Jason Donovan
Ten Good Reasons
Album · Pop · 1989
Rising to prominence as an actor on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Jason Donovan would eventually be inspired to leave the show to pursue a career in music by fellow Neighbours alumni, emergent pop star and then-girlfriend Kylie Minogue. Donovan was even signed to the same record label—Melbourne-based Mushroom Records—focusing as they were on breaking into the international market. His 1989 debut would help lead this charge alongside Minogue—fittingly prefaced by a dreamy duet with her, “Especially For You,” released as a temperature-testing single in 1988.
The temperature was warm enough that Minogue’s UK production team, Stock Aitken Waterman, eventually acquiesced to working with Donovan on Ten Good Reasons despite fears of over-association. The lead single they wrote for the record, “Nothing Can Divide Us,” was famously rejected by Rick Astley—arguably in part due to its resemblance to his perpetual hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It proved fertile ground for Donovan’s untested vocal talents, though its message of loving solidarity would sadly wither by the end of the year when Donovan and Minogue split up. The record’s biggest hit, opener “Too Many Broken Hearts,” would surprise even Donovan with its outrageous success abroad—just as it unwittingly foretold the romantic upset he’d explore at length on 1990’s Between the Lines.
Ten Good Reasons
Jason Donovan
Rising to prominence as an actor on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Jason Donovan would eventually be inspired to leave the show to pursue a career in music by fellow Neighbours alumni, emergent pop star and then-girlfriend Kylie Minogue. Donovan was even signed to the same record label—Melbourne-based Mushroom Records—focusing as they were on breaking into the international market. His 1989 debut would help lead this charge alongside Minogue—fittingly prefaced by a dreamy duet with her, “Especially For You,” released as a temperature-testing single in 1988.
The temperature was warm enough that Minogue’s UK production team, Stock Aitken Waterman, eventually acquiesced to working with Donovan on Ten Good Reasons despite fears of over-association. The lead single they wrote for the record, “Nothing Can Divide Us,” was famously rejected by Rick Astley—arguably in part due to its resemblance to his perpetual hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It proved fertile ground for Donovan’s untested vocal talents, though its message of loving solidarity would sadly wither by the end of the year when Donovan and Minogue split up. The record’s biggest hit, opener “Too Many Broken Hearts,” would surprise even Donovan with its outrageous success abroad—just as it unwittingly foretold the romantic upset he’d explore at length on 1990’s Between the Lines.
