X Factor’s Steve Brookstein Crawls Out From Under His Rock Again!
Today is our lucky day! Normally we only hear from X Factor’s first winner Steve Brookstein once a year (around the time of the X Factor launch coincidentally) but he has saw fit to crawl out from under his rock this week to defend poor old Leon Jackson.
Leon was unceremoniously dumped by his record label this week and they didn’t even do him the favour of phoning to tell him. No, sad old Leon had to read the news in The Sun. Of course Steve Brookstein went through a similar ordeal back in 2005 so he decided to write in support of Leon on his own personal blog.
Brookstein blustered: “If they cared anything about Leon they would have announced his departure after his tour and not before it, they would have kept his fans informed, his website up-to-date, and not put comments from Simon into the press saying: ‘[He's a] nice guy but not gonna set the world on fire, Rhydian should have won’.”
He added: “It reminds me of his ‘G4 were the real winners!’ I’m surprised he allows the public to vote when they’ve only got it right once in four years. When they spent their money deciding Leona Lewis had more ‘X’ than the ice skater Ray Quinn. Phew, tough choice.”
Now it’s not that I disagree with Steve per se, but everything he says these days just comes across as sour grapes and he always did have a mammoth chip on his shoulder. I therefore find it hard to take him seriously and if he really cared about his music and not about securing column inches, he would get on with singing instead of bitching. It really is getting tiresome now!
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March 22nd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
It is time STeve should just shut up and get on with what he should do best. Sing for intimate audiences under the influence and when he can be bothered to stay sober a few clubs, festivals, etc. He started out as a real singer songwriter and there is nothing wrong with that. The steve Brookstein fanbase was obviously not as strong as anticipated. At least if he can stay sober he should be able to continue having a living with what he enjoys doing.
March 22nd, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I totally agree with him. It’s not fair to promote some X-Factor winners and forget others, when the shows’ prize include promotion, videos, etc.
I hate Simon because of that. He thinks he can control the world and decide who deserves a music career and who not. Sadly.
Good luck Leon!
March 31st, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hi Lisa
So Simon told you to respond to Steve’s comment. His lackeys know that they have to obey him. The press have had a field day since he was discarded by Simon I wonder if they have ever listened to him or are you all silly giggling little girls with cloth ears. Journalism used to be a respected profession know its it’s about ten rungs beneath Estate agents.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Eric,
I am flattered that you would think that Simon Cowell is a personal friend of mine, but sadly you are severely misguided. Yes I have been in the same room as the man on occasion, I may have even asked him one or two questions but he really he doesn’t issue me with directions of any sort.
Simon dropped Steve like a hot potato because he couldn’t make enough money from him. It was mercenary and cruel but Steve needs to get over it some time before he ruins the rest of his life with his bitternes..
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 am
Ms McGarry,
As I sat under my dark damp dwelling minding my own business I was approached by GMTV to go in for a live interview but after hearing my views decided to do a short pre-recorded interview which they could censor and instead got Michelle McManus to do the live studio interview.
I was indeed dropped, but not for the reasons you choose to give. You are misguided and misinformed and that is why I continue to comment on the subject of Simon Cowell.
If you read my entire blog you would have understood my agenda was to promote my wife’s jazz album which I’m pleased to say we are finally finishing this year, but that doesn’t fit in with your story does it?
You allow bloggers like Maureen to say that I perform drunk, and as your piece is to undermine my integrity and professionalism you allow it to remain. I have many letters of thanks for my performances and the way I conduct myself when I’m working. I have NEVER had a complaint. Surely if Maureen’s claims were true the tabloids would gladly print it.
This is the danger of the web, any idiot with an opinion, a laptop, and a broadsheet font can pretend to be a journalist. If you don’t put this comment up for people to read – they can read it on my rock.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:10 am
May I just point out that Steve Brookstein does not court the press in any way, they always contact him and of course always ask the X factor question which he always truthfully gives his opinions and views, I suggest you get your fact sright first before printing such drivel, but thats the gutter press for you isnt it.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:38 pm
What a crass article- and I use that term loosely.
The author obvisouly has a chip on HER shoulder about Steve for some reason and SHE comes across bitter and yet she’s allowed a voice? No fair.
I go to every Steve gig I can get to, have travelled miles around the country and met up with many other Steve fans who know that a night watching Steve is always going to hit the spot! His voice is amazing, as is his choice of songs and his patter as good as many a stand-up! His willingness to stop after a show and chat with his fans never ceases to amaze me and as for what ‘margaret’ said, there’s no way he would ever perform drunk. What a ridiculous and totally unfounded thing to say- even slandderous. I hope Steve takes it further as he has done when on the receiving end of other such personal, nasty drivel!
Steve’s a diamond- as a person AND a performer, what a shame his only crime was to win the first ever X Factor and dare to say no to the X Factory machine that wanted him to go in a direction he didn’t want to go. Yes- that’s right STEVE said NO to Mr Cowell- not the other way round. Would be nice if the occasional ‘journalist’ got their facts right.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
We’ll be having a chat with Steve himself tomorrow morning and he’ll be able to put the record straight. Pop back this weekend for a read of his interview.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Good- I’m sure once you’ve met Steve in person your preconceived ideas about him will be challenged!
