Britain's Got Talent Starlet Already Known To Simon Cowell

[Mark Uttley]

Simon Cowell's company has denied claims that Britain's Got Talent finalist Ronan Parke has been groomed for stardom on the show - and threatened legal action against anyone who repeated the allegations.

The 12-year-old is seen as a hot favourite to triumph when the series reaches its climax on Saturday.

But an anonymous blogger who claims to be a Sony Music executive alleges that the youngster has been known to Cowell's firm, Syco, for two years, and that he already has a management deal and has been moulded to appeal to the audience.

The blogger's alleged account of Ronan's "development", which has been circulating on the internet, also claims that his hairstyle, clothing and mannerisms have all been choreographed.

Ronan is one of six acts to have already made it through to the ITV1 final, with further acts to be chosen in semi-finals tonight and tomorrow.

He won the viewers' vote on Monday, putting him straight through to the Saturday show.

Syco and Sony Music said they would take legal action to "prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations".

Syco said in a statement: "There has been speculation on the internet that Britain's Got Talent finalist Ronan Parke was known to and worked with Syco/Sony Music before entering the show. There is no truth in this story whatsoever.

"Ronan first came to Syco/Sony's attention when he entered this year's competition.

"Syco/Sony Music will not hesitate to take whatever legal action is appropriate to prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations."

Just like Leona Lewis then.

[Jason]

I think a lot of these programs are stage managed, I'm sad and have been watching BGT (made to watch I mean). I bet the sherbet leisurewear chap was told to wear the bright orange top...

[Mark Uttley]

I think a lot of these programs are stage managed,

Stage managed is one thing, but manipulating the vote is another. I've watched this program twice this year, and in each case it seemed to me that Cowell was using his influence to put through the more marketable act.

On Monday, he had the casting vote between a run-of-the-mill pianist, and a guy who performed amazing acrobatics on a BMX bike. No money in bike acts, so he voted for the pianist.

Last night he decided to nobble the bell-ringing act, (Can't remember their names. Something like Quasi and Modo)by buzzing in when they had barely got going.

It just seems wrong to me that the guy who stands to gain most from the winner of the competition is i) a judge and ii) gets to choose who the other judges are.

[Bossybabe]

Who gives a flying f**k?

['Bart']

Just like Leona Lewis then.

Was there some dodgy dealing there as well?

"and has been moulded to appeal to the audience"

Definitely one of Cowell's big skills.

[Scunnered]

Edit: maybe not.

[Ungeared]

Who gives a flying f**k?

+ a dillion willion and 1

[Mark Uttley]

Was there some dodgy dealing there as well?

Leona Lewis was presented as an ex pizza hut employee, now working in an office who was "discovered" by the X-Factor. In fact, she had been a pupil at a couple of theatre schools from an early age (never mentioned in X-Factor) and was well known in the music industry.

Not sure if it's "dodgy dealing", but it is an example of how these programmes manipulate the public to believe that they are watching a competition. In fact, we are often just watching a promo for Cowell's next "big thing".

[tinker]

A subject close to my heart. There has been quite a buzz around this on TV forums. Hardly a surprise that Cowell is manipulating things for his own ends, whilst pretending to be in the dark, and that acts are being groomed.

Whilst the show should be viewed as something like Opportunity Knocks, it is ultimately a vehicle for the man for the exploitation of talent. There were some 'not pretty' and unlikely superstar bellringers on last night who were very good, quite engaging and technically excellent, yet the so-so Billy Elliot boy with the sob story was pushed forward - more marketable.

[blobloblob]

Frankly I find it all beneath me.

[SNACR]

If the sheeple can't see the strings being pulled, on this transparent pantomime, there's little hope for useful reform to the political system.

Seem to think I saw somewhere that one of the boy band groups in it are actually out of a West End show.

Should have the tagline Britain's Got Talent - Preferably that can be sold on iTunes - If the b*****d public phone in and vote for the act they're supposed to.

[Ash4781]

I just turned it on to watch an old chap dancing.

[pl1]

Leona Lewis was presented as an ex pizza hut employee, now working in an office who was "discovered" by the X-Factor. In fact, she had been a pupil at a couple of theatre schools from an early age (never mentioned in X-Factor) and was well known in the music industry.

