Casey Donovan (singer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 203.169.21.129 (talk) at 06:49, 6 May 2007 (Removed offensive statement (which also contained spelling errors).). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other people named the singer, see the porn star and Casey Donovan (porn star).
Casey Donovan

Casey Donovan (born May 13, 1983) is a singer of Australian origin. She was the winner of the second season of the reality/talent-search television series Australian Idol. She has had patchy success since then despite being one of the most vocally talented idols to win the competition. On 17 July, 2006, it was announced that Donovan had been dropped by her label Sony BMG because of concerns about her image and poor sales of her albums. [1]

History

Donovan was the youngest person to win the Australian Idol competition and and the biggest person to ever do so in the history of Australia!!!. She won the competition at 16 while still a student at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney, Australia. She comes from a family of musicians, with several of her relatives pursuing musical careers, including her father, a member of indigenous country band The Donovans.

File:Casey winner.jpg
Casey Donovan winning the second season of Australian Idol in 2004

While Donovan performed well throughout the Australian Idol competition, receiving effusive praise from all three judges, she was not widely considered a favourite to win. During the competition, she received some outside success, winning the Most Promising New Talent Award at the 2004 The Deadlys, which honor indigenous talent in Australia. Nevertheless, she surprised many by first making it to the final at the expense of Courtney Murphy, and then defeating widespread favourite Anthony Callea in the final. Her first single, "Listen With Your Heart" was released digitally on November 21, 2004 and officially in stores on November 29, 2004. It debuted at #1 on the ARIAnet singles chart, while her album For You debuted at #2 on the album charts. Her second single "What's Going On?" debuted in the top 20 in February 2005. Her third single "Flow" was released on July 24 2005 but only managed to reach #51.

In just 12 months and now just 17 years of age, Casey has won Australian Idol, three Deadly awards (Most Promising New Talent 2004, best album and best single 2005), received two ARIA nominations (best selling album, best selling single), had a #1 debut single and #2 debut album, and holds the record for fastest download of a single on Telstra's Bigpond. While Callea has been afforded more support, Casey has been busy building her fan base with small intimate gigs at venues such as The Basement (with Wendy Matthews) and The Vanguard, as well as a residency at the Sandringham Hotel. She recently was invited to Brisbane to perform at the Foxtel 10th Birthday Party and to Melbourne for her first gig in that state held at the Grand Central receiving rave reviews. Casey has spent much of the time this year writing, as well as collaborating with respected Australian song-writers, new material for her next album. This was originally due to be released in mid-2006, but has still not been completed.

Casey is widely recognised as the least successful Australian Idol winner, with only two Top 40 singles. Winners and runners-up (including Anthony Callea, who ultimately lost to Casey) from the first three seasons of Australian Idol have all enjoyed at least double this number. On March 26 2006, she performed at the Closing Ceremony for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games(She broke the whole MCG after her performance).

Donovan's main musical influences are cited as Nirvana, Incubus and Metallica.

In April 2007 it was reported that Donovan had teamed up with the former iron man Guy Leech in an effort to shed her excess weight and restore her singing career[1].

Controversies

  • Sony BMG have dropped her from their record lineup, stating that her family problems do not fit the image they want to promote.
  • She appeared in front of a court and gave an interview to the media, saying that she was taking a restraining order against her family. This is thought to have triggered Sony BMG's plan to drop her.[citation needed]
  • In an interview for the Sydney Morning Herald, Casey was quoted as saying that she smoked excessively and ate Snickers bars for breakfast. Her publicist intervened shortly after to state that certain parts of the interview were taken out of context.
  • Some publications and concerned groups also criticised Donovan for her size and heavy smoking, noting that she was a potentially influential public figure and role model.[citation needed]
  • The day after Casey Donovan's victory in the Idol finals, Telstra's website inadvertently linked to www.caseydonovan.com, at the time a gay porn site, rather than www.caseydonovan.com.au. The mistake was repeated in a full page advertisement in The Age the next day.

Discography

Albums

Album cover Album information
File:Caseydonovan foryou albumcover.jpg
 For You
  • Released: December 13, 2004 (Australia)
  • Chart Positions: #2 (Australia)
  • Certifications: 3x platinum (ARIA)

Singles

Year Song Australia Certification Album
2004 "Listen with Your Heart" 1 2x platinum (ARIA) For You
2005 "What's Going On?" 18 For You
2005 "Flow" 51 For You

Australian Idol performances

During the 2004 Australian Idol series, Donovan sang:

References

  1. ^ Saleh, Lillian (April 26 2007). "Casey's life-changing challenge". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-04-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

Preceded by Australian Idol
Winner
Season 2 (2004) 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Casey_Donovan_(singer)&oldid=128592924"