Jason Donovan: ‘When you’re No 1, there’s only one place to go: backwards’

For many a young woman, the pop idol is the hitching post between the Barbie Townhouse and her first kiss In 1989, teen idols didn't come much bigger than Jason Donovan. Buoyed by his collaboration with Kylie Minogue (his on-screen wife in Neighbours and, though we were blissfully unaware at the time, his off-screen girlfriend), he sold millions of records. At a time when it truly mattered, Donovan held the top spot in the albums and singles charts for weeks at a time.

Now the pop idol of yesteryear is a dad being dragged to pop concerts himself. The father to Jemma (16), Zac (15) and Molly (5) says listening to today’s chart music keeps him “fresh and young”.

“I find it exciting,” says Donovan, who is 49. The kids are into their One Directions and their Biebers. The five-year-old wants to go see Justin Timberlake, which is a bit of an odd request.”

He is also approaching something resembling elder statesman status in his working life. We meet post-matinee in a theatre in Leicester where Donovan is starring in a new play.

Million Dollar Quartet, which is coming to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre early next year, focuses on the fateful day that Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins jammed together in Sun Studios. Presiding over the afternoon is Sun Studios impresario Sam Phillips (Donovan). In a cast of young gunslingers, Donovan is the stage veteran.

When the show comes to Dublin, he won’t be spending his downtime partying with his younger cohorts.

“I do a lot of walking. I swim and relax,” he says. “In fact, I do more relaxing on the road than at home. I’m not someone who stays up late after a show. If I go to a bar with the rest of the gang it becomes an endurance, and I don’t need that.”

Boyish appeal

Donovan’s handshake is bone-crushingly strong; a hefty streak of that famous boyish appeal still intact. Checking his phone and watch, he’s evidently wary of media interviews. A deep thinker, certainly, but he’s also perfected the fine art of the evasive answer.

I ask him how he would have coped in today’s Twitter-driven world, where his successors are patrolled and trolled by young fans. “It’s just a different way of doing things. Besides, there are a lot of advantages to Twitter. It would have been a fantastic tool back to have back in 1990, and that way I wouldn’t have had stacks of fan mail to deal with.”

Yet if he’s bored of women my age telling him that they were obsessed with him at the age of 10 (which, full disclosure, I do), he doesn’t show it.

"It happens a lot," he admits. "It doesn't happen as much as it used to. But, look, Neighbours, and the music, creates an emotional connection with the audience. Music is a very powerful medium, and Neighbours is the soundtrack to our childhood."

When the then 21-year-old was playing live to tens of thousands of tweens, hen preferred to listen to the likes of New Order and The Cure.

"I remember doing Rewind in Cheshire, and they had the guy from Heaven 17 and Peter Hook perform, and then I had to get up and sing Any Dream Will Do," he smiles.

"There came a point, after Joseph (in 1991, he appeared in Joseph & the Technicolor Dreamcoat in London), where I probably listened to too many Nirvana records and thought that creativity came by being sort of self-indulgent and heading down that darker route. But then you sober yourself up and you realise that creativity comes from a place that has to be disciplined and worked at."

It’s not unusual for popstars to strain on the creative leash, not least in the winter of their young careers. But what does he think might have happened had he made a Nirvana kind of record?

“Dunno! Probably nothing!” he laughs. “There’s probably been a little, probably my only . . . I don’t regret, that’s a waste of emotion, but it’s something I’d like to have done differently. I’ve always been hesitant of taking risks. Only now I get a little more sure of myself that I don’t really mind failure.”

Cocaine and libel

The aforesaid "darker route" is glossed over, yet for Donovan the post-pop lows were famously as ear-popping as the highs. There was a highly documented cocaine abuse problem (he reportedly suffered a drug-induced seizure at Kate Moss' 21st birthday party at the Viper Room), and a libel action against The Face magazine, which published allegations that he was gay. (He later called the episode "the biggest mistake of his life".)

Pop stardom may have been a fickle and cruel mistress, but musical/theatre work been Donovan's career sweet spot. He has worked consistently on musicals from The Rock Horror Picture Show to Sweeney Todd, branching out into more dramatic fare such as The King's Speech in later years.

These days, Donovan is pragmatic about his early pop career: “Ultimately, if you get into that business, you want success, and I got it in abundance,” he reflects. “When you’re No 1, there’s only one place to go: backwards. And the press, with respect, is only interested in one thing: whether you’re up or down.”

What does success mean nowadays?

“For some people it’s getting out of bed in the morning. For others, it’s curing cancer. For others, it’s being on TV every day.”

For Donovan, it’s all about the marathon, not the sprint. “I have a family and we like to live well and do nice things, and that costs money,” he says. “Like anyone, I have to go to work in the morning.”

Later in the year, Donovan will dust off his popstar hat and take the five-times-platinum 1989 album Ten Good Reasons out on the road for eight UK dates.

“They’re great as long as that’s not my entire career,” he says of the live dates. “I said to my people, ‘I couldn’t just gig Jason Donovan 1989 all year. I’d go f***ing nuts.’”

Career worries

Though his career in theatre is assured, does he ever experience anxiety over it?

“Oh always, yeah,” he nods. “I still worry about what’s happening next year. Do I enjoy doing eight shows a week, travelling the country nine months a year? It’s hard. I’d rather be at home. Though if I were in film or TV, I’d be shooting somewhere like South Africa and I’d not see the kids for three months.”

Still, that is not without appeal, he admits. “I’d love to do some TV or film, but that hasn’t been as forthcoming.”

Surely the makers of Eastenders or Coronation Street would love to have the original soap prince stride on set? "Yeah, but would I want to move to Manchester when my family are in London?"

What about working Stateside, a transition mastered by such former Neighbours colleagues as Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Alan Dale?

“Put it this way. In respect of me branching out into other areas and doing straight film, the good news is that you’re Jason Donovan. And the bad news is that you’re Jason Donovan.”

The less said about a mooted return to the set of Neighbours for a 30th anniversary special, the better: "I'm done with Neighbours, and I'm done with people speculating about us coming back when that gets headlines for them."

Donovan sighs. “But it’s launched some wonderful careers. So many people – Guy, Ben Mendelsohn, Natalie Imbruglia, Kylie . . . wow, what an export. But it’s not something I tend to want to go back into.”

Instead, Donovan keep his eye trained forward; specifically, preparing for tonight’s show. As he leaves the theatre for dinner, he runs into a smattering of fans. Sure enough, they’re every bit as besotted with him as they likely were decades ago.

Million Dollar Quartet run at Dublin's Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from February 20th-25th. bordgaisenergytheatre.ie