Kéllé Bryan
Encyclopedia
Kéllé Bryan is a British
singer turned actress and television personality, best known as a member of the girl group Eternal
.
stage school, where she completed eight years of performing arts and qualified as a dance teacher. On her first day at Italia Conti, Kelle met Louise Nurding
- the pair spent almost everyday together for ten years, and remain friends today. While out illegally clubbing aged sixteen one night, the pair met record producer
Denis Ingoldsby, who was forming a girl group
Before finding success with Eternal, Bryan worked as an actor. She has appeared in ITV
's The Bill
, and on 31 March 1992 she appeared as Debbie in BBC
's EastEnders
—a college friend of Lloyd Tavernier (Garey Bridges
)
In 1993 Bryan and Nurding, together with sisters
Easther and Vernie Bennett formed the 1990s award-winning, multi-million selling, chart
-topping British R&B girl group Eternal
. Eternal sold millions of album
s and had many international hits, including 16 consecutive top 15 UK chart singles such as "Stay", "Just a Step from Heaven", "Oh Baby I", "Power of a Woman", "I Am Blessed
", "Someday", "Don't You Love Me", "I Wanna Be the Only One
" and "Angel of Mine".
After Nurding left Eternal in 1995 to pursue a solo career, the three members continued to enjoy success as a three piece until 1997 when, after the release of their Greatest Hits album, the Bennett sisters sacked Bryan via a fax from their solicitor. Following her departure from Eternal, Bryan signed a £1.2 million deal with Mercury Records
and began work on her debut solo album, Breakfast in Bed.
Bryan's first release from the album was the gospel track "Higher Than Heaven", which charted at number fourteen in the UK and was a top three hit on the R&B chart. A year later, this was followed by a second single, an acoustic, mid-tempo track called "I Wanna Know". There was little promotion or airplay for the single and the release was scrapped. Following Bryan's diagnoisis with Systemic lupus erythematosus
(known as SLE or Lupus), she felt she was unable to complete the promotional obligations connected to the release of the album and decided to leave the label.
Bryan was diagnosed with auto-immune disease Lupus
in 1999. She has since become a patron of St Thomas' Lupus Trust.
For a period Bryan hosted the music programme The N List for Nickelodeon
with Dave Berry, but in the main concentrated on recovering from her health problems. She excelled in kick-boxing and launched a management company, "Red Hot Entertainment". In 2004 Bryan appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link
. She was the 3rd one voted off In November 2006, Bryan presented the Urban Music Awards 2006 with Ras Kwame
. A year later she co-hosted ITV Play
's phone-in quiz programme Glitterball
.
In 2008, she contributed backing vocals to "I Found Love", the debut single by Lankai. Bryan also had starring roles in the musical comedy, The X-Tra Factor and a film called A Heart Divided, playing the part of Michelle.
In the summer of 2006 Bryan was a contestant on Love Island 2
, finishing as the female runner-up.
Dancing On Ice
2010
Bryan was reported (4/11/2009) by the Sun Newspaper
that she was to be contestant on the 2010 Series. She became a stand in for the other celebrities if they were forced to pull out. She commented that she would love to do the show.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer turned actress and television personality, best known as a member of the girl group Eternal
Eternal (band)
Eternal were an English R&B girl group formed in 1992. The group featured two sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding...
.
Biography
Aged 11, Bryan joined the Italia Conti AcademyItalia Conti Academy
The Italia Conti Academy is a theatre arts training school based in London. It was founded in 1911 by actress Italia Conti...
stage school, where she completed eight years of performing arts and qualified as a dance teacher. On her first day at Italia Conti, Kelle met Louise Nurding
Louise Redknapp
Louise Elizabeth Redknapp is an English singer and media personality. She was a member of the girl group Eternal from 1992 to 1995, before becoming a solo singer . She has presented several television shows and served as a judge on the UK version of So You Think You Can Dance...
