611 Hello Jason Donovan - Notthing Can Divide Us

Chart  entered  : 10  September  1988

Chart  peak : 5

Number  of  hits  : 17

It's  hard  to  be  really  nasty  about  a  genuinely  nice  bloke  whose  own  musical  tastes  were   well  removed  from  the  records  he  made  but  he  went  along  for  the  ride. Nobody  put  a  gun   to  his  head.

Jason  Donovan  ( born  1968 )  is  the  son  of   the  reasonably  successful  Anglo-Australian  actor   Terence  Donovan. He  himself  started  acting  in  1980  in  a  series  called  Skyways  where  one  of  his  co-stars  was  the  equally  youthful  Kylie  Minogue. His  career  progressed  modestly  until  1986  when  he  replaced  another  actor  as  the  regular  character  Scott  Robinson  in  Neighbours.
This  required  him  to  romance  and  wed  Minogue's  character, one  of  the  TV  events  of  the  eighties. He  and  Minogue  had  an  off screen  relationship  at  the  time  although  how  serious  this  was  remains  a  matter  of  conjecture.

With  Minogue's  pop  career  taking  off  like  a  bomb,  Pete  Waterman's  thoughts  turned  towards  her  charismatic  co-star. When  he  indicated  a  willingness  to  give  it  a  go  Waterman  quickly  signed  him  up.

"Nothing  Can  Divide  Us"  was  his  first  single,  its  release  carefully  timed  to  coincide  with  the  screening  of  the  wedding  episode  in  the  UK  that  autumn.  By  now  the  terrible  trio's   tamed   down  Hi-NRG  backing  tracks  had  become  instantly  recognisable  and  the  only  trace  of  originality  here  is  the  little  guitar  solo  in  the  middle  eight  which  was  perhaps  a  concession  to  Jason's  rocker  aspirations . Otherwise  it's  a  midddling  aong  by  their  standards. Like  most  actors,  Jason  is  a  functional  singer ; you  don't  hear  his  voice  and  think  "ooh  that's  bad"  but  there's  nothing  in  it  that  would  sell  records  without  his  looks  and  TV  fame  and  that's  the  story  of  his  entire  career.