Not sure if it's "dodgy dealing", but it is an example of how these programmes manipulate the public to believe that they are watching a competition. In fact, we are often just watching a promo for Cowell's next "big thing".

I'll see that and raise you:

Susan Boyle was presented as an unknown who just walked onto the stage as if she'd never done anything like that before in her life. Well, well what have we here:

A homemade clip from the 1990's Michael Barrymore show of a young Susan Boyle singing her little heart out, clearly going to any audition that would have her AND getting a kiss from Barrymore*

*A big deal was made about Susan Boyle having never been kissed before.

[OnionTerror]

Leona Lewis was presented as an ex pizza hut employee, now working in an office who was "discovered" by the X-Factor. In fact, she had been a pupil at a couple of theatre schools from an early age (never mentioned in X-Factor) and was well known in the music industry.

Not sure if it's "dodgy dealing", but it is an example of how these programmes manipulate the public to believe that they are watching a competition. In fact, we are often just watching a promo for Cowell's next "big thing".

I thought she had already signed a record contract with someone else, and Cowell had to buy her out of the contract?

Year after year, Cowell pumps out these ballad warbling twerps, who do nothing three months after their "win", and people still fall for it... unbelievable...

[SNACR]

I'll see that and raise you:

Susan Boyle was presented as an unknown who just walked onto the stage as if she'd never done anything like that before in her life. Well, well what have we here:

A homemade clip from the 1990's Michael Barrymore show of a young Susan Boyle singing her little heart out, clearly going to any audition that would have her AND getting a kiss from Barrymore*

*A big deal was made about Susan Boyle having never been kissed before.

That's reminded me what a tw@t Barrymore was.

[Live Peasant]

http://justpaste.it/c8g

taken down after a request from symco

For reasons which will become obvious, I can't reveal my full identity. But let me just say that, I am an executive with Sony

Music UK with many years experience in music mangement. My work involves close liasion with Simon Cowell's SYCO

company (specifically SYCO Music and SYCO TV) and, as a result, I have seen what goes on from the inside and this has

left me increasingly uncomfortable about the integrity of Britain's Got Talent and particularly the workings of SYCO.

It's long been known that there is a quite a degree of "fixing" in BGT. ( Daily Mail http://******/fxkWne ) But press reports on

"fixing" are only the tip pf the iceberg when it comes to SYCO's manipulation of, not only the show and the contestants, but

also the viewing public and hopefully, in this email, I can shine some light on the smoke and mirrors trickery of SYCO.

Take BGT 2011 for example. Scouts working for SYCO first saw Ronan Parke (the 12 year old singer) some two years ago

when he was just 10 and was singing at a birthday party for former Norwich City goal-keeper, Bryan Gunn. Following that,

Ronan was privately auditioned by SYCO scouts on two more occasions and, as is usual practice on BGT, he was "invited" to

audition for the show as a "preferred" contestant. At the same time, Ronan and his parents were "required" to enter into a

contract with SYCO. Like all SYCO contracts, it is heavily weighted in favour of the label and are notoriously bad, even in the

cut-throat world of the music industry. Simon effectively signed Ronan for life and he's got little or no chance of ever getting

out of it...unless Simon decides to terminate. Recording contracts are legally extremely complex and usually require input and

advice from very expensive, specialist contract lawyers. SYCO knows that such legal advice goes well beyond the means of

most contestants. As one senior SYCO executive said to me recently. "These people are mugs. They'll sign away their own

mother just to get on tv. It's a ******ing turkey-shoot and then we own their arses!"

As is common for "invited" contestants that SYCO likes and have already signed, Ronan and his parents were provided with a

car to drive them to the audition in London. These "invited" contestants don't have to queue up with everyone else, they

don't go through the preliminary auditions with producers, but perform straight to Simon and the judging panel at a prearranged

time-slot. And so it was for Ronan back in 2009 when he was just 10.

It was at this initial audition that I first met Ronan and he looked very different back then. He was a skinny, 10 year old lad

who, even at that time, was a bit effeminate. His voice needed a bit of working on, but that wouldn't be a problem.

