Nosey

Thanks for re-opening it. It's bad enough that you can't just discuss someone without it turning into an arguement, but it's better not being able to discuss them at all! Hopefully people can stay on topic now. :D :D The documentary was repeated, but just once - as part of a re-run of the whole of the previous series. It was a couple of months before Gareth released his single, so hardly a tie-in. The original documentary followed him dealing with his stammer within the music business and so followed him as he made his video, and so the timing was bound to coincide with the release of that, but as it was a charity single it still baffles me that people got so worked up about it. At the end of the day, when Gareth is back, it will be a subject that people will want to know about and as Gareth is now something of an expert on it all, he's hardly in a position to refuse to talk about it. I wouldn't want it to dominate interviews to the extent they neglect the music, as happened in the past, but I hope now he's able to do proper, serious and lengthy interviews, they'll ask all those questions then move onto other areas. I don't know if the rumoured documentary will focus on how Gareth has progressed with his speech, but it's a strong contender as the Tonight With Trevor MacDonald team have expressed an interest in a follow-up. If there was such a follow-up, then that might address many of the questions on the subject so free up the other interviews to tackle those subjects, or if it's interesting enough, they might just want to ask even more questions. If Gareth were to do a documentary regarding his speech from cold, then certain people will just say that he's got nothing else going for him and he is doing it to make himself famous again. If he does it when his profile has been raised through traditional promotion, then certain people will say it's all a crass publicity stunt. I don't think he should let those sorts of people dictate his schedule for him. I certainly don't think those people have any regard for who might be helped by such a piece.

No fan photos, but there's the following photo that was posted on someone's blog that attended. You need to scroll down a bit now to get his own report on it all. I think that's the person Gareth co-led the course with last year. http://www.michaelhay.com/muchohabla/images/gareth_galway.jpg

It does spoil the place when threads get hijacked, but this isn't the first time and it won't be the last and I don't think the answer is for mods to lock them. I know it gets really boring and tedious, and if we wanted to read about Will we're all more than capable of reading one of their many other threads about him, but that doesn't mean we should just give up on otherwise interesting threads. Baytree, you are right. As a fan I've always been very impressed with Gareth's attitude to tackling his stammer and helping others, but he's taken it way beyond what we all expected. It's clear from what he writes and what's written about him that it was very important to him to be able to do this. It's obviously a very time-consuming thing for him, which means we have to keep waiting that bit longer, but if you are a fan of someone, you have to respect that they have goals and aspirations that may extend beyond the day job. Besides, when your day job is music, it's a good thing to expand your horizons and when you are working in the fickle and often shallow world of showbusiness, it's very grounding to continue to work with people from all walks of life. We know that Gareth spent a fair amount of time working with Ricky Ross, formely of Deacon Blue, who also formerly worked with Graham Kearns, formerly of Wet, Wet, Wet. Graham also attends the McGuire programme and so Gareth and Graham know each other quite well. I can't help but wonder if that had any bearing on that collaboration?

Is there any indication as to how Alesha is holding up?

Congratulations. :cheer:

With some people, Gareth can never win regarding his stammer, which he didn't exactly pick as some kind of devious marketing ploy. If he speaks and shows any evidence of his disability, he's trying to get sympathy. If he speaks well, then it's disappeared, and he must have been making it all up in the first place. One of the biggest complaints about Gareth is that us stupid women felt sorry for Gareth because he struggled with his speech, and therefore we all rushed out to vote for him. That was a theory heavily peddled in the press and by those who resented his success, and unfortunately a lot of people were gullible enough to believe that. If people are going to complain about the hype around these shows, don't forget to complain about that very distasteful side of it. I think it's virtually a certainty that Gareth will be asked about his stammer when he returns, because journalists have a natural interest in communication and speech impediments are incredibly relevant to that. To try to exclude that from any interviews or promotional activities would be to deny a major aspect of Gareth's personality and what he's been doing in his time away. It would also deny the general public insight into a subject that is of interest. Beyond that, it would deny other people with similar problems the opportunity to see how far someone else has come, that might provide them with a lot of encouragement and motivation to get treatment or to pursue their dreams. If a few bitter people would deny them that, because it might count as 'unfair promotion', then tough! Gareth working toward managing his own disability and helping others with theirs may not count as 'entertainment', but it is both interesting and educational and there's nothing wrong with the odd documentary focusing onon something interesting and educational. :P Call me a loony, but I thought it was interesting when Will spoke about what he had learnt about Domestsic Violence, even if it didn't make me rush out to buy his albums. I certainly don't remember many people complaining when Will chatted the press or appeared on tv simply because he was running some half marathon. ;) Going back to my previous point, it's not just as simple as the people in non Pop Idol viewing countries accepting Gareth regardless of the perceived benefits of a disability, most of these countries are non-English speaking, and therefore most English-speaking pop stars struggle with interviews, therefore it instantly becomes less about spoken interviews and more about the music, the video and print features.

Any fool knows that's her own job and then to say people are idiots for not realising she was joking. :puke2:

I can't be sure, but it's one of the bigger markets out there. I know South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are quite substantial too, whereas Singapore is one of the smallest territories. I can't deny that it was satisfying to see Gareth rack up the number ones in countries he'd yet to visit, especially after all the abuse we got because someone dared to give Gareth a record contract after we all supposedly voted for him out of sympathy. However, the best thing about his international travels was that the media over there had less preconceptions about what his image was, so some of his photoshoots have him looking really different. I also loved that starting from scratch, he did small scale showcases and acoustic sets for the radio stations. He spent less time there than the UK, but the quality of the promotion was much higher. The same applies for Gareth's visits to Germany and Spain and around Europe. I hope that this time round Gareth's UK fans get the same consideration.

