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Rhydian article in Liverpool Post |
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Rhydian article in Liverpool Post
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...4375-20450618/ Quote:
Emma Pinch discovers X-Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts has a down-to-earth attitude to stardom I find the fact the press have picked up on leon's OS being very dead at the moment interesting
WEIRD. Dead-eyed. Insecure. Those were some of the kinder epithets used by X Factor judge Sharon Osborne to describe runner-up Rhydian Roberts. To be fair, she had a point. He was got up like a Gotham City villain on stage with his gimlet eyes, frosty quiff and knock-out voice; his diffident alter-ego seemed a bit suspicious. But just as she got into her waspish stride, Sharon, for once, found herself a step behind the public mood. We were thawing to old Mr Whippy hair. He was a riddle who piqued our interest. He was a Valleys rugby boy and his weirdness a publicist’s fantasy; he was a freakish body-builder. Then he was unmasked as a virgin, and you couldn’t get weirder than that, said the press. In the end, he seemed like a shoe-in for the X Factor crown, and most of us were slack-faced in disbelief when pop pixie Leon Jackson won, with his “love me” puppy eyes and teary Scottish mum, and debate raged over rumours of a fix. We, the public, couldn’t let Rhydian go so quickly. I expected politeness and puddles of silence during an interview with Rhydian, who is, remember, just 24. But the Rhydian I encountered, relaxed at his Welsh home after two weeks in the Mexican sun, was garrulous and, with the gossipy rise and fall of his South Wales accent, came over as engagingly honest, up-beat, firm in his convictions and down to earth. As disciplined as any athlete, he has faith in his talent, but he’s careful not to take his good fortune for granted. Simon Cowell has predicted his new signing will earn £20m over the next decade or so, but when Dermot O’Leary pronounced Leon Jackson the X Factor winner, Rhydian’s future didn’t look as rosy. Going on X Factor had been a substantial gamble for Rhydian, a classically-trained baritone who trained at Birmingham’s prestigious Conservatoire. Even a win doesn’t guarantee success – for every Leona Lewis there are a dozen Steve Brooksteins. “A lot of people in the classical world look down their noses at X Factor so it was a shot in the dark,” explains Rhydian. “I knew what doors it would open if I won but if it went wrong there’s no way I’d be employed as a classical singer again, they just wouldn’t take me seriously. “That’s why, on the night of the final, the first time I shed a tear, it was because I thought all my hopes and dreams might have been quashed, and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next in my career.” In the event, Simon rang him up after the show and told him he was going to have a fantastic career, and offered him a record deal. Being different had paid off, something he insists is genuine, though embellished by TV, and something he’s proud of. But he’s had to grow a tough hide to weather the barrage of opinions picking over his character. “My hair, initially, was quite big and white, that was a stylist’s decision, and I was happy to go along with it,” he admits. “Quirkiness gives me an edge. If I wear boring suits, black suits with normal flattened hair with a classical voice, that’s been done before. I like being different. “I don’t fit the mould as a normal X Factor contestant, normally perhaps, they have some kind of story. There were plenty of stories I could have used, but I didn’t want to. In all fairness, it’s the TV companies who delve in and hit on a story and like for you to mention it. It could be, ‘I’m doing it for my mum’, and then you see it time and time again. “I thought, ‘I’m just going to be me’”. He was the Marmite of the TV talent show world, viewers swooned or shuddered. Sharon Osborne, initially, fell into the latter camp. “I hate him. He’s repugnant.” Rhydian’s impression of her witchy, high pitched voice is spot on. He emits a hearty gust of laughter to show there were no hard feelings. “I love her. Sharon and I get on really well off stage – a lot of it’s TV. Initially, mind you, when I saw the first shows I thought, ‘that’s a bit mean’, and my parents were a bit upset. “It’s all done for effect owing to the fact I didn’t have a story, so they had to make me into an interesting character.” Lots of women absolutely love Rhydian. While Leon’s two fan sites already have a sad air of neglect about them, a Google search throws up five on Rhydian, fastidiously updated and rife with breathy speculation about his love life. His official site proudly declares itself to be the “biggest community of Rhydian fans on the internet”. “As far as female attention goes, well, it’s very flattering,” he says, stuttering slightly. “I’ve got quite a few sites that have been set up, I hate saying fan sites. The majority of the members are . . . female, which is fine. But I’m always conscious that if you are performing at a club, which I don’t do much, there’s always going to be the jealous boyfriend or husband. I’ve been warned about it.” To date, he’s had 2,460 fan letters including several offers of marriage. Taking up any of them would be a route out of his self- imposed vow of celibacy, a