Casey Donovan
Casey Donovan was only 16 and still a Sydney school student with little music or singing training, when she reluctantly entered Australian Idol series 2 in 2004, being encouraged by friends & family. Throughout the competition she performed brilliantly week after week and received great praise from all three judges. She went on to win and take out the title of Australian Idol 2004 in front of a packed audience at the Sydney Opera House, Casey created history by becoming the youngest ever to win an Idol competition in the world and the first Australian female and Indigenous winner.
Casey then set about the gruelling process of recording an album in a matter of six days. In November 2004 the first single released from the album, "Listen With Your Heart", debuted at No.1 on the ARIA singles chart and had the highest selling download of all-time from Telstra’s bigpond downloads, while her album "For You" debuted at No.2 on the album charts. The second single "What’s Going On?" debuted in the top 20, in February 2005.
In 2005 Casey was nominated for three Deadly awards winning two - for Best Album and Best Single. Previously Casey had won a Deadly for Most Promising New Talent in 2004. Also in 2005 Casey received two ARIA nominations for Best Album and Best single and was awarded an ARIA No.1 award for "Listen With Your Heart".
After the success and exposure from Australian Idol in 2004, Casey’s music career did not live up to expectations. This has not stopped her from pursuing her music career and only makes her more determined to create her own success, which includes her artwork.
Casey has now produced her own "in house" CD called "EYE 2 EYE" which has been distributed to over 100 radio stations across Australia & has airplay in both UK and USA. The 4 songs on the EP are Shattered, Help Me, Did it Again and Eye 2 Eye. All songs on the EP are written or co-written by Casey. Her artwork is currently being sold locally.
Since the hype of Australian Idol has died down, Casey has been establishing herself as an artist in her own right, and has been enjoying successful gigs at various well known venues such as The Basement, and The Vanguard in Sydney, and the Grand Central Melbourne, for which she has been receiving rave reviews and standing ovations. Casey was also invited to sing at the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony in Melbourne and Queensland to perform at the Woodford Dreaming Festival, The Foxtel 10th Birthday Party and to Tasmania to perform at the Putalina Music Festival, Australia Day at Kalgoorlie WA and more.
Casey has also made several television and radio appearances on such shows as Channel V’s What You Want, MTV’s TRL, Good Morning Australia, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, John Foreman’s Big Night In, Spicks and Specks, The Susie show (WIN TV), Vibe Radio, Koorie Radio 93.7 Kyle & Jackie O (2DAY FM Sydney) amongst others.
Casey also supports a number of charities, Fred Hollows foundation, Jack Newton Diabetes Foundation, SPERANZA Mental Health, MND Society, Leukaemia Foundation (World’s Greatest Shave) “I want to use my own experience to help others if I can help just one person or one cause, then it's worth it. If I can help them through my music, give someone a little bit more peace, I will."
Sourced from http://www.caseydonovan.com.au/