They did. It was on the tv!

Christinia has plenty of time. I can see her album selling well right up to Christmas.

You weren't just criticising the act. You were criticising people for talking about her, which you went on to do. When I Lost You was great, and she had a lot of the qualities to make it as a pop star, but the timing wasn't quite right for her. If she had the material Rachel Stevens was given she'd have done better. She seemed genuinely interested in music, but lacked the drive to be a big pop star. Maybe she's better off working as a songwriter.

Any idea how that kind of thing influences downloads? I imagine that would be the most sensitive to that kind of association.

Alesha always comes across really well in interviews. She's got a great attitude. Unlike Ms Allen. :rolleyes:

It's better than the early mid-week, so yay! Also, respect to her for admitting that she is a bit disappointed and she wanted it to go to 10.

You had me worried there! I only saw a little bit of the E4 coverage, but the sound was all over the place so I gave up, but I was going to say that their reception was pretty good. I think you have to expect one or two things thrown towards the stage, but poor Nicola. It should have been Sarah, she seemed to think that the in thing to do at a festival was to shout instead of sing.

Mine too, but I think I'm going to have to settle for Christinia getting her long over due number one album.

19 seem to be absolutely obsessed with keeping quiet about him as much as possible. I'm sure there's a logic to it all in there, but as fans, it makes for difficult waiting. It's probably added to the wait, but Gareth's involvement with The McGuire Programme gives us some insight to what's happening, even though that too seems to be under some kind of media black-out! However, you can read Gareth's report on the course he led last weekend on their website. http://www.stammering.ie/wordpress/ Gareth's second album was very well received by those who bothered to listen to it, and it's a massive shame that BMG gave up trying to promote it so soon. Apparently Gareth was promised that he'd get to release All Cried Out after Say It Isn't So, but obviously that wasn't to be. I'd have liked Absolutely or Foolish to be a single, but you can't even get the latter on iTunes. :huh:

No, I'm bored to tears that the same old names crop up with the same old petty arguements debates, but that doesn't mean I am willing to let it all go un-answered. I think it's wonderful that there are some members in here who are so concerned with protecting SBMGs profit margins, especially as those same people were so outraged at the supposedly terrible way they treated Will, but it's fantastsic that you are no longer bitter - at least not towards them. ;) However, can I suggest that those with such a great interest and insight into industry accountancy take their superior knowledge to The Music: Culture forum here on BuzzJack as it is the area dedicated to "industry type discussions". Allow the rest of us to discuss the less high-brow, but more fun things like the artist themselves and their music. :D Thanks.

Nelly, because of her creativity, but Beyonce is way up there too.

It looks very promising. You never can tell what it'll be like with Damon, but I really respect that about him.

They are a very bland band if you listen to too many songs in a row, but that track is a classic and brings back happy memories of slightly drunken festival singalongs. :D

We know that BMG Taiwan has already expressed an interest to distribute Gareth's new album there. No-one is claiming that platinum or gold sales are the same in each country, but the point of them varying from country to country is that these are the values that equate to a level of popularity and profit making for those countries. But as it's been asked, and it's one of the countries where we have rough figures - Gareth sold over 200k in Taiwan. It might seem small-fry compared to what can be sold in the UK, but on his last visit, he was told he was the most successful Western artist they'd ever had. It was in a local equivalent of the Financial Times that BMG Taiwan turned their fortunes around from being in the red, to having their most profitable year eve - and they attributed that to Gareth's album. BMG UK probably only saw a fraction of that money, because it's 19 who hold the licence to the music. Do you think on American, Japanese and German music sites there are people bitching about artists who are successful in the UK, constantly implying it's all a joke because sales are so much lower? The UK is only the fourth biggest music market in the world. Other big markets are Spain and France, with the whole SE Asian region growing significantly. The sense of achievement in these other countries isn't just about sales figures or making profits. As Gareth came from Pop Idol and many of his UK detractors have insisted he only made it in the UK because of all the hype of the show, then having significant commercial and critical success in countries that didn't watch Pop Idol, is incredibly satisfying. I know how excited Will's fans were when Light My Fire was a hit for him in Italy, even though sales there aren't paticularly high. Marquerite, based on your posts I can only assume that you consider commercial success the most important thing in a musical career, but Gareth has been involved in music, working hard learning instruments and singing since he was a child. He didn't do that for commercial gain, so just because it's alien to you, doesn't mean Gareth might not have prized releasing music he loves above doing what he's told by a major label.

If an artist has a diverse output, then even the most ardent fans won't like everything they've done, and Kylie is the classic example of that too. With respect to Gareth's sales, I think it's worth remembering that even if Gareth's album underperformed in the UK, it still got to number one and achieved multi-platinum status in some countries, including Taiwan, which gives context to this recent posts by a Taiwanese fan on Gareth's official website on the subject.

It seems to be the one most people claim as their favourite, including those who aren't particular fans, which bodes well for the future as it was his favourite single too. As hasso says, unfortunately Mr Cowell saw differently, so he wasn't allowed to release the other tracks from his album in that ilk to back it up.

Thanks for posting that Preston. Roll on January. :cheer: Us fans have definitely waited patiently, but we also understand he has been working on other things that are important to him, especially reading some of the reports. In particular, I loved this extract posted on the Irish McGuire site. I also know that no matter how important the McGuire stuff is for Gareth, his passion for music has always shone through, and I too loved his own choices of music for the last album, including all the stuff he wrote himself. I know those were the tracks that got the lions share of the good reviews, so I am very hopeful for the future.