Jason Donovan announces Ten Good Reasons UK tour dates

Jason Donovan has announced a UK tour (Image: Archant)

The star of stage and screen is returning to his roots for a solo tour of his debut 1989 album, Ten Good Reasons, and Greatest Hits.

He will play 20 shows across the country next year, starting at Watford Colosseum on Friday, February 26.

Tickets for the 2016 tour go on sale on Friday, May 15 at 10am.

Ten Good Reasons became the biggest selling album of 1989 and remains a massive fan favourite, featuring two solo number one singles, Too Many Broken Hearts and Sealed with a Kiss.

Jason Donovan will perform debut album Ten Good Reasons in full (Image: Archant)

It also featured a duet with Kylie Minogue, Especially for You, which topped the charts.

Talking about re-living Ten Good Reasons and playing it 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.

Jason Donovan in The King's Speech [Picture: Hugo Glendinning] (Image: Archant)

“It was the perfect marriage between music and personality. I was 21 at the time... Wow!”

The tour will see Jason play Ten Good Reasons in its entirety for the first time, alongside some greatest hits.

Jason 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.”

Pop star, actor and a musical lead for several decades now, 80s icon Jason Donovan shot to stardom 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 Neighbours star Kylie Minogue.

Neighbours celebrated 30 years in production this year and Jason 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 the Stock 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 number five in the UK, in 1988.

His follow-up Especially For You, the 1988 duet with Kylie, topped the UK charts and was the first of four number one singles for Donovan.

Jason and Kylie’s classic duet has now sold more than one million copies in the UK.

In 1989, PWL boss Pete Waterman took Jason on his Hitman Roadshow.

On recording with the SAW production team, Jason said: “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.”

He added: “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.”

Too Many Broken Hearts was Jason’s first solo number one.

Jason said: “Too Many Broken Hearts changed my life. To this very day every time I play that song live the entire audience goes nuts.

“It’s classic SAW but sincerely written with me in mind. I think it’s my signature tune. I’m sure for many people it signifies that emotional connection with a particular time in their lives. It does for me.”

Jason followed up Too Many Broken Hearts with another chart-topper, Sealed With A Kiss, which went straight in at number one in June 1989.

When his cover of the Brian Hyland song entered the UK charts, 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.

Next year’s tour marks a huge step for the 80s heartthrob – it will be the first time he has toured as a solo artist for six years and the first time playing the Ten Good Reasons album.

In recent years Jason has performed on the musical theatre stage across the globe, appearing in leading shows from The Rocky Horror Show to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sweeney Todd, 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.

He also presents a 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.

His non-stop schedule currently sees him touring the UK in the highly-acclaimed play The King’s Speech.

Jason added: “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 album which has a place in so many peoples’ hearts and one which remains a huge fan favourite.”

* Tickets for the tour cost £32.50 and £28.50, and £35 and £32.50 for the London show.