Two new interviews with Simon Cowell! One Direction’s Where We Are Tour Attended by 3.4 Million Fans! Danny DeVito to appear in One Direction’s new music video!
Simon Cowell talks to Nick Grimshaw (BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show Host)
Interview: Simon Cowell
The ringmaster of talent TV on the worst moment of his life, his obsession with detail and his mission to restore ‘X Factor’ to US TV
It is 8pm in Beverly Hills and the sun has gone down over Santa Monica Boulevard. A slight breeze ripples the decorative line of flames at the rear of the garden in Simon Cowell’s $34m mansion. The marble floors shine as brightly as in a television studio, and each piece of furniture and ornament is flawlessly aligned and polished. Cowell sits on the terrace with a packet of Kool menthol cigarettes and a tumbler of vodka and soda, filled with crushed ice, recalling the moment that changed his life.
He was 40 and had just made another career blunder, rejecting an invitation to become a judge on Popstars, the first television programme based on a competition to find singing talent. His fellow music executives looked down upon him as a novelty merchant with laughable taste. In desperation, he had scrambled to rectify his mistake by helping launch a rival ITV show called Pop Idol, on which he was a judge, along with the producer Pete Waterman.
“Pete was on the list to be Mr Nasty because I’d worked with Pete for years and he was a dick in real life, so I thought he’d be a dick on television. But he turned into a complete softie during the auditions, crying all the time, and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘These acts are horrible.’ I thought it was more funny than anything else – I was amused. It was just something that happened.”
Perhaps it is true that Cowell merely stumbled into becoming Sarcastic Simon, the judge who humiliated bad contestants while thrilling and shocking the audience at home. More likely, knowing the power of television and the value of a personality, he seized the chance to lend his own twist to the act of “Nasty Nigel” Lythgoe, the rude judge of Popstars. Whichever it was, his instinct 13 years ago turned him from the clown of the old industry into the ringmaster of a new one.
Read more: FT Magazine
‘What One Direction did will never be repeated’: Simon Cowell says boyband’s success was a ‘one-off’… as he takes control of X Factor song choices
Simon Cowell doesn’t think any of this year’s X Factor contestants can achieve the same success as One Direction.
The music mogul – who returned this year to boost ratings of the ITV1 show – says that what the five-piece boyband achieved was a ‘one-off.’
He also seems to be running this year’s show with an iron fist which means he has the right to veto judges’ song choices for their acts ahead of the live show.
Read more: Daily Mail
You’re hired! Simon Cowell enlists Apprentice star Karren Brady to help run his entertainment empire
She’s the tough-talking business woman who helps Lord Sugar carefully select his next Apprentice.
So it’s no surprise that fellow TV tycoon Simon Cowell has hired Baroness Brady to advise him on how to run his multi-million pound empire.
The X Factor honcho has enlisted the glamorous 45-year-old to sit on the board of his SyCo firm in an advisory non-executive director role.
Read more: Daily Mail
One Direction’s Where We Are Tour Attended by 3.4 Million Fans
One Direction makes its last stand on the Hot Tours recap for the year, having wrapped the massive Where We Are stadium tour that topped $290 million in sales after 69 performances. The final three venues on the tour schedule were reported this week, giving the boy band the No. 4 Hot Tours ranking with a three-show gross of $13.1 million. A total of 157,042 tickets were sold at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and the tour’s final venue, Sun Life Stadium in Miami.
With concerts in 19 countries in North and South America and Europe from April 25 through October 5, the Where We Are tour logged a total attendance count of 3,439,560 during its 5-month span.
Source: Billboard
#StealMyGirlVideo…Oh so you wanna meet Trollfoot? pic.twitter.com/MyviuwHlbV
— Danny DeVito (@DannyDeVito) October 10, 2014
#Trollfoot #StealMyGirlVideo Trollfoot wit all da boys! pic.twitter.com/pJetPn692H
— Danny DeVito (@DannyDeVito) October 10, 2014
VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: ‘It’s like some mad movie set!’: One Direction dance in the desert with sumo wrestlers in behind-the-scenes clip from Steal My Girl
They’re preparing to release their fourth album, and it appears One Direction are ready to show off their wacky side if their video for new single Steal My Girl is anything to go by.
