Nosey

I would be surprised if there wasn't at least one Michael Jackson related event at the O2 during his scheduled run. It might not be the only event and it might not be possible to include all of the big stars, but I bet there will be something. The O2 themselves will be pushing to get something to fill the gap and there will be demand. Even if they can't get the biggest possible names, I'm sure there won't be any shortage of famous names who would want to sing a Michael Jackson song in a tribute concert and get some dance groups like Diversity in to do a few dance routines. In fact, I fully expect there to be tribute events cropping up all over the world, and on tv for some time to come.

People tend to forget how many records Gareth has sold, in particular around the world. I know some people in the UK scoff at being "big in Germany" or "big in Asia", but it all adds up and don't forget top selling DVDs, calendars and PAs and more recently starring in Joseph, which pays very well. Just because The Sun wants to compare people like Leon to Gareth, doesn't mean that their careers are in any way similar in real terms. I must admit, I'd have thought Darius would have earned more, because he did a fair bit of touring and appearances at Party in the Park type events, but perhaps none of the tours were of the scale to bring in the big money.

When I go to a live concert I want the singing to be live, but I don't see the point in getting worked up about other people being "conned" because they go to see Britney and she is miming half of it. I don't think anyone is being conned, and if they enjoyed themselves, they weren't short changed. Personally, I'd prefer to watch someone producing a good live vocal than watch them dancing around with a weak or mimed vocal, but if other people prefer dancing, that's their business. If other people would rather see someone singing, but not dancing, that's their business too. I think it's a bit unfair to single out Britney, because I'm pretty sure Girls Aloud were miming on their last tour (not the most recent one) for a portion of it. They got away with it because most of their show was live and also being a group it's much easier to mix in pre-recorded backing vocals with the live ones and it is less obvious. A lot of people think that Kylie spends a lot of time miming to pre-recorded vocals too. Pink is a good example of someone who sings live and puts on a great show with a lot of movement, but one time I saw her she was horribly off key for some of it, especially towards the beginning of the evening. I don't think she had done a proper warm-up beforehand and that annoyed me. My friends said something similar of Robbie Williams, and then I read that he hadn't been turning up for all of his tour rehearsals. If I'm paying money to see someone in concert I want to be singing live, but I also want to know that they've put the effort into the rehearsals and taking the time to do the required soundchecks and warm-ups. I also want them to be on stage for a decent length of time and unless it's made clear, I want them to sing their big hits and not just the new album. I also want them to look like they want to be there and to be enjoying themselves and to generally engage with the audience. Some excellent live singers struggle to do the latter, but it is those elements that make it worth travelling to see someone in concert rather than listening to a polished vocal on CD.

I don't hate him and I don't know anyone who does, but he does seem to take himself incredibly seriously. There are other popstars who are up themselves and manage to work that into their image, but Craig doesn't have the charisma for it.

I'm excited about quite a few of those. Tops are Beverley, Arctic Monkeys, Sugababes, Kelly, Nelly, Booty Luv and Timbaland. For now.

I liked We Are One, and was considering buying their album, but as soon as I heard clips I realised they had pitched it way too young. They were always going to be too uncool for a lot of people, but if they'd at least given a nod to older fans of pop they could have expanded their market.

What's worse, bandwagon jumping or throwing allegations about because you don't like someone? Anyway, a very quick google search using the terms "Jane Tomlison" and "Gordon Brown" throw this up: The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, said: "Jane's mission in life was a simple one: to make the most of every day and to help others, and she not only achieved that several times over, but inspired millions of others along the way. We will remember her amazing spirit and strength and that exceptional charity work, and she will be a daily inspiration to our generation to fight on against the terrible scourge of cancer." I hope that makes you feel a bit better, or are you enjoying being outraged too much for that? I remember how Jane, like Jade, was accused of using her cancer for attention or indeed fabricating the whole affair. You might hate Jade, you might think the PM is an idiot, but it's insulting to Jane's story to treat her as nothing more than a name to band about in one of your rants. Perhaps the fact that you are aware of what the PM said about Jade, but not what he said about Jane says more about what sort of news stories interest you and which media outlets you read?