To back up the affection and admiration many people have for him- can I suggest you check out the Guest Book comments on his website.
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I read this unprofessional tosh several days ago but felt it so far below contempt that it didn’t dignify a response. Such ill-informed twaddle shouldn’t be given the time of day. However now it has been brought to Steve’s attention I will add my voice to those of the others defending him.
Once a year Steve is approached by all the red-top rags for a comment regarding XFactor. They know what his response will be as they asked the previous year too and are merely hoping to ellicit a further quote they can attach a ‘bitter, chip on the shoulder’ tag to. Surely even someone with half a brain cell can see that if you are asked the same question you will get the same answer. This is not Steve dragging out his experiences but the media digging up trash. This is hardly Steve ‘crawling out from under his rock’. He was approached for an interview and gave one. He was not the one seeking it out.
If it is true (and with the type of ‘news’paper we are talking about I wouldn’t take that for granted) that Leon was made aware he had been dropped by reading it in a paper it merely confirms Simon Cowell’s character and some of the things Steve, and others have said about him. I suggest you look on youtube for the clips of Simon talking to and about Steve during the first series of XFactor, he says Steve has a fantastic voice, better than he himself realises and that he feels Steve has a great future. This turned out to be the future Simon envisioned -churning out copy after copy and fitting into a mould- rather than expanding his audience and using Steve’s own self-penned material. Steve had envisioned something somewhat different. This was whatstarted the disagreement between them which culminated in Steve being released. If anyone had been reading his website at the time they would have seen the day by day fight Steve had with the legal eagles to get released from his contract and they certainly didn’t make it easy for him. This is classed by Simon as Steve being dropped.
I do wish people such as yourself did your homework before making sweeping statements as Steve is still singing, writing, recording and making the release of Eileen’s album a priority this year. Last year he toured extensively with the hit show Our House. Hardly someone hiding under a rock.
I too make an effort to attend every gig Steve does, he has spent many an evening with us all turning it into a social event. Taking us for drinks, spending hours (and I mean hours lol) talking into the early morning. Involving us in all aspects of his career. Top genuine bloke as is his wife and his family who also make a point of spending time with us all.
I would also like to know the source of Maureen’s libelous allegations as to Steve performing in a drunken condition. Like Sandra, I hope that Steve takes it further. He has taken on other ill-informed sources in the past and won.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I think we should get some facts right and the major fact is if artists do not sell in sufficient numbers to cover at least the cost of production marketing and distribution they will be dropped from any record label.
It’s a sad fact of life that the music industry at all levels is a private industry, it isn’t therefore a job. It’s not a job that offers any degree of security and their have been some very big names in the past who have ended their days in poverty.
Today we are all bombarded with the media in the forms of tv interviews, blogging websites, blogg pages, top rack magazines, and radio commentary. The majority of them even the tabloids do report their views of the truth and they also publish photographs courtesy of the paparazzi to back up any commentary raised.
Referring to someone picking up on my comment about performing under the influence, tv footage exists of those early x factor auditions during which Steve knowingly attended auditions under the influence and I do seem to remember the direction from Simon being that he needed to come back, when he felt more up to it. Steve also admitted himself to performing in intimate environments apart from his professional work as a support act for other established artists.
So Steve’s experiences here are also something up and coming artists find enviable.The problem is the image sold is that of all glossy magazines and living the high life, so the up and coming have no real concept of what it means to be working in the industry at any level.
In all due honesty Steve knows that it is very difficult to get a record company to take an interest in an artist who wants to do his own material, I would say it’s nigh on impossible unless you go the self financing route which many artists do. As said before it is not a job you go into without any financial business knowledge. In actual fact the knoledge an individual sadly needs is music industry knowledge and that tends to be a closely guarded secret.
The majority of professional musicians today nearly always have alternative jobs and the most important thng any artist should tell themself is “Don’t give up the day job.”
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
A warm welcome to the site to any newbies here.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
blimey lol
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I am sorry Maureen but to quote yourself:
Maureen says: Referring to someone picking up on my comment about performing under the influence, tv footage exists of those early x factor auditions during which Steve knowingly attended auditions under the influence and I do seem to remember the direction from Simon being that he needed to come back, when he felt more up to it
Totally inaccurate I am afraid.
What actually was shown was Steve auditioning having been gigging the night before and waiting for his turn in the audition room. He looked and no doubt felt shattered and was told to go home and have a sleep and come back the following day.
He wasn’t drunk, didn’t appear drunk, just tired – and if that is what you were basing your scurrulous remarks on, I think you will have to admit you were wrong.
I don’t think you know how long Steve had been working in the music industry prior to his XF experience and as it was the first series I doubt anyone entering the show would have really known what to expect, whereas anyone entering now would have to have been in outer space not to expect being treated as a piece of money-earning meat for Mr Cowell, signing a restrictive contract and being abandoned shortly before the following years’ cannon-fodder appear.
It was an unknown factor for that first series.