condition he’s neither boastful nor embarrassed about. After the show, he asked out Simon Cowell’s make-up artist, Julie Carter, 12 years his senior. “She’s my current girlfriend,” he says happily. “She’s lovely.” He says he fancied her when they were doing the show, and “she was very supportive and gave me little tips and words of encouragement”. He was single on Valentine’s Day last year – although as February 14 is his birthday, he explains he always managed to look quite popular to the postman at least – and is looking forward to marking this one properly. “We’re quite romantic like that,” he says breezily. “I’ll be sending her a card and stuff. She is OK with my celibacy. She has understanding, because she has a similar faith, which is nice. “If people think I’m weird or whatever for not sleeping with a girl, so be it, I’ll sleep with the person I feel in love with, when I find that person and decide to marry. You can’t have a faith and try to compromise.” But he cheerily adds with what I’d swear was bit of a leer: “I’m not stuck by it – I can have fun with a lady without us sleeping together.” He’s reputed to be picking up £1m from his Sony record deal. He’d like a clutch of number ones, or at least successful, albums, a West End or even a Broadway role, but he is also realistic about being a possible flash in the pan. So, grounded lad that he is, he’s making hay while the sun shines. “I’ve bought my dad a field out in the sticks in mid-Wales,” he says. “My dad’s always dreamed of having a six-acre field and he wants to build a lake on it in retirement. It’s nice to see his face light up. Mainly, I just want to be happy. The X Factor can be dissed, but it’s actually opened a lot of doors for me.” The classical world decided on magnanimity, after all. “It’s funny, isn’t it? If you are successful, whatever you do, people still want to brown-nose you,” muses Rhydian. “I feel like saying ‘Oh, you’ve changed your tune, Mr Director, from the classical operatic world’. But I’m just happy now, that I can just be me.” THE X Factor 2008 Live Tour will be coming to The Echo Arena Liverpool on March 4. For tickets and information, go to www. bookingsdirect.com |
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#2 |
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A field is a very unusual present ...lol
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#3 |
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Quote:
A field is a very unusual present ...lol
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#4 |
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Quote:
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...4375-20450618/
I find the fact the press have picked up on leon's OS being very dead at the moment interesting There are over 9000 registered members. Like alot that post here i rarely post on the offish but its the place to go for news. A nice article actually apart from that comment. |
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#5 |
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Once again, a nice bit of pre-tour publicity and a lovely article.
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#6 |
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A lovely article and a nice surprise to see it, I had thought maybe that was it as far as the press is concerned until the album is ready for release. However, I agree they could have left Leon out - if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all, that is my philosophy of life.
Interesting to read that directly after the final Rhydian thought his music career was over before it had begun, that not only was his chance of a record deal gone but the doors of the classical world were also firmly shut for him. No wonder he was so distraught. But he must have been the only one who believed no contract was coming his way. Thank goodness Simon phoned him the next day! I see he has fulfilled his dream of buying his father a field - no doubt his other dream too, some new razor blades, I believe it was |
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#7 |
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Quote:
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...4375-20450618/
I find the fact the press have picked up on leon's OS being very dead at the moment interesting
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#8 |
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He said in an article previously that his dad always wanted his own field and his ambition was to buy him one. He's a country boy at heart, I suppose.
![]() Yet another great article. Great find, glittersteph. I get the feeling Miss Pinch (sounds like a character out of a Carry On film ) was quite taken by our Mr Roberts....PS I think the comment about the Leon sites was not necessarily based on the amount of claimed members, more on the paucity of current activity but that's understandable given the lack of news for the last few weeks. |
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#9 |
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Quote:
A lovely article and a nice surprise to see it, I had thought maybe that was it as far as the press is concerned until the album is ready for release. However, I agree they could have left Leon out - if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all, that is my philosophy of life.
