b. Anthony Kavanagh, 4 November 1977, Manchester, England. A pop protégé developed by well-known entrepreneur Nigel Martin-Smith, who originally pieced together Take That, Kavana made his debut for Martin-Smith’s Virgin Records -affiliated Nemesis label in 1996. His debut single, ‘Crazy Chance’, was written by former Take That member Howard Donald, though his second release and all bar one track of his subsequent debut album were self-penned. The smooth soul pop of ‘Where Are You’ provided typical boy-pop fare, with a quotient of street hipness lent by the production work of Joey Negro on the b-side, ‘For The Very First Time’. The a-side was produced by Phil Green, previously a collaborator with Carleen Anderson and the Brand New Heavies, who also worked on Kavana’s album debut. Throughout 1996 Kavana built his profile by appearing on a number of British youth television shows and touring with Boyzone, and achieved UK Top 10 success the following year with a slick cover version of Shalamar’s ‘I Can Make You Feel Good’ and ‘MFEO’. He was voted Best Male Singer at 1997’s Smash Hits Poll Winners’ Party, before jetting off to Italy to record his second album with producers Absolute. ‘Special Kind Of Something’ debuted at number 13 in September 1998, but the Philly soul-styled ‘Funky Love’ stalled at number 32 in December.