OPERA BOOK FILM PRODUCTION CHARITY WORK A STAR FOR DARIUS TRIBUTES
POPSTARS
Darius' Popstars story actually first began in 2000 whilst at University in Edinburgh when one of his friends made him take part in a radio audition to find a new popstar. Darius didn't take the competition seriously and thought it was a joke, he still managed to win though! What he didn't realise was that the winner of this audition had to go onto the next stage which was the first audition for the new TV series...
In January 2001 ITV launched the new reality music talent show Popstars. The idea was to search the UK to find members of a new male and female pop band.
The programme began with audition rounds of aspiring singers performing covers of classic songs before a panel of record industry judges. The best performers were then selected to come to London for further rounds of auditions.
Darius turned up to his audition with his guitar, only to be told no instruments would be allowed. He'd been led to believe it was a solo audition, but the judges were actually trying to make a band. Despite this, Darius carried on in order to gain experience within the music industry.
Even when not auditioning Darius was entertaining everyone else, whilst on the coach going to the auditions he was filmed singing an early version of his song 'Freefall'.
Over the weeks, the judges eliminated various singers from the auditions until just a few singers were left in contention.
When he reached the final rounds, Darius sang one of his own songs 'Shakedown'. The judges decided that they couldn't judge him on that performance as they didn't know the song. He had to perform again and decided to sing a unique version of Britney Spears' 'One More Time'. He had already sung a normal version of this song in the first round audition which the judges had loved, however this second version did not impress them. It did however go on to become one of the most iconic talent show auditions shown on UK TV.
He was also shown singing a leaving song to the group of finalists, it was an early version of his song 'Chrysalis to Butterfly'.
His 'how much love is there in this room?' speech to his friends in the competition became the stand out moment of the series.
After being rejected for the band, Darius proclaimed, “I’ll have a No 1 single and platinum album before I’m 35.”
After which, a lot of people promptly consigned him to the pop wannabe scrapheap. But how wrong they were. Despite a trying and at times traumatic time at the hands of the media Darius made a spectacular come back - finishing third in the first series of Pop Idol. He then spurned Simon Cowell’s offer of a recording contract, opting for a 5 album deal with Mercury Records instead. Six months later, Colourblind, his super catchy and self-penned track beat Britney to No 1. And by the end of 2003, his debut album, Dive In, had gone platinum - fulfilling the prophecy 13 years sooner than even he had intended.
Talking about his Popstars days in a 2004 interview Darius said:
"We all make mistakes, but I made mine in front of millions of people. Everyone has the dodgy school photo, but I went through the most embarrassing stage of my life in front of the nation’s eyes. I was 19, and at the time I was really hurt. Looking back, I’m grateful. Any experience that allows you to come out a better man is invaluable."