Interesting to read that directly after the final Rhydian thought his music career was over before it had begun, that not only was his chance of a record deal gone but the doors of the classical world were also firmly shut for him. No wonder he was so distraught. But he must have been the only one who believed no contract was coming his way. Thank goodness Simon phoned him the next day! I see he has fulfilled his dream of buying his father a field - no doubt his other dream too, some new razor blades, I believe it was ![]() I also agree about leaving out the not so nice references to Leon - no point whatsoever. |
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#10 |
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Quote:
Leon's bebo site has nearly 15,000 members so they must not have been looking at his fan sites very well!
![]() But the challenge is whether they keep them engaged SC knows all about selling sex to young or not so young ladies - did it brilliantly with Il Divo so who knows how much of this info is a press ploy? But as there is not much press going on with Leon it is difficult for his sites to be busy similarly Rhydian has something appearing in the press almost daily so there is a lot to talk about. Now is this an error in the promo war to try and ensure people stay engaged as that is the real challenge of X Factor? A certain number of people will go off onto another show - Dancing on Ice, BGT or the next X Factor. Of course the first album should sell well and it is likely to be the second album that will be the real challenge as a lot of people will be interested to hear the first - but on the other hand that never happened to Steve Brookstein so who really knows? It was thought to be a mistake to take so long with Leona but that proved wrong so who knows what is going to happen to these two. Probably will be down to who really wants it and is prepared to put up with all the aggro as it is not going to be an easy year for either of them?? |
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#11 |
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Loved the article; everything in it so true, although Emma does seem to have fallen under the Rhydian spell! I did not like the references to Leon as I appreciate he has a lot of support. We Rhydian supporters are far and away above critisising others; I mean, what's the point, we know we have the creme de la creme.
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#12 |
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...........It was thought to be a mistake to take so long with Leona but that proved wrong so who knows what is going to happen to these two. Probably will be down to who really wants it and is prepared to put up with all the aggro as it is not going to be an easy year for either of them??
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#13 |
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I'm going to be controversial here and say that it's inevitable that the topic of Leon will creep into a Rhydian article. They were in a competition together and Leon won. Rhydian was the runner up tipped at the time to be the winner. This is in part what makes Rhydian newsworthy.
It is interesting that there is a lack of activity on the official forum. The reporter is entitled to mention the lack of interest. This is not like the article in the Sun which purported to be about ALW's musical Oliver and headlined with something about Rhydian. Now that was a tenuous connection, but one which showed that Rhydian's name was more headline grabbing that ALW's possibly. Mary |
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#14 |
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Quote:
A lovely article and a nice surprise to see it, I had thought maybe that was it as far as the press is concerned until the album is ready for release. However, I agree they could have left Leon out - if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all, that is my philosophy of life.
Interesting to read that directly after the final Rhydian thought his music career was over before it had begun, that not only was his chance of a record deal gone but the doors of the classical world were also firmly shut for him. No wonder he was so distraught. But he must have been the only one who believed no contract was coming his way. Thank goodness Simon phoned him the next day! I see he has fulfilled his dream of buying his father a field - no doubt his other dream too, some new razor blades, I believe it was I know it is a lovely article I think he is so happy that he is abel to do what he wanted to do al l along.
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#15 |
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It is always a risk to wait so long, with Leona it worked but it may not work for everyone. But I do not get the impression that the media is not accepting. I do not think they will get any agro from that source. It is hard to judge with Leon because he has been busy and has had little press, but it appears the newspapers are accepting of Rhydian and do not consider him less worthy because of the route he has taken. That is half the battle. What the music industry thinks isn't so clear.
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#16 |
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Once again, a nice bit of pre-tour publicity and a lovely article.
I hope th at it the whole tour goes wll for all concerned really.
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#17 |
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This is the first time I've joined in on a DS debateon this page!
