for me but for Jay, she was 19, same age as my kids are now, and within minutes of singing this silly song, all of a sudden we were public property. You know, I think it’s quite dangerous that fame can be thrust on you so suddenly because it is difficult to handle and its also really fickle - really, really fickle because everyone loves you until you don’t make a successful single or you don’t sell as may bums on seats. Then suddenly they’re not interested in you any more and you think ‘what have I done’, but its not you it’s just the nature of the business, it’s very false.
How do you think young people cope with being catapulted to fame?
I worked with Danny from Hear’Say, I don’t know if you remember but they won Popstars and they had a massive single and then were dropped like a stone and Danny had a breakdown. He went round the world travelling to find himself again and that’s the difference they don’t care about the person, they care about the product and how they can sell it and how they can make a success of it. That’s all it is, a product and once that product is out of favour, then you know, never mind how emotionally disturbed they might be because of it, you’re on the scrap heap and its quite scary. My kids have been offered all sorts of things for different reasons and they’ve turned them down every time. And I’m really quite proud of them for doing that because they are learning their trade and earning their stripes rather than just jumping in at the top of the ladder, well not the top but you know, it’s a difficult business – that’s why there are so many problems with drink and drugs in this industry.
Were you and the other band members close?
I became terrific friends with Mike Nolan and still am to this day, we have such great fun me and Mike. Jay and Bobby, they were colleagues, people who I worked with. You can work with people and not necessarily be best buddies; you go to work you say hi, you’re social with them while you are working and then you leave and that’s that and its still the same. I work now with Mike and Jay, the three of us work together and it’s absolutely fine, but I can socialise with Mike whereas I struggle a bit with Jay because we are very different. But anyway yeah, it was different I enjoyed it, it was fantastic. Those early 80s years were hard work and I didn’t sleep much but it was a really great time to be in the music industry.
Recently there has been quite a big shift in talent show culture with an influx of reality TV shows like X-Factor and The Voice. What’s your opinion on all this sort of ready made fame?
Well, I don’t like it but it’s the way things have gone and you can’t stop it. If you challenge it then you’re out on your ear. I did Big Brother’s Bit on the Side last night, I’m not a fan of Big Brother but if you want to be in the public eye, which I need to be because it is my industry now and the only way I can earn a living, then you have to embrace it. You have to be a part of it, because it’s moved on. But no, I don’t like it but that’s the way it is. I think instant fame is nuts but if you think about it, we’ve had instant fame for a long time. Because I’d been in the industry for years before, it was all right
it was better than winning the Eurovision Song Contest
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