Darius World

Darius's time

by Katherine MacAlister Oxford Mail (eMAIL Supplement) 23 May 2003

Darius needs no introduction.

He doesn't even need a surname. Like Robbie and Elvis, his Christian name suffices. You'd have had to be living in a war bunker to have missed his rise to stardom. Whether you've become hooked on his songs on the radio, been riveted to his TV performances on Pop Idol and Popstars, or read about his antics in the tabloids, he is everywhere and shows no signs of abating.

While many of the 22-year-old's fellow `manufactured' contemporaries have disappeared, tails between their legs, as fast as their singles climbed the charts, Darius is forging his very own pop career, thanks very much.

Having turned down Simon Cowell's notorious record label, last year he sensibly signed a five-album deal with Mercury, who must have faith in his longevity, and some of the top names in the music business are helping him develop his talent.

"My friends and family thought I was mad turning down a multi-million pound deal, but when I went into Simon's offices and played Colourblind (which went on to be Darius's first no 1), they said they had other songs in mind for me and to leave it up to them. What they meant was pre-packaged cover pop songs written by special song-writing teams and that wasn't what I wanted.

"I have dreamed from a young age about being a solo singer and songwriter on my own terms and being proud of what I do, so it was worth the extra struggle," Darius says.

To promote his first album Dive In, which has already gone platinum, Darius is touring the country and will grace the Oxford Apollo on May 24.

It won't be his first visit. His last experience of the city was when he applied for a place at Oxford University, but chose to remain closer to his Glaswegian roots by studying at Edinburgh University.

"The game plan was to have a good time in my first and second year," Darius explains, "and in my third and fourth year, I was going to record the stuff I was writing in a little home studio.

"Then one of my best mates dragged me to this radio audition and I won it." The next stage was being taken to the Popstars audition and the rest is history.

He still speaks of Glasgow as his home, even though he now has a base in London, but says he lives "like a Celtic gypsy out of suitcases" at the moment.

"I'm a big fish in a small pond in Glasgow, but there the philosophy is work hard and play hard. In London they are more impressed by celebrity."

So does he hate being recognised?

"Yeah, I wear a blond wig and a beard when I go out," he jokes.

"No, if I ever have to resort to that I will seriously consider a new career."

But then Darius never suffered from shyness or a lack of confidence and despite his rather public and humiliating beginning, his current independent success speaks for itself.

"I went from being an honest student to a national joke and coupled with the ghastly facial hair and the pony tail, my image was cemented and easy to ridicule," he says.

"If I'd seen me on TV I would have laughed too. But the reason I have chosen this road is so I can control everything, including my image, so that everything people see of me is real."

But Darius is happy to admit that his sudden fame left him wary and depressed until he got to grips with it.

"When you're the frontman and it's your own concept, you have to give 100 per cent 24/7. I was thrown in at the deep end, which initially was a shock because I didn't have a manager or agent. I wasn't experienced in coping with the press and had to do it all myself.

"There were undercover reporters following me at university and photographers waiting outside my front door on the way to lectures.

"I was surrounded by people who wanted to make short-term financial rewards and managers trying to chase me, purely from self-interest, just to get a piece of the pie.

"There were some difficult times and for the first six months I was very withdrawn and became very unhappy. But now I've swung the other way and I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. I'm now happier than I've ever been in my life," he says.

Whether playing in front of 100,000 people at Party In The Park or just 100 at the exclusive Kashmir Bar in London, Darius is happiest on stage. "Playing live is vast and exhilarating. There's nothing better than writing a song then watching an audience's reaction to it," he says.