First - thanks for starting this thread glittersteph. As others have said, a great article QUOTE=OlgaChristie;21465165]Leona has a large multi-cultural fanbase of a diverse age-range rather than a predominantly teen (and rather more fickle fanbase, so I think Syco will have their work cut out to (a) encourage those young fans to continue their support until Leon`s album is released and (b) produce an album to appeal to those fans, while at the same time appeal to his older fans. At the moment I don`t think they are doing a particularly good job of (a) as there seems to be a scarcity of interviews (apart from the Scottish press), but early days yet and I`m sure they are gearing up to promoting him on the tour although Belfast/Liverpool and Manchester have concentrated their pre-tour publicity on Rhydian but I`m sure the Scottish press are gearing up as we speak [/quote]Thanks for all of that OlgaChristine - interesting points, and interesting too that we have only seen press coverage of Rhydian. The only thing I've seen from the Scottish press about Leon, and which is the DS news headline, is his complaint of getting mobbed in Scotland and how he has to stay holed up indoors when there. He needs something more positive prior to the tour - such as being pleased and excited at the prospect of performing to all his fans? I loved the Liverpool article and yes, Emma Pinch is clearly a fan! It was interesting - and sad - to read Rhydian's take on why he "shed a tear" on the Finals night. he clearly thought every door had just been firmly shut in his face. I wonder how long it took for Simon to put him out of his misery? I've heard mention of two days. I love this bit: "The classical world decided on magnanimity, after all. “It’s funny, isn’t it? If you are successful, whatever you do, people still want to brown-nose you,” muses Rhydian. “I feel like saying ‘Oh, you’ve changed your tune, Mr Director, from the classical operatic world’. But I’m just happy now, that I can just be me.” Given Rhydian's imitations of Sharon and John Barrowman - I would love to hear how he said that last bit! I bet he is SUCH fun to interview and indeed chat to! I'm happy too that Rhydian can just be himself after that long, hard struggle without the constraints of both the operatic world and the X Factor one |
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#18 |
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Leon's bebo site has nearly 15,000 members so they must not have been looking at his fan sites very well!
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#19 |
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Do you mean that the press can get their facts wrong ?
Next you'll be telling us a newspaper like 'The Scum' always prints the truth. I've only just found out that the Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas don't exist so I'm feeling fairly tender at the moment.
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#20 |
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Do you mean that the press can get their facts wrong ?
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#21 |
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Yes, I think they do - a lot!!!!!!!!!!
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#22 |
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Quote:
http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/...4375-20450618/
I find the fact the press have picked up on leon's OS being very dead at the moment interesting On the official X Factor website Leon has 10,796 members whereas Rhydian has 4,876 members. On his www.bebo.com/vote4leon website he has 14,956 members, where fans add comments every day. When he's back in Scotland he can't leave home because he's constantly getting mobbed. This is hardly neglect and indifference to his win. Before anyone says he's only being mobbed at home - that's the only place where fans know where they will definitely be able to find him! I don't doubt that Rhydian is very popular. He was my second favourite from the show. I just wish journalists would get their facts right before they write articles. |
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#23 |
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For journalist, Emma Pinch, to say that Leon has only two fan sites is ridiculous. If you go on to Google you'll see that he has many, many more than that.
On the official X Factor website Leon has 10,796 members whereas Rhydian has 4,876 members. On his www.bebo.com/vote4leon website he has 14,956 members, where fans add comments every day. When he's back in Scotland he can't leave home because he's constantly getting mobbed. This is hardly neglect and indifference to his win. Before anyone says he's only being mobbed at home - that's the only place where fans know where they will definitely be able to find him! I don't doubt that Rhydian is very popular. He was my second favourite from the show. I just wish journalists would get their facts right before they write articles. Deleted because I don't want it to all kick off again, lol. |
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#24 |
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As I have mentioned before, Ms Pinch wasn't referring to the amount of claimed fans there were registered on his sites, more the lack on activity. Here's the current level of activity on Leon's offy forums:
Total Logged-in Users: 4 Total Anonymous Users: 2 Total Guests: 19
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#25 |
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It is 10.19am though. Go on in the evening and you'll have a different story.
![]() I'm sure I will and I decided to delete my post because even I am becoming tired of going round in circles with stuff like this, tbh.
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Next you'll be telling us a newspaper like 'The Scum' always prints the truth.