Kéllé Bryan (born 12 March 1975) is an English singer and actress. Known as one of the founding members of girl group Eternal, she sold more than 10 million records and achieved the UK number-one single, " I Wanna Be The Only One" alongside BeBe Winans.
When Bryan was 11, she joined the Italia Conti Academy school where she trained eight years of performing arts and later qualified as a dance teacher. She met friend and future bandmate
Louise Redknapp
Louise Elizabeth Redknapp (née Nurding; born 4 November 1974), professionally known as Louise, is an English singer, dancer and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-pla ...
(née Nurding) during her studies. The two would form the girl group Eternal along with Vernie Bennett and her younger sister, Easther.
During her time being in the group, she attained three UK top-ten albums. In 2018, she began portraying the role of Martine Deveraux in the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
soap opera ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally 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''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...
'', a role she played until 2022. In 2019, she became part of the '' Loose Women'' panel. In October 2020, Bryan,
Charlene White
Charlene Denise White (born 22 June 1980) is a British television broadcaster, journalist and presenter, best known for presenting ''ITV News'' programmes. She has been an anchor on '' Loose Women'' since 2021.Brenda Edwards and Judi Love became the first all-Black panel in the show's history.
Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
and was born to her mother, Marilyn. 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 executive record producer Oliver Smallman, who was forming a
girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...
. According to Nurding, Eternal was initially planned as a trio consisting of her and the Bennett sisters. However, it was then proposed that the group could become a quartet. She suggested to add Kéllé to the now-quartet.
On 31 March 1992 she appeared as Debbie, a college friend of Lloyd Tavernier ( Garey Bridges) in the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
soap opera, ''
EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a British television 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 East End of London, the ...
''.
1993-1998: Success in Eternal
In 1993, Bryan and Nurding, together with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett formed the 1990s British R&B girl group Eternal. The group would sell 10 million records. The group released their debut album, '' Always & Forever'' in November 1993. The album included the hit singles "
Stay
Stay may refer to:
Places
* Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US
Law
* Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment
* Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tr ...
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
. The album sold over one million copies in the United Kingdom, and was awarded four times platinum, making it one of 1994's biggest selling albums. After their debut album, Louise would leave the group, making the group a trio.
Two years later, the group, now a trio, would release their sophomore album, ''Power of a Woman''. The album, including the hit
title track
A title track is a song that has the same name as the album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...
, would reach 4x platinum and a song from the album, " I Am Blessed" was performed for
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
Greatest Hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'', which included the single " Angel of Mine" that would be given to American singer Monica, Bryan was controversially fired from Eternal by their solicitor via
fax
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...
.
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. Mercury Records released ...
and began work on her debut solo album, titled ''Breakfast in Bed'', scheduled for release in November 1999. The album would never be released.
Her debut single, "Higher than Heaven", was dropped in the UK on 20 September 1999. It debuted at number 14 on the chart and remains Bryan's only solo hit to date. The song was marked as a "next week hit" in the magazine
Hit Music
''Hit Music'' was a weekly British chart newsletter; sister publication to ''Music Week''. ''Hit Music'' existed for almost nine years, supplying the official UK music charts (as compiled by The Gallup Organization, Gallup and later Official Cha ...
.
The second single, "I Wanna Know", was released to Lithuanian radio on 5 August 2000. The single was released to radio in the United Kingdom, and was scheduled to be fully released on 4 September. However, the single release was subsequently shelved after Bryan was diagnosed with
Lupus
Lupus, formally called 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. Common ...
. The single would later be digitally reissued by Universal Music on 23 August 2019. The song was also included on the
Universal Music TV
Universal Music On Demand (UMOD) is a London-based record label owned by Universal Music Group, formed in 1998 as Universal Music TV (UMTV). UMOD specialises in producing compilation albums and occasional single releases. It was founded whe ...
compilation ''Hot Pop!.''
2006-2018: TV career
In 2006, Bryan was a contestant on '' Love Island 2'', finishing as the female runner-up. Bryan said that being on the show has given her "the confidence to know that hedid have a life outside of Eternal". Six years later, Bryan also had a starring role in 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''.
Bryan joined the cast of the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
soap opera ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally 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''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...
'' in September 2018, portraying the role of Martine Deveraux.
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.
2019-present: Loose Women and short-lived Eternal comeback
From May 2019, she has been appearing regularly on ITV's show '' Loose Women''. On 1 June 2023, Bryan made a surprise appearance on stage at friend and former bandmate Louise's
Shepherd's Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was original ...
concert where they performed 1994 Eternal single " Crazy".
In September 2023, Bryan pulled out of a purported Eternal reunion tour as a show of support of the LGBT community. Redknapp and Bryan reported that Easther and Vernie Bennett had refused to perform at a number of proposed
LGBT Pride
In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility o ...
events over objections that the trans community had "hijacked" Pride. Bennetts' manager Denis Ingoldsby commented that the sisters supported the LGBT community and played at many events, but that Vernie has raised concerns about "the trans lobby". Bryan went on to post a statement on her Twitter stating she is “an advocate for inclusion and equality for all.”
Personal life and health issues
Bryan was diagnosed with
lupus
Lupus, formally called 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. Common ...
in 1998. In 2014, Bryan began to develop serious symptoms of her lupus. She lost a lot of hair and 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. She is a patron of St Thomas' Lupus Trust.
In 2010, she married Jay Gudgeon. The pair have two children together.
In 2024, Bryan was hospitalised due to a kidney stone. She said on Loose Women that the pain was so intense that she asked her 12-year-old son to help have her be taken to the hospital.