It is easy enough to pick one artist, slag them off, make unfounded comments and think no more, when others will pick up on that as being substantiated fact.
I appreciate your comments regarding the instability of a career in the music business and am sure Steve is aware of all you say.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Maureen- you’re digging yourself an even bigger hole.
1. Steve was offered a 2nd album and to come back on the next X Factor to promote it. HE turned it down as it was going to be all covers again. His album and single both got to number 1 (against some top class acts in the charts at the same time if you look into it) and Heart & Soul went on to sell 250,000 copies.
2. Steve won a million pound recording deal. They didn’t even spend half that. You only have to compare the marketing and promotion done for each subsequent X Factor winner to see how each artist got better and better treatment. Steve had the misfortune to be the 1st ever winner- had he won the 2nd or 3rd year for example, and benefitted from the same promotion Shayne and Leona got, how different things might have been.
3. You must be the only person on the planet who thinks tabloids print the truth! Their ‘version’ of the truth was nearer the mark, but still a way off it. Steve had one tabloid blatantly lie about attendances at one of his gigs because it made the negtive angle on the story sound more believable. Angry fans who were there complained to the paper and one actually got a reply from the writer of the article himself admitting he’d enjoyed Steve’s performance but had been given strict instructions regarding the angle to go from before he’d even got there, never mind written a word! I think Steve was successful in getting a retraction printed in that paper.
4. You’re on dangerous ground Maureen- those auditions are there for all to see on youtube and no way was Steve ‘under the influence’! You have watered down your original words already- and if you go back and have a look now, may want to retract the drunk/sober references altogether.
5. Steve already had experience of the industry and had been signed up to EMI as a writer before winning X Factor. He wasn’t some wet behind the ears,starry eyed, do as I’m told, young’un which was half the problem. He had experience, had already had some success in the industry, had a brain and a voice. Mr Cowell isn’t used to people saying ‘no’ is he- as is blatantly obvious by some of the tosh his artists are asked to do and asked to perform!
So Maureen, it seems you have a lot to say about an artist you obviously know very little about- sadly, a very common problem amongst many ‘journalists’ today!
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I actually chatted to Steve this morning and I’d have to agree with Sandra. The guy seems to have been the victim of a lot of tabloid mis-reporting. I’ll put the interview up on the site this weekend but in the meantime we’re chatting about Steve over on our forum if anyone is interested
http://forum.unrealitytv.co.uk/index.php?topic=8016.0
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:06 pm
No Maureen wrong again, the early clips of the X factor interviews he was not drunk, but had been doing a gig the night before and was really tired out. So would you be, Steve puts 100% and more into all his performances and never gives short of that. So please do get you facts straight first.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Funny how Maureen has been able to reply but my post of 13.04 today is still awaiting moderation.
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
thank you
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Sharon does tell Steve to stay out of the pub but I think she was addressing the fact that he said he drinks too much beer and coffee. He doesn’t look drunk to me.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
No he wasnt, thank you lisa. He was just really tired and trying his best . at last we are getting somewhere. I am sure when you meet him you will see for yourself. I look forward to your review.
April 4th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Hi all,
to clear the Sharon ’stay out the pub’ comment. the audition lasted 10-15 minutes of which you see 1 minute. I was making the comment to excuse the fact that as a 35 year old i looked haggard due to years of late nights, coffee and drinking (socially).
No tv footage exists Maureen, it’s all in your head. Apology accepted! As for artists singing their own material. I requested I sang ‘original’ material. No artists have a long career just singing covers. Many have and continue to get signed singing original AND their own material. Some are even developed where the label takes a loss in the short term. In my situation, I had delivered Simon, 6 million public phone votes (that is final night alone) was in with record sales profit (just), I had a number one album while Simon was only 50% into his promise and commitment of a £1 million deal. Can you name 1 artist dropped after number one single and 12 weeks after a number one album? Not even a second single.
As for ‘giving up your day job’. Every single musician I know is professional and a full time musician and music is their day job. the people you are talking about are SEMI-professional. Which means they play at night and have a day job.
My final point on your continuing rambles is on this comment
“The majority of them even the tabloids do report their views of the truth and they also publish photographs courtesy of the paparazzi to back up any commentary raised.’
Reporting views of the truth is opinion not my idea of a newspaper and in my experience which is a little more than yours, to the tabloids truth doesn’t matter as much as headlines and propaganda. Many paparazzi shots are set up by PR companies. Many celebs being caught shopping or on holiday are tip offs or entirely manufactured.
I appreciate your interest in music.
April 5th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Lisa, it would be nice if having spoken to Steve and heard his side of the story you could now amend your ‘article’ and Maureen- you could retract your insulting drunk comments OR maybe Lisa could edit Maureen’s post/take it off altogether.
It’s easy to take a pop at a ‘distant’ celeb, not so easy once you’ve met them/spoken to them and realised they’re just a person like yourself, trying to make a living and do what they do the best they can.
If Steve hadn’t been alerted to this by a friend- it would have been another bashing that people would read and no doubt think ‘no smoke without fire’ and there you have it- the harm is done.
You both owe him an apology IMO, and it would be nice to do it on here for all to see.