The Survivor; Reality Tv Success, a Hit Album ... Then Writer's Block and a Family Crisis. Can Darius Fight Back?

Summary

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WHEN Darius Danesh first bothered the nation's consciousness as a rather smug and arrogant presence on Popstars, the music industry was a different place. It was only four years ago, but much has changed in that time. The explosion of reality pop shows - Popstars, Pop Idol, Popstars: The Rivals, Fame Academy - was yet to come. Label bosses were tearing their hair out over the supposed crisis of downloading music, yet refusing to tackle the problem head-on. Franz Ferdinand was still the guy whose assassination kicked off the first world war.

Now, things are substantially different. Reality shows didn't lay bare the tactics of the business so much as confirm everything most people knew or suspected about how things worked: young, innocent things are put through the emotional wringer for fun (ours) and profit (the industry's). What they did change, however, is the speed at which business moved. The careers of some whose names were made on Saturday night TV burned out in less time than it took to download their debut single. The pace of the celebrity treadmill had moved up.

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The Survivor; Reality Tv Success, a Hit Album ... Then Writer's Block and a Family Crisis. Can Darius Fight Back?

Scotland's own Darius - bless his daft goatee beard and his terrible Britney Spears impersonation - was expected to fall by the wayside. After crashing out of Popstars, he reappeared, minus the ponytail and beard which he claimed made him look "like a Greek waiter", on Pop Idol. He made the finals and toured with Will Young, Gareth Gates and the cast of nonentities which comprised that show's first series. He turned down a deal with Simon Cowell. ...

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