Most of us feel sad when someone we know dies, even if they aren't close to us. Even though most of us hadn't actually met Jade, most of us did know who she was and enough about her for her illness and death to be of interest to us. It's not that Jade's death is more sad than any other, it's that she is known to more people so more people will be talking about it. I never much liked Jade, but she never deserved the most hateful stuff thrown at her by the press, and most of those in the press know it. That's the pig stuff thrown at her during her first BB stint or the disproportionate reaction to her time on Celebrity BB. Those involved probably feel guilty, and quite rightly so. Jade's illness and death doesn't merit all of the attention it's got either, but for the main part, the extra headlines she's got are only replacing photos of Chanelle's bum on the Daily Star or Kerry and Jordan bitching about each other and anyone else they can think of. With the exception of today, the serious news sources have managed to deliver news as normal most of the time.

Agreed. While there is no doubt that Natasha had more to offer us in terms of acting talent, the idea that it makes her life more valuable than a "stupid, ugly" woman from a poor background is repulsive to me. Of course the amount of attention for Jade's illness and death is completely disproportionate, but in all honesty, Natasha's death wouldn't have made the front pages of any British newspapers if she wasn't married to Liam Neeson or the daughter of acting legends or the sister of Joeley. She was a very well respected Broadway actress, but well respected Broadway actresses with a few film roles don't normally get the attention Natasha got. It's horribly sad for both families and everyone who knew either of them.

The tv show X Factor will continue to be on tv so long as it gets good ratings. The success of its graduates is a side-story. It helps to promote the show and to get people to audition if there are successes, and people feel they are finding a big star, but I also think the general public and media are becoming more realistic and accepting that a string of number one singles will be the exception to the rule. I was never fussed about Leon, but it was obvious from the start that he was getting the budget deal from SBMG. I understand that they were never going to give him the same budget they gave to Leona, but they could have been more respectful in the little ways. Isn't he on tour now? Couldn't they have waited until after the tour before making the announcement? I doubt Leon would have been a major success with other management or record company people involved, but as well as having little faith in him, they didn't seem to put any real thought or effort into his marketing. They seemed to be doing the basics until they could get rid of him with least embarrassment to themselves.

I hope they find a way of doing a live performance of this song together. I've no idea about the US market, but Broken Strings is the kind of song that creeps up on people. If they find a way to promote it, I'm sure it could do well. Nelly has appeal across several genres, so I'm sure they could find something somewhere.

Yeah, I bet it's all down to Sony wanting to keep Run exclusive in physical format to Leona's own album, or possibly to put onto the Now series. :blink:

Thank you Val. I've been waiting for something to appear from Joseph. Gareth doesn't disappoint, he's fantastic. :heart:

I hope she is interviewed. I imagine a conversation between Paul and Lady GaGa will be hilarious and surprisingly insightful!

This is so frustrating. YouTube is great promotion for the artist and great for the fans.

Of all of the awful mother's day cash-ins, this one seems the most awful. The advert alone is enough to make me want to change channels. She might not have got a better album with Simon, but whoever she is signed to now might make a bit more effort to sustain her career after the initial cash-in..

