Nosey

I think that's what suggy means. Naturally, if you look at Gareth's actual achievements, he's had a successful career by any standards. However, that's not how the media report it and so something needs to be done to shake that up. I recall just a week after Gareth had won the MTV Asia award, and it had been reported (in Asia) that he had the second biggest selling album across the region over the previous year, Dominic Mohan did a piece about how the likes of Gareth would never make it abroad. Incidentally, the bulk of the UK's coverage of the MTV Asia awards mentioned every other UK act present, even those who only turned up for the party, except Gareth. Either their PR people were doing a much better job, or BMG did a lousy one. Whatever the case, it's like there has been some kind of media black-out on reporting Gareth's successes. A change in label could put things back on an even keel.

Good question. The last 'gig' we know he did was a private concert for the Sultan of Brunei in January 2005. There should also have been a public concert to celebrate the New Year, but it was cancelled as the country was still in official mourning after the Tsunami. The last proper public concert he did was in Indonesia in December 2004. It was to a crowd of 50,000 at their equivalent of Party in the Park and reports had him getting off the stage, getting the crowd involved, so I don't think he has any problems there. Other than that we know he sang at an even to celebrate the opening of the Louis Vuitton store in Shanghai, but the only reason people in the UK got to hear about that was because a fan found some paparazzi photos of him on a Polish photo-site from when he visited the Shanghai Grand Prix the day before! I don't think Gareth has any confidence issues about singing or being seen in public. He's always been very comfortable around people and I've yet to see him look miserable on stage. On the other hand, he is probably sick of the press and avoiding press attention. He still goes on McGuire courses, but gave up the public speaking part after The Mirror did a particularly petty piece about it. It could be coincidence, but I doubt it. From what I can tell, Gareth is maintaining a low profile partly with a view to ridding himself of some of the baggage by having a fresh start when he returns. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop other people from harping on about the same old stories all the time anyway.

Favourite: Rihanna Worst: Shayne Ward/Jamie Foxx

Curtis was with Penny - he didn't stand a chance! But he came across well, as a person as well as a singer.

Woolies have the worst chart predicting people out there!

Annie has such an amazing quality to her voice.

Top 5. It's a strong track, but only really catching on now. If the buzz continues then it could be top 3, but definitely top 5. It's the kind of track that is likely to increase from the initial midweeks by the final Sunday chart.

I'm a massive fan of Annie and Eurythmics. Annie is still one of the true greats as proven by her stunning performance at Live 8 last year. No fancy gimmicks, just great songs and great singing and she had everyone raving.

I've heard it twice now and it's firmly lodged in my head. On first impressions it's a cheesy, trashy track, but underneath the 'novelty' elements there is a strong song. It's going to be massive.

Yes, so Cowell takes a higher cut from the X Factor lot who he has direct control over. ;)

There is a two page spread in today's Express on the subject (not bad for someone everyone is supposed to have forgotten about). This extract was posted on Gareth's official website. For the moment all is not lost. It was striking that Gates’s management company 19 was keen to talk yesterday and its enthusiasm for its young client appeared to be genuine. A 19 entertainments spokeswoman insisted that the company still had full confidence in the 21 year old singer who is continuing to work on his planned third album. She cited several artists including Mariah Carey and Embrace who had gone on to fruitful careers after changing record labels. 'Contracts often come up for renewal, sometimes the artist decides not to continue sometimes the label'. She said 'As far as our relationship with him is concerned nothing has changed. We are going forward with our plans with Gareth, they just won’t involve BMG'. Sounds good to me. :cheer: :cheer:

You can assume what you like, but it doesn't always work like that and as you have said yourself - Gareth's contract was never a normal contract as 19 are not a normal management company. They have a hell of a lot more capital for a start and can afford to finance albums, giving them greater control and less need to compromise. As I said before, it was Simon Fuller and his contacts via 19 that did all that work for half of his second album, and you've studied the cover in more detail than most fans, so you'll know BMG released that one!!! The agreement this time was that Gareth and 19 would be left to work on an album and when it was finished they'd take it from there. That's what BMG staff told fans. More recently, the BMG staff who told fans he's not with them now said that the decision happened last month, so when the president of BMG said that Gareth hadn't been dropped he probably wasn't lying - although I'm sure you'd enjoy telling him he's wrong too! ;)

I also think they are swayed by what the promotions people at the big labels are pushing that week. :unsure:

Those are amazing figures and the hype about this achievement could send them through the roof next week. Great news for legal downloads too.

Spamfritter, your last comment sums up why so many fans are pleased with this news, or at least relieved. Simon Cowell made no secret of the fact he didn't want Gareth to release Sunshine, and it wasn't much of a secret that Cowell and Fuller fell out over his last album too. The result was an album that had a lot of good tracks, that received excellent reviews, but was put together in a way that made it too eclectic to market properly. Promotion was poor, and people didn't get that Gareth's music had developed. So many people claimed to really like Sunshine, but didn't even consider buying the album, because they assumed it was stuffed with ballads/covers. The fillers that Cowell insisted on adding to make up the numbers on 'his' CD gave those who didn't want to admit that Gareth could produce something fresh and new the excuse to criticise. Gareth's album didn't even do that badly in the end. Nothing amazing, but considering BMG UK cancelled most of the promotion budget after Sunshine "flopped" at number 3 it didn't do that badly. Because Gareth was unable to do any interviews at the time he missed out on all the radio and tv interviews that make up a major chunk of anyone else's promotion. That's not directly BMG's fault, although assuming that he didn't need to do interviews and so didn't need to take the time to work on his speech was an error that everyone involved in his management made collectively. On the contrary, the album did very well abroad where his promotion was more creative. He was also able to do more interviews thanks to having gone to more speech courses and the more laid back pace of interviews with someone speaking their second language or via an interpreter. As well as big sales, Gareth has won a lot of major awards in South East Asia and that's because he was/is a genuinely good pop star when removed from the politics of where he came from. He can do that again if he gets the right backing and the right song. It's also been pretty common knowledge that Fuller/19 have been doing all the A&R work and financing for this album, just as he did the A&R (not sure about financing) for the Night CD on Gareth's last album. If Gareth signs to a new label then they might buy the rights, or Simon may keep them. He might do the whole thing in house as he's already got his own label in America, but I'd rather Gareth was also working with people outside of 19 to keep things creative, so long as there aren't conflicts like before.

Thanks Mikey. I hope Beverley can stay top 10 in the albums.

That's inevitable. It's a slow time of year for album sales, unless your album is "a perfect gift for mother's day". Corinne is doing amazingly.