WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Kavana

He can make you feel good! Wanna take a crazy chance on Kavana?

Remember Kavana? The young singer who achieved top ten hits in the late 1990’s and then disappeared? The Manchester born singer Anthony Kavanagh (b.1977) went for his dream of being a pop star in 1996 when he signed to Virgin Records having been ‘discovered’ by Take That‘s manager, Nigel Martin-Smith. Using the stage name ‘Kavana’, Anthony released his debut single, “Crazy Chance”, that Summer. The track featured the backing vocals of one Howard Donald! “Crazy Chance” made the UK top 40 as did the follow up, “Where Are You?” (No.26), but it was his cover of Shalamar‘s 1982 hit “I Can Make You Feel Good” that put Kavana in the limelight when his version went to No.8 in January 1997, just one place lower than the original had made in the UK.

Kavana returned to the top ten just three months later with “MFEO” (UK No.8) prior to the release of his self-titled debut album. Despite star names like Lulu and production from Cutfather and Phil Harding, the album would only peak at No.29 before disappearing. A remix of “Crazy Chance” would find its way to No.16 that Summer, however. Virgin were keen for more and in 1998 Kavana was back with a brand new track, “Special Kind Of Something”, which returned him to the top twenty, although this would be for the last time. His second album, “Instinct”, did nothing, and from it came two further top 40 singles, “Funky Love” (No.32) and “Will You Wait for Me?” in 1999 (UK No.29) before closing time was called and that was the last we heard of the 22 year old for now. Kavana ‘reinvented’ himself as an actor next, appearing in television soaps and series in the early years of the 21st century.

He appeared in Spice Girl Mel B‘s video for her 2005 single “Today” and then joined Jools Holland’s band as a session singer. Kavana recorded and released the song “Any Other Way” under his real name in 2009, while 2015 found him in the celebrity Big Brother house, surviving until day 29. Kavana capitalised on this and released a new single, “Déjà Vu”, soon after, but this found no commercial success and remains, to date, his last musical output. Kavana pops up at 90’s revival festivals from time to time but generally seems to keep a low profile these days. As long as that makes him feel good…!