I agree. When I first saw the quote, I thought it was obvious that DigitalSpy and other tabloid outlets were doing their usual thing of leading their readers to interpret a quote in a way that was different to what was intended. If you take the quote in isolation, it is more logical that she is talking about being filmed during the time as her health fails. Even if people thought it was possible that Jade was talking about being filmed on her death bed, people should have had the gumption to consider the possibility that the other interpretation was correct before jumping on the bandwagon. When you add into the equation that Jade is well known for not being particularly articulate, considering other intepretations should be the norm before going off on one. As it is, Max Clifford has said categorically that Jade's actual death would not be filmed and that it was never considered. So can we draw a line under this particular aspect of the "debate". I've never much liked Jade and I do think the media storm is being encouraged by people who don't have her best interests at heart. However, I completely understand that she will want to be doing things to provide for her children. Her children go to school, so she has time during the day to do things without denying them time, unless people think they should be taken out of school, but I'm sure she'd be called selfish if she did that. I doubt her children need all this money that is being earned, but I also doubt she's as rich as people think she is. The media coverage is completely over the top, but many of the people complaining about it are the ones who have been encouraging them to talk about her by claiming that she probably didn't even have cancer and it was a publicity stunt. On the DigitalSpy boards, a hardcore of members have been posting links to every article about her so they could rip them apart to find inconsistencies in order to expose the "scam". They are the truly sick ones in all of this and they have given the papers the excuse they need to keep on writing.

There's a Facebook page for the CD now with clips of three songs. http://www.prestwichandwhitefieldguide.co....rince_Charming/ Glass Slippers is Gareth's solo song, and he is featured (briefly) in You Shall Go to the Ball, so it's interesting they picked a bit including him. :wub: The Joy of Motherhood was one of my favourite non-Gareth songs on the CD, so I'm glad they've featured that too, although the clip they chose isn't the best bit IMO, lol.

Beyonce sang it on Strictly Come Dancing. Does that count? Except it isn't really. That's the urban legend version based on a misquote of what Jeff Buckley said when explaining how he chose to interpret the song. And Jeff knew full well that his interpretation was just that, and might not be the same as the original writer.

I don't know what's more shocking. * the news that tricks have been used in the studio to aid weak vocalists * the fact that people will latch onto something widespread like this and blame it all on Simon Cowell, or * Elton John said something stupid and contradictory to get a headline All of the above are extremely predictable and happen with great regularity and have done for a long time.

I think Peter is definitely on the single, but I think it's mixed with other vocals too. Perhaps a woman as well as Gary, but there are a few parts where it sounds very Barlow-esque. Of course, it is possible that if Peter is copying Gary's demo, he might copy his singing style. Whatever the case, I think it's fairly safe to say that it's not just Peter Kay singing. When Robson and Jerome were singing, it was possible for "singers" to go for ages without ever giving any live performances. Even reasonably good vocalists seemed to mime all of the time, so it would have been easier to get away with it. Perhaps because of the success of Pop Idol and X Factor, most pop stars sing live at least some of the time. There are still tricks that can be done with backing tracks and backing singers, but it's not as easy as it used to be.

I agree. There have been so many rumours about Britney, in particular Cathy Dennis singing half of toxic. There were rumours that Cathy Dennis sang some bits of Rachel Stevens' solo work too. There's no end of stories about Posh Spice either. Some of these stories will be made up, but it's clearly a long established industry trick. I don't think it's a coincidence that Peter Kay's singing in the guise of Geraldine McQueen sounds a bit like Gary Barlow either. Come to think of it, it's no secret that the chorus of Take That's "Could it be Magic" was all a session singer, but that was more of a mix-up than an attempt to mask weak vocals. In fact, I'd say that programmes like Pop Idol and X Factor make it less likely that this sort of studio trickery is used. Like them or not, we know what those singers sound like. Sometimes it's more of a time thing than a vocal ability thing. Producers will spend a lot of time mixing a song after the "big star" has finished their vocals, so if they decide to change a bit, they either have to call them back in, or someone gets to pretend to be them. Sometimes the latter is easier.

That's a much better reason. Just don't think it'll annoy Simon Cowell, because it won't. He'll just take the credit. :blink:

It's not a very good protest. It's giving extra publicity to his winner's version, which means Alexandra will sell even more than she would have done without the campaign. And the rights to the song are owned by Sony, so it's a win-win situation. Except for those idiots who bought a song they don't particularly like. :unsure:

He was on the Girls Aloud show that was sandwiched between the two X Factor shows. Kaiser Chiefs were on too.