Jason Donovan was the rock-loving teenage hipster and wannabe actor who was seduced by the power of pop. Even among Stock Aitken Waterman’s impressive stable, he seemed born to stardom; that part of his career didn’t quite work out the way he might have planned, but today he looks back on the whole experience with grace and good humour…

JOHN EARLS

Playing a Rewind Festival in Cheshire recently, Jason Donovan was awestruck to realise he’d be going on after one of his heroes - New Order bassist Peter Hook, performing at Rewind with his current band Peter Hook And The Light. “I’m a big, big New Order fan,” says Jason, still thrilled to have shared a stage with Hooky. “There was Peter Hook, singing Love Will Tear Us Apart with his shirt flying and his bass slung low, down by his pants.” He delivers a perfectly-timed comic pause. “Then 30 minutes later, I get up and sing Any Dream Will Do. And you know what? The crowd responded exactly the same. Time sorts out any issues about ‘credibility’. It doesn’t f***ing matter.”

Jason Donovan is wholly aware of what people think of him, because he’s been reminded about it ever since his closest teenage friends in Australia were stunned when the lad who’d grown up listening to New Order, Heaven 17, David Bowie and “earthy Australian bands” like Hoodoo Gurus suddenly released Too Many Broken Hearts. “When I signed to Stock Aitken Waterman, my mates from school were going ‘But Jason, you love Midnight Oil!’,” laughs Jason, continuing to summon up his friends’ outrage. “’What the hell are you doing? Your stuff is a long way from The Church!’”

CHOOSING TO FLY

For a long time, it bothered Jason Donovan that he wasn’t making music more aligned with his formative tastes. But he’s come to terms with being a superb entertainer, more than happy to celebrate his hits on tour this autumn. “I never thought further than being an actor,” says Jason of his early cheesy image. “I’d gone into Neighbours and got seduced by the opportunities Stock Aitken Waterman promised. They were as big as any pop star and, because of Neighbours, they were able to promise I’d be a priority for them. That’s always a nice place to be; I knew I’d be guaranteed to get on the radio.”

Jason was of course dating Kylie at the time, and had seen her blast into the stratosphere with their help. “Kylie wasn’t just smashing it as a pop star, she was flying,” Jason recalls. “I’d watch Kylie and think ‘Jeez, I want some of that!’ In a way, that put me off signing to SAW at first because, post-Kylie, me joining them too was such an obvious move. I entertained other options with other record labels. But, in the end, you couldn’t beat what SAW were offering. If I went with someone else, there was no guarantee it’d be any better and it probably wasn’t going to be as successful. So I thought ‘Let’s be smart about this - let’s go where it’s working.’”