Jason Donovan heads to Leeds with Greatest Hits tour

The 80s heartthrob will play 31 dates on a UK-wide tour and will hit Leeds Town Hall on Friday March 4 next year.

Ten Good Reasons became the biggest selling album of 1989 and remains a massive fan favouite with two solo No.1 singles “Too Many Broken Hearts” and “Sealed with a Kiss”. It also featured a duet with Kylie Minogue, “Especially for You”, which reached No.1.

Jason Donovan said: “The response to the tour has been totally overwhelming. I have been shocked and humbled by the speed at which these shows sold. Ten Good Reasons’ was life changing for me the first time around and it’s already proving to be life changing again.”

Pop star, actor and a musical lead for several decades now, 80s icon Jason Donovan shot to superstardom as the blue-eyed, blonde-haired heartthrob in the Aussie soap Neighbours. In the late 1980s, the UK was in the throes of a serious case of Neighbours fever. The show was watched by 20 million viewers and Jason Donovan became one of the world’s teenage sweethearts alongside fellow Neighbour’s star Kylie Minogue.

Neighbours celebrated 30 years in production this year. Jason Donovan appeared alongside Kylie in a special edition Neighbours 30th: The Stars Reunite, as cast members past and present looked back on the years of Ramsay Street. Jason also became an honorary member of EastEnders when the soap’s cast paid tribute to the antipodean show’s 30th anniversary.

As soap’s golden boy, the offers rolled in. Described by the Guinness Book Of Hit Singles as “the top teen idol of the late 1980s”, Jason Donovan was signed to theStock Aitken Waterman production team and Pete Waterman’s label PWL in the wake of the huge success of fellow “Neighbours” star Kylie Minogue. Jason’s pop career took off when his debut single ‘Nothing Can Divide’ us hit No.5 in the UK in 1988. His follow-up 1988 duet with Kylie, ‘Especially For You’, topped the UK charts and was the first of four No. 1 singles for Donovan.

Jason and Kylie’s classic duet has now sold over a million copies. ‘Especially For You’ is only the 154th single to join the exclusive million sellers’ club. ‘Especially For You’ was Jason Donovan’s first Number 1 – he’d have three more – so it’s only fitting it should be his first million-seller too!

In 1989, PWL boss Pete Waterman took Jason on his Hitman Roadshow and says ‘Jasonmania’ became a real phenomenon. Waterman says the singer was PWL’s biggest star and the fans reaction was like nothing he’d seen before or since.

Talking about re-living ‘Ten Good Reasons’ and playing his Greatest Hits to an audience Jason said; “You know, I’ve never played some of these songs live ever before! Music has a wonderful opportunity to put you in a time and place, an emotional connection that no other creative medium can. Ten Good Reasons was a defining moment for me and my fans. It was the perfect marriage between music and personality. I was 21 at the time ... Wow !

“The opportunity to work with Stock Aitken and Waterman, who were the hottest producers at the time, was a dream come true for me. I was a big fan of Rick Astley’s album and absolutely loved Never Gonna Give You Up and couldn’t believe my luck when working with SAW became a reality. The melodies, the production, the whole package was like a first class ride.

“Hearing the completed versions of ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’ and ‘Especially For You’ in particular, were moments in my professional life that I will never forget, the door was wide open and I was at the centre of this incredible moment in time. You just knew that something magical was happening. It was very exciting. Only when I realise now that these are distant memories, do I appreciate how lucky I was. The great thing about this tour is, I can re-live those feelings and share it with the fans who were there with me. They will have their own stories of firsts and growing up too.”

Jason followed up ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’ with another chart-topper – ‘Sealed With A Kiss’ which went straight in at Number 1 in June. When his cover of Brian Hyland’s “Sealed with a Kiss” entered the UK charts at number one, Donovan became the first Australian male to ever hold both UK single and UK album chart number one positions simultaneously. Between 1988 and 1992, Donovan achieved 16 Top 40 hit singles in the UK and two albums.

The tour will see Jason play Ten Good Reasons in its entirety alongside some greatest hits.

He said; “One of my favourite albums of all time was Peter Gabriel’s So. When I saw ads recently for a So album tour, I thought what a good idea! The opportunity to play an album from top to bottom in its true authenticity while giving the fans exactly what they want. I plan to include some tracks in the second half from periods other than 1989, but the audience will know all the songs. All in all a great night I hope!”

A star of stage and screen, and having performed on the musical theatre stage across the globe, Jason Donovan has appeared in hit musicals in leading shows fromThe Rocky Horror Show, to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sweeney Todd, Festen, Joseph, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jeff Wayne’s The War of the Worlds, the Here and Now Tour, The Sound of Music, and Annie Get Your Gun. Jason also presents an All 80s radio show on Heart every Sunday, and has played the celebrity game in I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! and Strictly Come Dancing. Jason’s schedule is non-stop. He has just finished touring the UK in the highly acclaimed play The King’s Speech and in September rejoins the cast of Priscilla for a limited run.

He said; “Whether it’s theatre or touring I’ve always placed a high importance on giving my fans a great live show! I’m looking forward to bringing all the pieces together and creating a show that gives personality, some great memories and most importantly, giving the audience exactly what they want to hear. Although so much time has passed since I recorded Ten Good Reasons, it has the ability to transport us all back to the halcyon days on the 80s and 90s. It’s so touching to have an which has a place in so many peoples’ hearts and one which remains a huge fan favourite.”

For tickets, call the 24 hour hotline on: 0844 338 0000 or visit www.BookingsDirect.com.