Jason Donovan
Jason Donovan is set to release his first album in 15 years. Inspired by the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, ‘Let It Be Me’ pays homage to an era of romance.
We caught up with the musical legend to find out about life on stage, what he wants to do with one day left to live and the question we all want answering; does he really have Technicolor socks?
Hey Jason, how are you?
I’m good thanks how are you?
Fine thanks. What have you been up to recently?
I am just about to launch my record which comes out on the 10 of November. It’s something I’m very proud of and it’s a compilation of late fifties and early sixties songs and I think it’s been really well put together and sounds very authentic and nostalgic.
I’m also on tour from late November to the 22 of December and then I’m on holiday… wahoo!
Jealous! Lucky for some! So how did you choose which songs made it onto the album?
Well I had a help from various people and sought other people’s opinions and feelings about stuff and then ultimately I had to make the final decision which was difficult because there were some fantastic tunes written in that period.
The actual idea to make the recording came form a compilation album called Dream Boats And Petticoats which was released through Universal and was very successful and what happened was myself and a couple of others wrote a song for submission called Dream Boars and Petticoats for a musical of the same name which might happen in a couple of years.
So far they have accepted that song and Universal thought we should do a record of the same period so we kept it really authentic so really my vocal is the thing that makes it unique.
So are you looking forward to getting back on the road and touring this record?
Yeah. It’s not tour per se anymore. It’s an English tour so it’s not a massive three month tour across Europe but it’s still extremely tiring and quite difficult. However I am genuinely up for the challenge and I have a broad audience who have been very loyal to me over the years so I’m going to be out there and telling them my story.
My shows are more than just music you know.
I like shows like that! What can fans expect from it?
Its going to be a really good show; I’ll get to profile the new record and I’ll also play all the oldies too!
You’re also appearing in the West End next March in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert; how are preparations going for that?
To be honest with you I haven’t really put that hat on yet. I’ve got so much going on at the moment that I haven’t really thought about that yet. It’s a great film and in the current climate with the credit crunch, it might be the perfect antidote to slitting one’s wrists.
I haven’t seen the show myself yet so I don’t know what to expect but if the film’s going to be anything to go by it will be quite a lot of fun!
Is the West End like a second home to you now?
I like working really. I just like keeping busy and I think that doing a West End show is hard work but it’s very rewarding and it’s also working with a team of people and it’s very exciting.
So you have been really busy then, is there anything else coming up for you?
Well to be honest it’s bad enough for the next six to eight weeks - it’s really hectic. The tour and the album are the two main things going on.
What are you going to do with your time off then?
We’re thinking about going away at Christmas to somewhere warm to give me some time with my family because next year is going to be pretty much concentrated on the Theatrical experience so I’m just going to have some time off.
Well deserved too! You’ve done so much in your career buy what has been the proudest moment so far?
Hopefully that’s yet to come. But I would argue that if you’re talking about personally it would have to be the birth of my children. That is my proudest moment definitely.
What is left on your ‘to do’ list?
I have to say that I would bloody love to write a song like ‘wonder wall’ or something like that; I would love to be part of something like that where a song becomes such an anthem. I’ve seen how it works and what I’ve experienced in my life so I can honestly say that it is on the top of my list.
I totally agree, I would love something like that; are Oasis one of your musical inspirations then?
I look up to people that work hard; I believe that hard work pays off. If you want to know if I’m inspired by anyone in particular I love people like Bono and Geldof who use celebrity as a currency and create a message about what they’re doing.
I feel that they are the things that inspire me; people striving to do more. But we tend to forget that there are people out there who save lives and they are the people who really inspire me. Entertainment has it’s place but there are far bigger things going on in the world.
What’s in your CD player at the moment?
I don’t have a CD player now, I’m an iPod person at the moment. I’m liking listening to The Killers and Kings Of Leon and I also like the radio because it gives you such variety.
If you had one last thing to do with your life before you died with money being no object; what would it be?
Spend it with my kids.
Aww, that’s nice. So we ask every celebrity we interview to come up with a question for the next celebrity and Will Young wants to know what is your favourite colour of socks to wear?
Oh crikey, couldn’t he think of a better question to that. But I would have to say multi-coloured - a bit like a Paul Smith rug.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison