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Kavana (singer)

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Kavana
Birth nameAnthony Kavanagh
Born (1977-11-04) 4 November 1977 (age 46)
OriginMoston, Manchester, United Kingdom
GenresPop
InstrumentsVocals
Years active1996–2015
LabelsVirgin (1996–2000)

Kavana (born Anthony Kavanagh, 4 November 1977)[1] is a British singer and actor who scored a number of hit singles in the late 1990s, and won Smash Hits 'Best Male Artist' award. His second album, 'Instinct', went platinum in Asia; this was followed by a tour of Australia and Japan. Kavana moved to Los Angeles in 2001, where he appeared in cult MTV soap opera 'Undressed' In 2014, he became part of the supergroup 5th Story, who took part in the second series of The Big Reunion, and followed this with a major arena tour in the UK. In 2015, he took part in the fifteenth series of the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother, making the final week.

Career

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He released two albums, Kavana (1997) and Instinct (1999), and enjoyed a number of chart singles, including "I Can Make You Feel Good" (his debut UK Top 10 hit, reaching number 8), "MFEO" (another number-8 hit) and "Will You Wait for Me?". Other songs included "Crazy Chance", "Thank You" and "Special Kind of Something".[2] He resided in Los Angeles for several years, where he appeared in commercials and the MTV series Undressed, and had a publishing deal as a songwriter. In 2005, he appeared in the music video for Today [citation needed], by his friend Melanie Brown, before returning to the United Kingdom.

In 2006, Kavana played a recurring role in a number of episodes of E4's Hollyoaks: In the City. He also began working with Jools Holland as a session musician and backing vocalist. He appeared as a contestant on Grease Is the Word in April 2007 and got put through to 'boot camp', where he was paired with Alison Crawford. Although Crawford was eliminated, Kavana managed a place in the final, where he was declared runner-up on 9 June 2007.

In 2008, he appeared in the theatre production The Extra Factor, a fictional on-stage musical based on The X Factor.[3]

In 2011 he toured with G*Mania, a musical show inspired by the TV series Glee.[4] The cast recorded a Christmas single, a cover of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Kavana appeared in the music video.

He appeared on the 2013 series of BBC Saturday night singing show The Voice UK, where he failed to progress past the audition stage.[5]

In December 2013, it was announced that Kavana, Dane Bowers, Gareth Gates, Kenzie and Adam Rickitt would join to form a supergroup called 5th Story for series 2 of The Big Reunion.[6]

In January 2015, he took part in the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother. He came 7th. Later that year he released a new single, "Deja Vu", his first for many years.[7]

Personal life

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In February 2014, Kavana came out publicly as gay and said that his biggest regret was never telling his parents.[8] He has battled with alcoholism and been in rehab twice, first in 2017 and again in 2022.[9] In November 2023, he announced he had been sober for a year.[10]

Discography

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Albums

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List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK[2]
Kavana 29
Instinct
  • Released: October 1998
  • Label: Virgin Records (724384660505)
  • Formats: CS, CD
 —

Compilation albums

[edit]
List of compilation albums, with selected details
Title Album details
Special Kind of Something – The Best of Kavana
  • Released: July 2007
  • Label: Virgin Records, EMI Gold (50297528)
  • Formats: CD

Singles

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Year Title Peak chart positions Album
UK
[11] 		AUS
[12] 		GER
[13] 		NZ
[14]
1996 "Crazy Chance" 35 79 79 — Kavana
"Where Are You" 26 — — —
1997 "I Can Make You Feel Good" 8 32 71 —
"MFEO" 8 — 89 —
"Crazy Chance '97" 16 — — — non album single
1998 "Special Kind of Something" 13 83 — — Instinct
"Funky Love" 32 91 — —
1999 "Will You Wait for Me?" 29 65 — 22
2009 "Any Other Way"[15]
(as Anthony Kavanagh) 		— — — — Non-album singles
2015 "Déjà Vu"[16] — — — —

Filmography

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Year Show Role Notes
2001 Undressed Dr. Johnny Season 5; recurring
2006 Hollyoaks: In the City Will 3 episodes; recurring
2014 Mirrors Madonna Short film; Starring Jody Latham
2015 Celebrity Big Brother Himself/Housemate Series 15

References

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  1. ^ Kavana - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 297. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. ^ Photocall for 'The Extra Factor' interactive comedy musical at Salvador & Amanda Archived 8 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine Contactmusic.net. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  4. ^ Barr, Gordon (10 January 2011). "Preview: G*Mania, Theatre Royal, Newcastle". chroniclelive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
  5. ^ TAIT, Adam (5 March 2013) Nineties Star Kavana reveals failure at The Voice audition Gigwise.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  6. ^ Big Reunion 2014 Itv.com. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  7. ^ YouTube - Kavana official channel Youtube.com. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  8. ^ Buckland, Lucy (11 February 2014). "Kavana reveals he is gay aged 36 - and says biggest regret was never telling his parents". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  9. ^ Waheed, Jabeen (12 April 2021). "Kavana receives support as he reveals he relapsed after 100 days of sobriety". Metro. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  10. ^ "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  11. ^ "Official Charts > Kavana". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  12. ^ Australian (ARIA) chart peaks:
  13. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts > Suchen nach: Kavana" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  14. ^ "charts.org.nz > Kavana in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  15. ^ "Any Other Way - Single". Apple Music. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Déjà Vu - Single". Apple Music. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
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