Donovan will sing hits from Ten Good Reasons album in Sheffield and Nottingham

Superstar singer Jason Donovan will tour to Sheffield and Nottingham to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his debut album Ten Good Reasons.
Jason Donovan.Jason Donovan.
Jason Donovan.

Jason will be singing his biggest hits and fans’ favourites for the first time in four years during this autumn’s UK tour which visits Sheffield City Hall on September 23 and Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on October 9.

His setlist will include the chart-toppers Too Many Broken Hearts, million-selling Especially For You and iconic Any Dream Will Do.

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The Australian star said: “The Even More Good Reasons to tour is a real opportunity to make people feel good. You can’t beat a live band, and the interaction with an audience. I like to create a show which is not just about singing songs, I like people to come into my world through the music, the stories, the visuals and feel they’ve got to know me a little more personally. The music becomes a sentence in which my life is the complete story. My shows are almost autobiographical in a way.

“Having not done my own live shows for a while I can’t wait to get out there again amongst my fans and deliver a new energetic show that is both personal, creative and reflective ... something that is both nostalgic and just a good night out. I’ve always thought that music is magic. There is nothing like that emotional connection of delivering a song on stage and watching an audience respond to that moment.”

After years of successful touring the country in huge productions like Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds, and with a triumphant return to Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in London’s West End, Jason feels the time is right to get back to basics and return to straight-up performing, with the spotlight on his stellar back catalogue – just him and the audience.

After his surprise appearance with his pal Kylie Minogue at her Hyde Park gig in 2018, duetting once more on their million-selling collaboration Especially For You, the reception was off the scale. It was clear there was huge demand for Jason and that’s why he’s ready to give the fans what they really want: the hits, plus, of course, a few underrated gems and some surprises along the way.

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Jason said, “From my Doin Fine tour in 1990 to Ten Good Reasons in 2016 and throughout my musical stage career, performing live has been a pivotal part of my professional growth. I get such a rush, and energy from a live audience - it’s like a drug - it’s something that inspires me and even today, sometimes scares me. The anxiety before going onstage is palpable and it’s this energy alone that is almost addictive in a way and keeps me coming back for more.”

For Jason, nothing is more important than his fans – they have been with him since the beginning, through all the highs and lows. Jason also recognises that we live in nostalgic times – vintage hits and videos are now freely available for anyone to find online, which has helped not only to keep him in the hearts and minds of loyal, longstanding fans, but introduce him to new generations too, especially after his appearance on BBC One’s Saturday night ratings juggernaut, ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Jason’s music from the peak of his chart career brings back happy memories for much of his audience, who will look back on the 80s and 90s as the best days of their lives. Jason’s 2016 tour, where he played not only his greatest hits but debut Ten Good Reasons in its entirety, was a massive success. But it’s not just about nostalgia – it’s about sharing those moments where, in a world of uncertainty, music can make you feel so “happy together”.

In a time where celebrity status is slightly easier to attain thanks to reality TV and the growth of YouTube stars, it may be hard to comprehend the scale of Jason’s fame in the late 1980s and early 90s. Thanks to his role as Scott Robinson in Australian daytime soap ‘Neighbours’, Jason was a regular fixture in millions of British homes, twice a day, five days a week. Thanks to his character’s on-screen romance with Charlene, played by Kylie Minogue – not to mention rumours that the pair were just as close once the cameras stopped rolling – Jason was soon a pin-up for many teenagers. Kylie and Jason’s fictional wedding as Scott and Charlene was watched by more than 19 million viewers in the UK.

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Once Kylie departed the soap for her burgeoning singing career, it was only a matter of time before the talented Jason would also flex his vocal cords and head to the UK to work with the era-defining producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, starting out with top five smash Nothing Can Divide Us, perhaps an edgier, rockier sound than many were expecting. This was followed by the duet everyone was waiting for: Especially For You, with Kylie. The devoted duo were beaten to Christmas No.1 by Cliff Richard, but Especially For You did become the first chart-topper of 1989, staying there for three weeks and giving Jason his first Number 1 single.

Jason said, “Following on from the success of Neighbours, I was lucky that I had my first musical success during an era when pop music was so alive. Mullets, double denim and Jive Bunny aside, I was and am a massive fan of the 80s. I look back at those times with such affection and sometimes have to pinch myself to think that, I was able to play a massive part of forming popular culture at the time. I’ve always said, you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. To be able to relive these moments through music is an incredible gift.”

Three more chart-topping songs would follow, two straightaway: the iconic Too Many Broken Hearts, and Jason’s emotional cover of Sealed With A Kiss, which went straight in at Number 1 – a very rare occurrence in the 1980s. Jason’s fourth stint at the top of the Official Singles Chart came in 1991, amid his recordbreaking run in the lead role of a revived Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, spending two weeks there with Any Dream Will Do.

Jason’s chart career is impressive: 16 top 40 singles, including 10 top 10s, four of which went to number one. His array of hits includes singalong smashes like When You Come Back to Me and Everyday (I Love You More) .

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His debut album Ten Good Reasons spent a month at number one and was the biggest selling album of the year in 1989, shifting 1.5 million copies. Sophomore effort Between the Lines peaked at number two; his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat album was a chart-topper in 1991; and a Greatest Hits the same year also went top ten.

While his soap days may be long behind him, Jason has been a strong presence on TV. He was a finalist in the craziest endurance challenge on TV: I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, he traced his Australian ancestors in an emotional episode of Who Do You Think You Are, and tangoed his way to a very respectable third place in the 2011 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

During 2018 and 2019, Jason went introspective and travelled the UK with his Amazing Midlife Crisis Tour, completing 125 shows including a sold out week at the Edinburgh Fringe, exploring the perils and pitfalls of fame and learning once more to love his famous 80s blond mullet hairstyle. More recently, Jason worked on his first theatre producing project, a new production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, had a triumphant run back at his old stomping ground, the London Palladium performing as Pharaoh in ‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ to sell-out crowds and filmed Dial M For Middlesbrough with Johnny Vegas, Sian Gibson and Joanna Page.

But now, the spotlight is firmly back on Jason and the songs that mean so much to his huge army of fans. Even More Good Reasons promise to be an emotional, exuberant night fans will never forget.

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Tickets to see Jason at Sheffield City Hall cost £42.25; go to www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/35005734EB3073C9 or call 0114 2789789; tickets to his Nottingham concert cost from £38.50; go to https://trch.co.uk/?s=Jason+Donovan or call 0115 9895555.