Unfortunately, nerves got the better of Ronan and he was unable to perform. Simon however, had already seen the audition

tapes from the scouts and took Ronan into an unused dressing room and got him to sing in there with his mum for support.

Clearly Ronan was not going to be part of BGT in 2009 and nothing from this was ever televised.

Ordinarily, you would think that would be the end of things, but with Ronan already signed to SYCO, far from it. This was just

the start of a two year grooming and manipulation process to prepare Ronan for stardom.

It's no big secret that Simon has been looking for an artist who could crack the very lucrative pre-teen market for some time,

particularly in the US. If you like, he wanted his own rival to Bieber and, taking a leaf out of how professional football

academies develop youngersters to feed their main team, Simon wanted his own singing academy and Ronan was just one of

a number of identified youngsters, with whom SYCO intensively works with.

A development package, which included professional singing, dancing and stage-craft tuition was arranged for Ronan and

the SYCO machine kicked into gear with the view of Ronan entering BGT 2010. Lots of work had been done with Ronan

and his voice was much improved, unfortunately nerves were still a major issue for him and it was decided by SYCO not to

enter him into the 2010 series.

At a following senior exec meeting at SYCO it was suggested that Ronan be dropped, but with Simon confident that he could

be the kid he had been looking for, it was agreed that Ronan would receive "intensive support and input" to ready him for the

2011 series. Although Ronan's voice was now stunning, there were other major problems to be dealt with in order to sell him

to the public. With respect to Ronan, he was nothing more than a cooky-looking, skinny runt of a kid and this was identified

as a major handicap to sales.

It was agreed at a high-level, secret SYCO meeting, that if they were to do anything with Ronan, he needed totally restyling

from the toes up. And so with time running out to develop Ronan into the star Simon wanted, SYCO went into overdrive.

Ronan was even given speech and elocution training to rid him of his rural Norfolk accent, again in preparation for the

potential US market. As for his effeminate and girlishness, this posed a bigger problem and resulted in many highly

confidential meetings. At one of these meetings, the unthinkable was raised as a way forward....

Until now Ronan had been encouraged to "boy-up" and it was planned to present Ronan as an everyday skater-boy. But

with his girliness still showing through, the image just wasn't believable. So a decision was taken to encourage and allow

Ronan to "release" and enhance his campness . Disgustingly, SYCO planned to sexualise him. They were well aware of

course, that if they sexualised a young girl to look sexually older than she is, all hell would let loose. But with Ronan, as one

executive put it, "no one has ever seen a 'gay' kid before, it'll be a novelty." As for the pre-teen market, it was accepted they

wouldn't care if Ronan appeared gay or not...most probably don't know what gay is anyway. And so, with a total gaysexualisation

of Ronan secretly planned, SYCO got to work. I should stress, Ronan's parents were not aware of any of this

and were never consulted about Ronan's development or management. When I first met Ronan he was a bit effeminate in

his ways, but nothing like the camp, girlie-giggling kid you see now on BGT and this is a direct result of SYCO's styling. Even

his clothing worn at the audition and live semi-final were chosen for him by SYCO to match his new image.

SYCO took over everything to do with Ronan. His hairstyle, his clothes, his poise, giving tv interviews, you name it, Ronan

was styled within an inch of his life and all on the promise of stardom, just as long as he worked hard and listened to his

mentors. As for Ronan's parents they were constantly reassured that Simon was personally looking after Ronan and "it's all

good".

And so to BGT 2011. With Ronan ready to be unveiled, SYCO bosses, under instructions from Simon did something not

done in previous series of BGT; the winner of BGT 2011 was decided long before the first auditions took place and that

winner HAD to be Ronan Parke. With Ronan now 12, he looked and sounded just as SYCO had planned, but time was

running out. Soon Ronan would be going into puberty and his voice would eventually break, so BGT 2011 had to be the

vehicle to launch Ronan's career; another year and as a singer he would probably be beyond any meaningful career and the

opportunity will have been missed. With all this investment in Ronan, the production managers at SYCO TV are ready to

deliver Ronan as ordered. Again, I need to stress, Ronan and his parents know nothing of this and have no idea Ronan will

win BGT this weekend.

