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Staying afloat
Lisa Verrico The Scotsman 13 September 2003Life as a pop idol isn’t all girls, glamour and glitzy parties. For Darius Danesh, at least right now, it’s more about mums, shopping centres and very long queues. The former Popstars laughing stock - if you need to be reminded, he was the one whose karaoke impersonation of Britney Spears made him famous for all the wrong reasons - has sealed his extraordinary career turnaround. He is now a credible, chart-topping artist who, for the last fortnight, has been in major book stores around the country to help shift copies of his self-penned book, Sink Or Swim.
Not that the Darius Disciples - their name, not mine - need much persuasion to part with their cash. According to his PR, 1,000 people turned up to a signing in WH Smith in Glasgow’s Argyle Street last month. And today, on the final date of his tour at a concrete retail park at the London end of the M1, there are nearly as many here again - despite a last-minute time change from noon to 6.30pm. To be fair, not everyone has bought a book to be signed, and it’s hard to say how many are simply Saturday shoppers who have stopped to see what all the fuss is about. But few leave when the former Pop Idol finalist finishes his five minutes of grinning and waving at the crowd and begins the duller process of signing book after book. Moreover, no one throws anything or hurls any insults, which shows just how far Darius has come since that buttock-clenchingly embarrassing Britney moment three years ago.
Surprisingly, those who do splash out on Sink Or Swim will probably feel they’ve got their money’s worth - not least, of course, if it gets them a quick meet-and-greet with the author. So you might not be able to call Sink Or Swim a riveting read, and Darius’s claim that it lifts the lid on so-called reality TV, not to mention revealing the real Simon Cowell, sounds more promising than it turns out to be. But neither is it - despite boasting over 100 glossy, fashion-style photos, full of moody looks and cheesy poses - the usual pieced-together pile of fluff 20-something pop stars usually put out (Darius turned 23 on 19 August, according to the Darius Disciples website). It’s an honest insight into the good and bad sides of life as a reality TV contestant. It’s also obvious that he wrote it himself - and, thank goodness, it’s not an autobiography. "Oh no, it will be many years yet until I write one of those," says Darius, in London four days before the signing.
"I don’t get it when people my age do their autobiography, then release another one three years later. That’s a money-making enterprise, as opposed to something creative. I genuinely wanted to write a book for the fans who enjoy my music. I wanted to write a story that had a point and was honest. Oh, and that my little brother and my mother could read."
Darius’s family certainly won’t be shocked by the content - no sex, no drugs and, well, more teen pop than rock ’n’ roll. There’s not even any name-dropping, unless you count Simon Cowell, and since the book is published by Cowell associate Simon Fuller’s 19 company (the makers of Popstars and Pop Idol) don’t expect much dirt to be dished on the cartoon-villain judge.
Instead, Darius deals largely with his own reality TV experience, and the dark days between Popstars and Pop Idol - when his career appeared to be over before it had even got going. For the devoted fan, there’s also a potted, if somewhat pompous, history of Darius’s pre-fame years, including a few pages about being bullied at school and an entertaining tale of how he was almost offered a job as a TV weather man. Of course, it all ends on an upbeat note, with a debut single, Colourblind, that topped the charts a year ago, and an album, Dive In, that is now a platinum seller. Which brings Darius nicely on to the central theme of Sink Or Swim. "It’s about triumph in the face of adversity," he says proudly. Although I suspect it’s the 100th time he’s used that line in the past ten days. "It’s about not giving up when you get knocked down. It’s about learning that when one door closes, another one always opens. That’s what I wanted to tell people."
Darius could spiel off cliches all day about his unexpected success, but it’s not just his ego talking. Whether you like his pop or not, there’s no denying that the Glaswegian, who was then studying English literature at Edinburgh University, was brave to turn up to the Pop Idol auditions after the pasting he got on Popstars. Even his family, to whom he seems incredibly close, advised him not to go back. As did Nicki Chapman and original judge Nigel Lythgoe, both of whom Darius contacted privately when he first heard about the new series.
In fact, it’s easy to forget just how badly Darius was treated for almost a year. In Sink Or Swim, he writes, "I didn’t understand why people hated me. It wasn’t dislike, it was a genuine hatred. It was a really extreme reaction."
The fact that he had to face such hostility without the shield of the TV series - filming was finished by the time the show aired - made it ten times worse. "The period between the two programmes was dreadful," admits Darius, who - despite claiming he has no regrets about anything - looks distinctly uneasy when I bring it up.
"It was the toughest time of my life. I felt very much alone. No one had any idea how popular the show was going to be, so I wasn’t prepared for all the attention, and certainly not for the bad stuff. I got it from the public as well as the press, and I didn’t have a manager or an agent to help me through it.
