popography
Anthony Kavanagh, otherwise known as Kavana, appeared to spread his musical joy in 1996 with the delicious Crazy Chance.
Written by Howard Donald from Take That, Kavana was unsure about launching his pop career with someone else’s track as he writes his own music
But having your debut single written by a Take That member was pretty cool. I remember being so nervous the first time I did it on T.V. it was decided that I must sing live on live & kicking to show that I was the “real deal”. No pressure!
Kavana, twitter
Next up, for that all important second single we have the sultry Where Are You.
Written by Kavana, Where Are You showed the world there was more to him than a bop. This shows off his soulful voice beautifully. He recently took to twitter to talk about his first album. Here’s what he said about this track:
WhereAreYou This was one of the first songs I ever wrote. I had a little 4 track porta studio tape recorder set up in my bedroom where I would write and record my demos. I’ve no idea where the words came from as I’d never been in a relationship before.
I think it was more me imagining what it would be like to have your heart broken. I was a big fan of producer Ian green who agreed to produce this and other songs on the album.
I couldn’t think of lyrics to the middle 8 for this track so found a violin sound on my keyboard and wrote that instead. It was pretty cool when Ian brought in a real violinist to play what I had written. I felt very clever that day.
Kavana, twitter
With his first two singles failing to hit the Top 20, it was crisis time. He needed a hit…
I Can Make you feel Good. The album was finished and ready to go but the first two singles hadn’t gone top 20 and the pressure was on for a hit.
The etiquette for pop acts at the time was if you need a hit, do a cover. I finally agreed on this one as I loved the song and the soul vibe.
My demo got the thumbs up and was sent to producers Absoulte (who had just done work with the Spice Girls). I shot the video in London with Melanie Sykes who was a great laugh. I’ll never forget the day the chart was announced.
This song had to be top 20 otherwise my album wasn’t going to be released. My mum passed me the phone it was my Tour manager Ying and she told me it was number 8. Phew. With it being top 10, I performed on TOTP which was a dream come true.
Kavana, twitter
Next up, he became so popular he didn’t even need words in his song titles…
MFEO. The producers of the moment were Cutfather & Joe and they put their pop r’n’b stamp on it . I worked with Elliot Kennedy quite a lot after this. We filmed the video the morning after the Brit awards 97. On the early morning shoot, I was a bit worse for wear. But luckily I just had to roll around in a tunnel for most of it and try to look like a popstar
I still get asked what does MFEO stand for (Made for each other). Did loads of promotion for this one and got my first Smash Hits front cover. My curtains had never looked so good.
Kavana, twitter
Now that he had two Top.10 hits under his belt and a wider audience, his first single was given a re-hash…
The debut album, Kavana, spent 5 weeks in the UK Top.40 album chart, and with two Top.10 singles to his name, album number two was in the making. A year later we had something very special…
Special Kind Of Something showed a mature sound to Kavana, he’d grown up over the year he took to make this album. This song is my favourite of his singles. It really is gorgeous.
It just missed the Top.10 going in at No.13 in the UK Top 40 Singles Chart.
Next up, things get a little funky…
I really love this song. It’s got a ‘George Michael’ vibe. Unfortunately, it failed to do the business in the chart, but the release for the third single went ahead…
Will You Wait For Me is a beautiful, self-penned ballad about his mother. This also failed to do the business chart wise which is another massive hate crime against pop. Never has a ballad been more heartfelt and well sung. This song is proof of his artistry.
grease is the word
2007 saw Kav hit the ITV talent show: Grease Is The Word, to find a new Danny & Sandy for Grease the Musical. Kav made it through the audition process, onto the final sixteen who were paired up as Danny & Sandy. Kav won his way through to the final but was just pipped at the post, coming second to Danny Bayne. I really loved this show, and enjoyed having him back in the spotlight again. He did great, and would’ve made a great Danny.
the big reunion: 5th story
2014 saw Kav team up with fellow popsmith_official fav Adam Rickitt, Dane Bowers, Gareth Gates and Kenzo. Personally, I would have much preferred Kav and Adam to be part of the show on their own merit but this is what we got, and it was certainly a moment.
I was lucky enough to see the show at Hammersmith Apollo and it was great to see two of my favs back on stage again.
deja vu
2015 saw a brief return to music with Deja Vu…
This is a cute lil bop! Very under the radar, but the video has had over 22,000 views on youtube! I was just so happy he had a new song.
I should be writing about album after album, hit after hit, but unfortunately we have reached the end of Kavana’s music catalogue so far. It just isn’t fair. #JusticeForKav!
He has told me on twitter that there is new music in the works…
Fingers crossed!
popsmith_official 