So far in the history of BGT and X-Factor, for that matter, no one has ever won who has not been an "invited or preferred"

contestant, and it does sadden me that, all those thousands of people, lining up outside, often in the rain and cold, are

basically wasting their time. The producers of BGT are not looking for the talented people, they aready have those. The

reality is that the producers are hunting out oddities, freaks and, I'm ashamed to say, mentally ill people, to act as amusing

fillers in the audition shows. They are nothing more than unpaid extras and they don't even qualify for traveling expenses!

It's quite disgusting and shameful really, how the production team on BGT operate. People come from all over the country,

often at great personal expense, because they think BGT is a talent competition and they stand a chance of realising their

dreams. I can tell you from the inside that BGT is no more a "competition", than I am an astronaut. Nothing is left to chance

on BGT, everything is micro-managed, choreographed, manipulated and planned down to the last detail including, the

telephone voting.

The ability to manipulate viewers opinion is vital if you are to control telephone voting and indeed get the required result.

SYCO see this as essential to the success of the show and are very open about fact; planning and delivering live shows of

quality is impossible if it was purely left to the public vote. As Simon said in a meeting once. "The public NEED to be told who

to vote for." Everything on BGT is geared towards telling you who you should for, particularly on the production side. It's an

art really, which Simon has honed to perfection and SYCO are now world leaders at.

The micro-management of Ronan's audition performance was incredible. I was really quite shocked at his new image. From a

starting point of wanting Ronan to look cute for the pre-teen market, SYCO had totally gayed him up in the process. Ronan's

not a 16 year old expressing his sexualty for the first time, he's a 12 year old boy. It was horrible and I was very

uncomfortable as to where this was going to end. Ronan, still suffering from nerves, performed his song and received a

standing ovation from all three judges...why? Because it was in the script to give Ronan a standing ovation. As for Louis

comment. "Ronan Parke. Remember that name. This kid's gonna be a star!!" - that was actually fed to him from the

production gallery and I know the guy who wrote the line. And when it comes to Ronan's tears...well, check it out on

YouTube or something. You see Ronan crying and wiping away tears. Only you don't see any actual tears, not even on

close-up and on an HD tv. Yep you guessed it, even that was choreographed, right down to the lip-biting!

It was also interesting to see that even before the final credits rolled on Ronan's audition show, SYCO TV had uploaded the

offical video of Ronan onto YouTube. Today, that particular video has been viewed over 2.5 million times and growing.

SYCO don't do that for other contestants, so why Ronan? The gaying-up Ronan plan slightly backfired on SYCO when lots

of negative comments were being posted on YouTube and Twitter about Ronan's image and the supposed sexuality that

represents. Things got so bad on YouTube that the posting of comments had to be suspended. But SYCO learned from

this and dressed Ronan more appropriately for his semi-final show; preferring a much more Bieber inspired look to the 'gaykid'

image presented in the audition.

In another unusal move for BGT contestants, SYCO created Ronan's Official Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account. Both

these services are managed from within SYCO and they post messages and pictures, not Ronan. This is because they don't

want Ronan posting anything controversial and is standard practice for currrent artists signed to SYCO.

And so this weekend will see Ronan crowned as winner of BGT 2011. Oh and let's not forget the £100k prize money. It's

unlikely Ronan will see much or any of that. He's been signed to SYCO for two years now and under the terms of his

contract, while SYCO stump-up for costs in advance, this is paid back from future earnings. So he will need to pay for all

those lessons, coaches, cars, clothes, styling and management... I wouldn't be surprised even after winning BGT, if he is not

still in debt to SYCO.

As a recording artist Ronan has a relatively short shelf-life. Simon knows he is going to have to hit the ground running to

maximise Ronan's earning potential, particularly if they go ahead with a planned break into the States and the pace is going

to be frantic for Ronan. If you think the music industry is bad in the UK, you haven't seen anything until you experience it

Stateside. With an "anything goes" attitude all morals have long since gone out of the window. There will be no allowance

for Ronan's age and he will be expected to perform on late- night shows and dinners etc. And if he get exhausted, there's

always some sleaze-bag on hand ready to put a line of coke under his nose. I've seen it a million times.

