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Singer slates talent shows for raising unfair expectations
 TV talent
shows have become a fast-track route to instant fame and fortune as thousands
of young hopefuls line up every year to take part in shows like The X-Factor
and Britain’s Got Talent.
Irish singer SHONAGH DALY believes many of these shows give unrealistic
expectations to aspiring performers and she spoke to Peter Robertson about
how it is ultimately depriving more experienced artists of top jobs.
Few know better than 27-year-old Shonagh Daly what it’s like to
taste superstardom and then have it snatched away.
The Limerick lass was plucked from obscurity over six years ago by Andrew
Lloyd Webber for his show The Beautiful Game and to sing solo to a global
television audience from Ground Zero six weeks after the 9/11 disaster.
She then signed a £2million five-album deal with major record label
Polydor, gave a solo recital to VIPs including The Royal Family and President
Bush, and supported Donny Osmond on tour.
But after her debut album Beautiful View flopped Shonagh was dropped by
both Polydor and her management company and ended up working in a clothes
shop for £200 a week.
She later went on to take one of the lead roles in the London stage musical
Les Miserables in 2005.
And after that she had to content herself with a 20-minute appearance
in another West End show Dirty Dancing.
She said: “The only thing I can compare my experience to is ITV’s
The X-Factor.
“Winners of that like Steve Brookstein are household names for a
bit then just fade into obscurity, never to be heard of again.
“It does anger me.
“There should definitely be more support.
“What upsets me is these artists are so disposable now.
“The public vote for them, but they like a new series as soon as
possible as well.
“Once another series starts, they’ve forgotten about the last
winner and they’re on to the new.
“Maybe it would help if the series were spaced a few years apart
but they won’t be scrapped altogether because the TV ratings are
so huge.
“I don’t understand why people audition for these shows anymore,
seeing what’s happened to past winners.”
Daly reveals she’s far from alone in disapproving of the new genre
of musical theatre audition series which began a year ago with BBC TV’s
How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? (to find the female lead for The
Sound Of Music) and has since included Any Dream Will Do (for Joseph &
The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) and Grease Is The Word (for Grease).
She said: “Those programmes anger a lot of West End people because
they make a mockery of what we do, and what we’ve trained to do.
“We feel that, if it’s going to carry on like this and all
lead roles in musicals are going to be offered on TV, there won’t
be any leads available to us anymore and we haven’t got much hope.
“Now you can walk off the street and end up playing a lead role
in the West End, so people who’ve trained and performed for years
and years and would normally have been playing that role are relegated
to the ensemble.”
And that is pretty much what’s happened to Daly herself.
She’s just started the second of two years in Dirty Dancing (a stage
version of the famous film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey)
in the featured ensemble.
She said: “I don’t have a role as such.
“The show lasts two-and-a-half hours.
“I’m on-stage for about 20 minutes and sing four numbers as
part of a band.
“It’s like I’m taking a sabbatical from hard work.”
Why did she not seek a lead role after playing Fantine in Les Miserables?
“To be honest, there wasn’t much around and I wanted to stay
in work.”
But considering her illustrious, albeit brief, history haven’t anymore
exciting offers come her way?
She said: “No, nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“People tell me I should put myself ‘out there’ more
but it was such a disheartening experience that I still don’t have
the energy yet.
“If someone promises you the world and it falls apart.
“I lost a lot of faith in the music industry.
“So I’m reluctant to get back into that, for fear of getting
burnt again.
“I’m very sceptical now, a bit cynical.
“It’s lovely to hear somebody wants you for this and that,
but I don’t believe anything anymore until it’s written down
in front of me.
“I’d like to play some of the lead roles won on those TV series
but I really don’t want to put myself in front of the nation to
try and get them — I want to do a regular (private) audition like
the old days, like it should be.
“Besides, I don’t think the television viewers would look
favourably upon me as I wouldn’t be an underdog because I once had
a record deal and I have had a lead in the West End.
“They always want the person who works in Tesco to win.
“I can’t be bothered with the stress of it.”
Daly is now writing music for herself on a keyboard and computer in her
bedroom.
She said: “I’ve even done a few gigs in bars and small places
like that to try and get my confidence back as a solo artist.
“I want to make things happen for myself but I want to do it on
my terms.
“Actually I feel something big will happen for me — like a
second album.
“I don’t believe all the things I’ve gone through have
happened for no reason.
“I’m quite contented these days.
“I have drive but I’m not success-hungry like some people.
“I’m not going to push people down the stairs to get where
I want to be.
“As long as I’ve got enough money to have a reasonable social
life and go on holidays, and I find the right man and have kids while
I’m young, I’ll be sorted.”
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