Nina's Darius World

The long hair is still long gone, as is the goatee and the youthful grin of the Darius of old. In its place is the more classically handsome face of a boy turned man who, in his 24 years, has already lived the life of two very different types of pop star.

Darius for the very first time visited India as a performer at the MTV Immies event held in Mumbai recently. A closer look of this 6 feet tall dude with jet black hair makes you feel like his looks has some desi flavour to it. And before we stop staring at him he announces, “I’m half Scottish and half Persian. So, I could be a Parsi actually and I know that even Freddie Mercury was a Parsi. I have a bit of Indianness in me as when I was growing up, my father would play the sitar for me and I would enjoy it all the time.”

Darius is quite surprised with his fan following all over the world, 70 per cent of whom are women. “When I write a song like Colour blind, the lyrics have a depth for me, but the fact that they have depth for other adults whom I respect makes it special,” he says. While touring, he also wrote his book, Darius: Sink or Swim. “I discovered a publisher was writing an unofficial biography about me because they thought I’d ‘triumphed in the face of adversity.’ I thought, ‘That’s flattering, but a bit naff because I’m so young to have that written about my whole life.

So I decided to write, in my own words, how I’d got a foot into the music industry in the past couple of years and what really went on behind the scenes on TV.”

But to his dismay, the cocky exuberance he’d enjoyed while writing the platinum selling Dive In (the No.1 single Colourblind was written on the back of a bus ticket because it was flowing out), was nowhere to be found; he was suffering from writer’s block. “I’d run out of juice. I didn’t know what to do.

I would strum on my guitar and nothing would happen.” Two months later, the reason for his uneasy feeling became clear when he discovered that his father was seriously ill. “It was the most awful news, but it was a relief because I knew that something was wrong and now I knew what demon I had to face. Something snapped inside of me. The songs came flooding out of me. It was a very emotional time. A rollercoaster. I am very close to my family.”

Within weeks he had completed his first track, Live Twice, also the name of the album. It is inspired by his father and also refers to Darius himself, who in his own way, has also been given a second lease of life. Of course, no Darius album would be complete without a sprinkling of heart-ache. “I had split up with my girlfriend while I was writing. Even though it was an amicable split it was so painful. I felt I’d met the right girl too young,” he confesses.

We talk about his current girl friend Geri Halliwell and he shies away from it. “I’m very much single right now and don’t have a girlfriend. If had a girl in my life, I would have her hand henna painted,” he says. We inquire about the buzz that Geri was joining him in India. “Well I would love to bring her next year to India. She loves India and Bhangra music. In fact both of us love Bhangra music and I even have an Indian DJ friend Juzer Halai who spins some amazing Indian music,” he says. “I always found Indian women very warm. They have almond-shaped eyes,” he adds with a smile.

For his new album Live Twice his inspiration comes from everything from Beatles to Frank Sinatra. What a strange concept for Darius: a boy turned man whose dreams have been nothing but fulfilled.