- the pair spent almost everyday together for ten years, and remain friends today. While out illegally clubbing aged sixteen one night, the pair met record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Denis Ingoldsby, who was forming a girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
Before finding success with Eternal, Bryan worked as an actor. She has appeared in ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
, and on 31 March 1992 she appeared as Debbie in BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
—a college friend of Lloyd Tavernier (Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges
Garey Bridges is a British actor, best known for playing the role of Lloyd Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Career:...
)
In 1993 Bryan and Nurding, together with sisters
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...
Easther and Vernie Bennett formed the 1990s award-winning, multi-million selling, chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
-topping British R&B girl group Eternal
Eternal (band)
Eternal were an English R&B girl group formed in 1992. The group featured two sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, alongside Kelle Bryan and Louise Nurding...
. Eternal sold millions of album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s and had many international hits, including 16 consecutive top 15 UK chart singles such as "Stay", "Just a Step from Heaven", "Oh Baby I", "Power of a Woman", "I Am Blessed
I Am Blessed
"I Am Blessed" is a single by Eternal. It was the second single released from Power of a Woman. The single was released just after the girl group just had scored their third #1 hit in Japan with "Who Are You". The single did very well and peaked at #7, spent 12 weeks in the UK Singles Chart and was...
", "Someday", "Don't You Love Me", "I Wanna Be the Only One
I Wanna Be the Only One
"I Wanna Be the Only One" is a single by Eternal. It was the third single released from their album Before the Rain. In May 1997, the group joined forces with US singer BeBe Winans and scored their first - and only - UK chart-topper with this song...
" and "Angel of Mine".
After Nurding left Eternal in 1995 to pursue a solo career, the three members continued to enjoy success as a three piece until 1997 when, after the release of their Greatest Hits album, the Bennett sisters sacked Bryan via a fax from their solicitor. Following her departure from Eternal, Bryan signed a £1.2 million deal with Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
and began work on her debut solo album, Breakfast in Bed.
Bryan's first release from the album was the gospel track "Higher Than Heaven", which charted at number fourteen in the UK and was a top three hit on the R&B chart. A year later, this was followed by a second single, an acoustic, mid-tempo track called "I Wanna Know". There was little promotion or airplay for the single and the release was scrapped. Following Bryan's diagnoisis with Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic lupus erythematosus , often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage...
(known as SLE or Lupus), she felt she was unable to complete the promotional obligations connected to the release of the album and decided to leave the label.
Bryan was diagnosed with auto-immune disease Lupus
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Systemic lupus erythematosus , often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage...
in 1999. She has since become a patron of St Thomas' Lupus Trust.
For a period Bryan hosted the music programme The N List for Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
with Dave Berry, but in the main concentrated on recovering from her health problems. She excelled in kick-boxing and launched a management company, "Red Hot Entertainment". In 2004 Bryan appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
. She was the 3rd one voted off In November 2006, Bryan presented the Urban Music Awards 2006 with Ras Kwame
Ras Kwame
Ras Kwame is a British radio DJ and presenter. He started in the music industry as a club DJ playing hip hop, R&B and reggae in the early 1990s. He then moved on to promoting for Kiss100's groundbreaking Starlight Club night and the Mean Fiddler’s Subterranea Club, bringing over talent from the US...
. A year later she co-hosted ITV Play
ITV Play
ITV Play was a 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc. The ITV Play name continued on the ITV Network until December 2007....
's phone-in quiz programme Glitterball
Glitterball
Glitterball was a live, late night, interactive television quiz show in the United Kingdom. It was broadcast under the ITV Play branding on ITV a few nights a week from around midnight , and from 1.00am on ITV2. The show launched on 19 February 2007. Both Glitterball and Make Your Play alternated...
.
In 2008, she contributed backing vocals to "I Found Love", the debut single by Lankai. Bryan also had starring roles in the musical comedy, The X-Tra Factor and a film called A Heart Divided, playing the part of Michelle.
