Scottish Catholic Observer

LOOKING through a Wikipedia list of X-Factor winners over the last 11 years it’s hard to spot a recognisable name amongst the scores of identikit, bland finalists thrust into the spotlight of Simon Cowell’s singing competition. Not so 12 years ago, when the reality show’s forerunner, Pop Idol, was won by an ordinary 22-year-old Catholic from Baillieston, a girl who didn’t fit the stereotypical supermodel, pop star image but whose voice and personality propelled her to victory and a subsequent number one single.

Michelle McManus is 34 now and has spent the bulk of the last decade working in media, hosting TV shows and writing newspaper columns. A journey that began with a Pop Idol audition on a whim, hit a high with her winning performance on the show, and crashed a couple of months later when she was dropped by her record company, has remained steady over the last decade, with a performance for Pope Benedict XVI in Bellahouston Park in 2010 a particular highlight and a one-woman stage show in Glasgow this month another. It’s a far cry from the former church singer who auditioned for a TV show for a laugh.

“It wasn’t a difficult thing to do at all because I had no idea what was coming,” Ms McManus said about her audition. “To me it was a day off work and to be able to tell my mates down the pub that I had met Simon Cowell.

“It didn’t become really scary until the end and I won and that’s when the media decided I was fair game and they went for it just because of my weight. I think that happens—people build you up just to knock you down. I work for the media now—I get it, I know how it works and my eyes have been fully opened. People don’t always want to read how happy people’s lives are; they want a bit of drama.”

After winning the show and releasing a single straight to number one, she was dropped by her record company after what they saw was a poor follow up second single—number 12 in the charts.

“I’ve never had an answer,” Michelle said. “I just accepted that was what happened. I was never given a list of stats they just said your second single has went in at 12 and we are going to drop you and that was it.

“After that you’ve only got two choices: you can do a [former X-Factor winner] Steve Brookstein and still be writing a book ten years later about ‘woe is me,’ or you can say I’m now in a position were everyone in the country knows my name and I’m going to go back home to Scotland were the majority of my fan base is. I’m going to start from scratch.”

Future

Ms McManus has since built a career on her personality—writing columns, hosting TV—but at the time she found the backlash from her Pop Idol win difficult. Though she has nothing but nice things to say about Simon Cowell—‘he was lovely to me and very supportive’—she reflects on the treatment she got from the media. Did she feel it was more difficult as a woman?

“I think it is harsher for women, but sometimes woman are their own worst enemy,” she said. “Women are terrible to other women. The majority of things I’ve read, the majority of criticism I’ve ever received, has been from other women. Its very rarely guys’ comments to be honest, I don’t think guys really care!

“I think I’ve been very fortunate growing up in a very matriarchal house—I have four sisters and my mother so I don’t really feel that way to women.

“Most women are my friends, and I think being overweight most of my life—God, if I was to be jealous of other women I wouldn’t leave the bloody house; everybody looks like Cheryl Cole to me!”

Looking at the modern-day Pop Idol equivalents, Ms McManus said that she doesn’t watch the shows anymore, as they are not real to her.

“When I did the show there was a lovely innocence to it all. We genuinely had no clue who would win,” she said.

“We weren’t allowed any backing singers or dancers whereas now you have, like, cars coming down from the roof and tigers jumping through flaming hoops and 12 million people on stage singing—and that’s a distraction tactic to take away from the fact that this person maybe isn’t the best singer in the world. It’s more the performance and anyone can look good doing that.”

Faith

As she set about rebuilding her career after Pop Idol, Ms McManus said she turned to her Faith for support. Coming from a strong Catholic upbringing, the parishioner of St Helen’s in Langside who helps with HCPT pilgrimages to Lourdes, as made her belief a big part of her career—something which paid off when she received a phone call from a priest in 2010 and an invitation to sing for Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Scotland.

“The moment I told my parents ‘by the way I’ve been selected to sing for the Pope,’ I thought my dad was going to spontaneously combust! My family got given front row seats and the hysteria caused in my family on that alone was huge.

“For me to be able to do that and share it with my family was massive. I’ll never forgot to the day I die that we got to do that together, all my sisters, my parents. I don’t think my dad stopped crying for days honestly, that was how much it meant to him.”

Since her Pop Idol success, she has shied away from most singing gigs, but will bring her voice back to the forefront on March 24 at the King’s Theatre Glasgow for a one-night, one-woman show as part of the Glasgow Comedy Festival, mixing stories from her career with songs.

“I sidelined the music because it took me a long time to come to terms with being dropped,” she said. “I was really embarrassed about the fact that I had won a singing competition but nobody wanted me to sing.

“It was a bit of a mental thing for me to associate myself with singing, which is why this show has been so amazing for me because it is me singing again. I wasn’t sure if people wanted to see me sing anymore so the show has given me the confidence to stand on the stage again and sing.

“That’s why this show is so important to me—it’s coming home, it’s in Glasgow and singing on a stage my idols have been on—it’s massive to me. It’s phenomenal that I get the opportunity to do it.”

Michelle McManus’ Reality: Reloaded is performing one night only at The Kings Theatre in Glasgow on Tuesday March 24 at 7.30pm. Tickets can be purchased by phoning 0844 873 7353, or online at www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/shows/942

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