"It was a distressing time for my family too. My parents were being chased for a comment at work. My brother, Cyrus, who was six, was confronted by a photographer and journalist the Saturday after I left Popstars. They couldn’t find me, so they went to his school, thrust a camera and a microphone in his face and asked what he thought of me not making it into the final round. My brother burst into tears and ran back into the school. That’s an awful thing to do to a six-year-old."
Darius took part in a Popstars tour and was booed on stage at almost every venue and snubbed by his former friends in the then high-flying Hear’say. He returned to university and was jeered at by other students. Then, after several months spent sleeping on friends’ floors in London, trying and failing to get his own record deal, he says he hit rock bottom. "I drowned my sorrows in drink," he admits.
"I was running away - or trying to. There was a period when I was scarcely sober. Even with the support I had from my family and good friends looking out for me, I was heading down the slippery slope to self-destruction. And I wouldn’t tell anyone how bad I felt. I was ashamed of myself and what I was doing."
It’s hard to know if Darius is just being dramatic. The experience, however, does seem to have affected him. "I feel now as though I have some understanding of what alcoholics and drug abusers go through," he says. "I can see how young kids find themselves in despair, particularly those who aren’t as privileged as I was, if they don’t have an education or even a roof over their heads. Because of my experience, I’ve started working with different charities and I have become an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. I want to help give young people opportunities. Despite the down side, I was very lucky to have been a passenger on the Popstars phenomenon - and I know it. Not many people get a chance like that."
In person, though, it’s very hard to dislike Darius. He is incredibly polite - he apologises twice for arriving ten minutes late for our interview, although he was up at dawn to appear on Lorraine Kelly’s couch and was only delayed because a photo shoot ran over time. He’s friendly, easy-going, intelligent and quite possibly the happiest pop star I have ever encountered.
On TV, however, it was a different matter. On Popstars in particular, he came across as arrogant, and coming out with lines such as "feel the love in this room" didn’t exactly make people warm to him.
"There was a naivete to all the contestants on Popstars, because we didn’t know what the show was supposed to be or how it was going to turn out," says Darius, carefully. "And, of course, there was a particular naivete on my part. I was trying to be what I thought the producers were looking for, instead of just being myself. It was an artificial me spawned by an artificial situation, and when the programme was edited, naturally, they left in all the worst bits.
"As for the Britney thing, when I looked back at it six months or maybe a year later, I cringed. Now, I can look at it and laugh, like everyone else. I mean, we all do stupid things we wish we hadn’t. It’s just that my mistakes were on national TV, and millions of people watched them for pleasure."
There was still something to dislike about Darius when he reappeared on Pop Idol, asking to play his guitar and sing his own songs rather than doing cover versions, like the other contestants. But halfway through, he changed. For a start, he cut off his ponytail and got rid of the goatee beard, revealing a surprisingly pretty face. More importantly, however, he became a nice person - or at least a little humble.
Cynics may say it was to win votes, but Sink Or Swim reveals that, in fact, it was hiding insecurities that made him arrogant, and as he grew in confidence he didn’t feel the need to show off so much. "That’s true," he insists. "When I turned up for Popstars, I had never been to an audition before. I was surrounded by all these stage-school kids who seemed to know what they were doing. I was trying to bluff my way through, and that made me act... well, I’ll admit it, like a twat.
"It’s also the fact that I grew up a lot between the two programmes. That’s why I say I don’t regret what happened. I look at everything now as a learning experience. And I don’t think if I hadn’t been knocked down so badly that I would have been so determined to come back and put it right."
Once promoting the book is out of the way, Darius will be back with new music, just in time for Christmas. A single is scheduled for next month, and a second album, already written but still being recorded, is set for November. According to Darius, the songs are a step on from Dive In - he has been working with Avril Lavigne’s producers, the Matrix - but don’t expect much change of style.
"My audience is amazing," he says. "I get everyone from six and seven-year-olds to 70-year-old grannies. I get 20 and 30-somethings too. Just people who like good pop music. You only need to think of The Beatles to know that great, upbeat, simple, catchy pop songs are what make folk happy. I’ve tried to write an album crammed full of them."
Darius may want to watch those Beatles references, but it’s true that he has emerged from the reality TV experience with more credibility that any of his peers. Noel Gallagher and Chris Martin both gave Dive In the thumbs up, and the reviews were almost universally positive.
"No one is more surprised than me that I emerged from those shows with even a shred of credibility," says Darius. "Now I get to live the life of a gypsy with a guitar, tour with my band and work with great producers. I’m like a kid in a candy shop. For as long as it lasts, I’ll be happy."
• Sink Or Swim is published by Headline (£14.99)