Kéllé Bryan (born 12 March 1975) is an English singer and actress, known as a member of girl group

Eternal Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to: * Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state * Immortality or eternal life * God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism Comics, film and television * ...

. In 2018, she began portraying the role of

Martine Deveraux ''Hollyoaks'' is a British television soap opera that was first broadcast on 23 October 1995. The following is a list of characters that have appeared or will appear in the serial in 2018, by order of first appearance. All characters were introdu ...

in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'', a role she played until 2022. She is also part of the ''

Loose Women ''Loose Women'' (previously known as ''Live Talk'' from 2000 to 2001) is a British talk show that broadcasts on ITV1 weekdays from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. The show focuses on a panel of four female presenters who interview celebrities, talk about ...

'' panel.

Early and personal life

Bryan was born on 12 March 1975 in Plaistow,

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

. Aged 11, Bryan joined the

Italia Conti Academy The Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts is a performing arts conservatoire based in Woking, England. It was founded in 1911 by Italia Conti, an actress. The first production at Italia Conti Academy was the play ''Where the Rainbow Ends''. For ...

stage school, where she completed eight years of performing arts and qualified as a dance teacher. While at the school, she met

Louise Nurding Louise Elizabeth Redknapp (née Nurding, born 4 November 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-platinum studio album '' Always & ...

– the pair met record producer Denis Ingoldsby, who was forming a

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

. Bryan was diagnosed with

lupus Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Comm ...

in 1998 and is a patron of St Thomas' Lupus Trust. In 2010, she married Jay Gudgeon. The pair have two children together. In 2014, Bryan began to suffer heavy symptoms of her lupus. She lost a lot of hair, her sight, hearing and movement deteriorated, and she was unable to speak. She then had a seizure, and the doctors confirmed that her lupus was affecting her brain. After the seizure, Bryan had to relearn how to read and write, and continues to struggle with short term memory loss.

Career

Bryan appeared in

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused on ...

'', and on 31 March 1992 she appeared as Debbie in

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'' who was a college friend of

Lloyd Tavernier The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' in 1990, by order of first appearance. Harry Osborne In January 1990, a mysterious old man (John Boswall) is seen lingering around Albert Square. ...

(

Garey Bridges Garey Bridges (born 11 August 1969 in London, England) is a British actor, best known for playing the role of Lloyd Tavernier in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Career He originally trained to be a dancer and performed with Wayne Sleep in ''Th ...

). In 1993, Bryan and Nurding, together with sisters Easther and

Vernie Bennett Vernett "Vernie" Bennett (born 17 May 1971) is an English singer and lawyer. She is a founding member of Contemporary R&B, R&B girl group Eternal (band), Eternal, with her sister Easther Bennett also a member. The original line up included Kél ...

formed the 1990s British R&B girl group

. 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 "I Wanna Be the Only One" is a song by British R&B girl group Eternal and American R&B/gospel singer BeBe Winans, released in May 1997 as the third single from the group's third album, '' Before the Rain'' (1997). Topping the UK Singles Chart, t ...

" and "Angel of Mine". Following her departure from Eternal, Bryan signed a record deal with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and began work on her debut solo album, ''Breakfast in Bed'', which was never released. In 2006, Bryan was a contestant on '' Love Island 2'', finishing as the female runner-up. 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. In 2012, she played the part of Fran in the BBC comedy ''

Me and Mrs Jones "Me and Mrs. Jones" is a 1972 soul song written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert, and originally recorded by Billy Paul. It describes an extramarital affair between a man and his lover, Mrs. Jones. In the song, the two meet in sec ...

''. Bryan joined the cast of the

soap opera ''

'' in September 2018, portraying the role of

. From May 2019, she has been appearing regularly on ITV's show ''

''. After four years of appearing on ''Hollyoaks'', Bryan announced her exit from the show on 3 June 2022 with her final scenes airing that same day.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Filmography

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryan, Kelle 1975 births 21st-century Black British women singers Actresses from Kent Alumni of the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts Black British actresses British contemporary R&B singers English people of Sierra Leonean descent English soap opera actresses English television actresses Eternal (band) members Living people Musicians from Kent People from Lewisham People with lupus