In an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the promo shoot, the band can be seen descending on the blazing hot desert outside Los Angeles.
The boys – Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik – look effortlessly cool despite the blazing heat while they perform atop a rocky ridge.
Read more: Daily Mail
Exclusive – Steal My Girl Video Pics
‘My childhood was cut short’: Niall Horan regrets leaving school without qualifications after finding fame on The X Factor
He was just 16 when he walked away from his education in a bid to find stardom on The X Factor.
Now four years on, Niall Horan admits that he regrets leaving school without any qualifications – insisting the talent show robbed him of the remainder of his childhood.
Opening up in the boy band’s latest book, Who We Are, he explains: ‘My childhood was cut short by The X Factor because One Direction took off and I never really got the chance to finish school or do my exams or anything like that.’
Read more: Daily Mail
God Only Knows how they got them all singing in harmony…1D join forces with stars including Pharrell, Kylie and Chris Martin for Children In Need track
One Direction have joined forces with some of the music world’s biggest names for the new Children In Need track.
The chart-topping boy-band are accompanied by the likes of Pharrell Williams, Kylie Minogue and Queen’s Brian May on a charity reworking of the Beach Boys’ 1966 classic God Only Knows.
Dubbed The Impossible Orchestra, the collaborative effort was premiered in a unique pan-broadcasting moment on Tuesday when all of the BBC’s TV, radio and online channels premiered the track at 8pm, to officially launch BBC Music.
Read more: Daily Mail
Stacey Solomon, is that you? Former X Factor star gets a classy makeover as she poses in elegant new fashion shoot
She’s been laying relatively low since shooting to fame on X Factor back in 2009, but as she prepares to make a musical comeback, songstress Stacey Solomon is keen to reinvent herself.
Her first port of call? Posing in a series of classy images for a new clothing campaign.
The 25-year-old from Dagenham has been unveiled as the face of Look Again fashion – and she shows off a stylish new look.
Read more: Daily Mail
Watch: Ella Henderson Covers Sam Smith’s ‘I’m Not The Only One’ For #MakeSomeNoise
Ella gives the Sam Smith classic her own soulful twist for Global’s brand new charity for disadvantaged young people.
Ella Henderson performed an exclusive cover of Sam Smith’s classic, ‘Not The Only One’ for Global’s Make Some Noise Day for Capital.
Giving it her unique, soulful twist, Ella is helping to raise money for disadvantaged children with her beautiful performance.
Read more: Capital FM
‘Make Some Noise Tonight!’: Olly Murs Changes The Words To His Song For Charity!
Olly did an amazing performance of his hit song ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ with a little twist specially for Global’s Make Some Noise charity!
We love a bit of Olly Murs here at Capital, but we loved him a little bit more today as he performed an exclusive version of his hit song ‘Dance With Me Tonight’ specially for Make Some Noise.
To help raise money for disadvantaged young people with Global’s Make Some Noise, Olly changed the words to his song to ‘Make Some Noise Tonight’.
Read more: Capital FM
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Irish Charts
Singles
1 Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
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6 G.R.L. – Ugly Heart
17 Ella Henderson – Glow
18 Ella Henderson – Ghost
87 Cheryl Cole – Crazy Stupid Love (feat. Tinie Tempah)
Albums
1 Hozier – Hozier
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23 One Direction – Midnight Memories
52 One Direction – Up All Night
62 One Direction – Take Me Home
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The Official Charts
Singles
1 Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
.
7 Ella Henderson – Glow
21 G.R.L. – Ugly Heart
22 Ella Henderson – Ghost
59 Cheryl Cole – Crazy Stupid Love (feat. Tinie Tempah)
70 Cheryl Cole – Only Human
Albums
1 George Ezra – Wanted On Voyage
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36 Collabro – Stars (BGT 2014 Winners)
