Kéllé Bryan

Kéllé Bryan-Gudgeon (born 12 March 1975) is an English singer and actress, known as a member of girl group Eternal. In 2018, she began portraying the role of Martine Deveraux in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. She is also part of the Loose Women panel.

Kéllé Bryan
Born
Kéllé Bryan

(1975-03-12) 12 March 1975
Plaistow, Greater London, England
Occupation
  • Singer
  • actress
Years active1993–present
Musical career
Genres
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Associated actsEternal

Life and career

Aged 11, Bryan joined the Italia Conti Academy stage school, where she completed eight years of performing arts and qualified as a dance teacher. While at the school, she met Louise Nurding – the pair met record producer Denis Ingoldsby, who was forming a girl group.[1] Before finding success with Eternal, Bryan worked as an actress. She has appeared in ITV's The Bill, and on 31 March 1992 she appeared as Debbie in BBC's EastEnders who was a college friend of Lloyd Tavernier (Garey Bridges).

In 1993, Bryan and Nurding, together with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett formed the 1990s British R&B girl group Eternal. Eternal sold millions of albums, 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". 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 14 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".

Bryan is a patron of St Thomas' Lupus Trust.[2] 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. In 2004, Bryan appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link. She was the third 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 The Naked Poet, playing the part of Michelle.[3]

In 2012, she played the part of Fran in the BBC comedy Me and Mrs Jones. Bryan joined the cast of the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks in September 2018, portraying the role of Martine Deveraux.[4]

From May 2019, she has been appearing regularly on ITVs flagship show Loose Women.

Reality series

Love Island 2006

In 2006, Bryan was a contestant on Love Island 2, finishing as the female runner-up.

Flockstars

Bryan was also a contestant on the ITV series Flockstars. The series follows celebrities as they try to master the art of sheep herding.

Pantomimes

Since Christmas 2005, Bryan has starred in the following pantomimes:

  • Dec 2005/Jan 2006 as "Jill" in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Buxton Opera House
  • Dec 2006/Jan 2007 as "Cinderella" in Cinderella 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 Aladdin 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

Discography
Further information: Eternal discography

B-sides and other tracks
  • 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" (duet 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)"

References
  1. "Louise on the World Wide Web". Louise.brigatti.co.uk. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
  2. Archived 19 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20120226193459/http://www.aheartdividedthefilm.com/heart.htm. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a866665/hollyoaks-spoilers-kelle-bryan-martine-deveraux/
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