Reality TV
Love Island 2006In the summer of 2006 Bryan was a contestant on Love Island 2
Love Island
Love Island was a daily British reality television programme. In the show, twelve single celebrities spent five weeks on an island in Fiji. Viewers would vote for the couple they would like to see in the "love shack" where the two would get to know one another better...
, finishing as the female runner-up.
Dancing On Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
2010
Bryan was reported (4/11/2009) by the Sun Newspaper
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
that she was to be contestant on the 2010 Series. She became a stand in for the other celebrities if they were forced to pull out. She commented that she would love to do the show.
Pantomimes
Since Christmas 2005, Bryan has starred in the following pantomimes:- Dec 2005/Jan 2006 as "Jill" in Jack and the BeanstalkJack and the BeanstalkJack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
at the Buxton Opera HouseBuxton Opera HouseBuxton Opera House is in The Square, Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It is a 902-seat opera house that hosts the annual Buxton Festival and International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, among others, as well as pantomime at Christmas, musicals and other entertainments year-round. Hosting live... - Dec 2006/Jan 2007 as "Cinderella" in CinderellaCinderella"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
at the Catford Theatre in London. - Dec 2007/Jan 2008 as "Cinderella" in Cinderella at the Oakengates Theatre, Oakengates, Shropshire
- Dec 2008/Jan 2009 as "Princess Jasmine" in AladdinAladdinAladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
at the Rickmansworth Watersmeet Theatre - Dec 2009/Jan 2010 as "Cinderella" in Cinderella at the Derby Assembly Rooms
- Dec 2010/Jan 2011 as "Cinderella" in Cinderella at the Playhouse in Weston Super Mare
with Eternal
- 1993 "Stay"
- 1994 "Save Our Love"
- 1994 "Just A Step From Heaven"
- 1994 "Oh Baby I..."
- 1994 "Sweet Funky Thing"
- 1994 "So Good"
- 1994 "Crazy"
- 1995 "Power Of A Woman"
- 1995 "Who Are You"
- 1995 "I Am Blessed"
- 1996 "Good Thing"
- 1996 "Someday"
- 1996 "Secrets"
- 1997 "Don't You Love Me"
- 1997 "Finally"
- 1997 "I Wanna Be The Only One" featuring BeBe WinansBeBe WinansBenjamin "BeBe" Winans is a gospel and R&B singer. He is a member of the noted Winans family, most members of which are also gospel artists.-The PTL Club:...
- 1997 "Think About Me"
- 1997 "Angel Of Mine"
- 1997 "Might As Well Be Me"
with Eternal (Bryan featured on lead vocals)
- 1994 "Something Inside (So Strong)" ("Crazy" B-Side)
- 1995 "Up To You" (Power Of A Woman album track)
- 1995 "Faith In Love" (Power Of A Woman album track)
- 1996 "When You Wish Upon A Star" ("Someday" B-Side)
- 1996 "I'm Still Crying" (Before The Rain album track)
- 1996 "All My Love" (Before The Rain album track)
- 1996 "Black Cat (live)" ("Secrets" B-Side)
- 1997 "I'll Take A Pass On Love" ("Don't You Love Me" B-Side)
- 1997 "Show Me" ("I Wanna Be The Only One" B-Side)
Solo
- 1999 "Love Revolution" ("Higher Than Heaven" B-Side)
- 1999 "Two Hearts" ("Higher Than Heaven" B-Side)
- 1999 "My Heart Wants To Be Where You Are" ("I Wanna Know" B-Side)
- 1999 "Love And Forgiveness" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "That's Love" (duetDuet (music)A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
with Bebe Winans) (Breakfast In Bed album track) - 1999 "Wait A Minute" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "No Other Lover" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "You're The One I Need" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "Moving On" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "Lately" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "So Tired" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "Caught In The Middle" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "Before I Gave You My Heart" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "I'm In Heaven" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 1999 "Without You Next To Me" (Breakfast In Bed album track)
- 2000 "Hot (with. Li Li)"