Kavana (singer)

Kavana (born Anthony Kavanagh, 4 November 1977) is a British singer and actor who scored a number of hit singles in the late 1990s, and won Smash Hits 'Best Male Artist' award. His second album, 'Instinct', went platinum in Asia; this was followed by a tour of Australia and Japan. Kavana moved to Los Angeles in 2001, where he appeared in cult MTV soap opera 'Undressed' In 2014, he became part of the supergroup 5th Story, who took part in the second series of The Big Reunion, and followed this with a major arena tour in the UK. In 2015, he took part in the fifteenth series of the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother, making the final week.

Career
He released two albums, Kavana (1997) and Instinct (1999), and enjoyed a number of chart singles, including "I Can Make You Feel Good" (his debut UK Top 10 hit, reaching number 8), "MFEO" (another number-8 hit) and "Will You Wait for Me?". Other songs included "Crazy Chance", "Thank You" and "Special Kind of Something". He resided in Los Angeles for several years, where he appeared in commercials and the MTV series Undressed, and had a publishing deal as a songwriter. In 2005, he appeared in the music video for Today, by his friend Melanie Brown, before returning to the United Kingdom.

In 2006, Kavana played a recurring role in a number of episodes of E4's Hollyoaks: In the City. He also began working with Jools Holland as a session musician and backing vocalist. He appeared as a contestant on Grease Is the Word in April 2007 and got put through to 'boot camp', where he was paired with Alison Crawford. Although Crawford was eliminated, Kavana managed a place in the final, where he was declared runner-up on 9 June 2007.

In 2008, he appeared in the theatre production The Extra Factor, a fictional on-stage musical based on The X Factor.

In 2011 he toured with G*Mania, a musical show inspired by the TV series Glee. The cast recorded a Christmas single, a cover of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Kavana appeared in the music video.

He appeared on the 2013 series of BBC Saturday night singing show The Voice UK, where he failed to progress past the audition stage.

In December 2013, it was announced that Kavana, Dane Bowers, Gareth Gates, Kenzie and Adam Rickitt would join to form a supergroup called 5th Story for series 2 of The Big Reunion.

In January 2015, he took part in the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother. He came 7th. Later that year he released a new single, "Deja Vu", his first for many years.

Personal life
In February 2014, Kavana came out publicly as gay and said that his biggest regret was never telling his parents. He has battled with alcoholism and been in rehab twice, first in 2017 and again in 2022. In November 2023, he announced he had been sober for a year.