I know for a fact, that the songs have already been chosen for Ronan's debut single and album, and that the backing and

drum tracks have already been laid down.

Of course, once Ronan's voice breaks, it's game-over and he will be commercially redundant for a few years. By the time he

gets through that, the world will have moved on and his fan-base will have grown-up a bit. Will he make a comeback? In my

experience I'd say probably not.

I've met Ronan a few times over the past couple of years. He's a really nice kid with a generous, warm personality and the

most wonderfully cute, girlie-giggle. There's nothing to not like about Ronan. He's a really sensitive soul and this comes

across as him being a bit effeminate. But in a world of thuggish chavs, Ronan's a real breath of fresh air really and a real

delight to chat to. Do I think Ronan's gay? No, is the short answer to that. SYCO have got a lot to answer for in their initial

styling and image for Ronan. Like many 12 year old boys, Ronan may have issues in coming to terms with his sexuality in a

couple of years. But right now, he's just a great kid...a bit different, I admit...but a great kid just the same.

I hope Ronan is not damaged by this experience, unforunately, history warns otherwise...but whatever, the genie is already

out of the bottle and come this weekend, Ronan's life will change forever. Whether it's a good or bad experience being a 12

year old star in today's music industry, only time will tell. But as an industry insider I have serious reservations about what is

about to happen to Ronan Parke and I doubt he or his family are ready for what's coming.

Thanks to my friends on Twitter and Facebook for getting this document out. Without you my voice would be silent.

** If you want to help expose the lie which is Britain's Got Talent, please feel free to republish this article or post a link to it

http://justpaste.it/c8g

Anon

Sony Music UK

[TeddyBear]

Cowell's unstoppable appetite for earning ever more money is fascinating. I guess we should be glad that someone with such a drive to manipulate and to get power and money does it in the confines of the pop world. How someone with his money and power can continue in the humiliation of the mentally ill on his audition shows confounds me, I don't see him as any better than those bullies in the Panorama documentary the other night. I don't know if that blog is true but can well believe it having spent a short and unpleasant stint within the music business.

[SNACR]

Cowell's unstoppable appetite for earning ever more money is fascinating. I guess we should be glad that someone with such a drive to manipulate and to get power and money does it in the confines of the pop world. How someone with his money and power can continue in the humiliation of the mentally ill on his audition shows confounds me, I don't see him as any better than those bullies in the Panorama documentary the other night. I don't know if that blog is true but can well believe it having spent a short and unpleasant stint within the music business.

I really don't like the Stephen Mulhern extra programme - he's like the show's Asda greeter for mentals - tw@t surely only a matter of time until someone drowns in his swimming pool.

[OnionTerror]

I wouldn't be at all surprised that it was true...Cowell is a great manipulator...of both the "stars" and the public...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-13632217

The mother of a young singer from Norfolk has said there is no truth in a claim that he was groomed for stardom by Simon Cowell.

Ronan Parke, 12, of Poringland, near Norwich, is odds-on favourite to win Britain's Got Talent on Saturday.

An anonymous blogger - who claims to be a Sony music executive - has said that Mr Cowell's firm Syco had been working with Ronan for two years.

Syco, Sony and Ronan Parke's mother Maggie completely deny the allegation.

Mrs Parke said: "It's laughable, to be perfectly honest with you, and it couldn't be further from the truth.

"There's just no foundation in it whatsoever. My friend Susan Gunn told me that she'd seen it on the internet and we just had a laugh about it and didn't think any more about it because it's so untrue."

She said Ronan had applied to the show without his parents' knowledge.

'Nature of life'

"It was just something he really wanted to do. He felt it was the right time for him to apply and the first we heard about it was when we got a phone call from Britain's Got Talent saying he had an audition," she said.

Ronan is one of six acts to have already made it through to the ITV1 final, with further acts to be chosen in semi-finals on Thursday and Friday nights.

He won the viewers' vote on Monday, putting him straight through to the Saturday show.

Asked whether the claims would distract her son, Mrs Parke said: "As far as I'm concerned you're always going to get people that are saying nasty things because that's the nature of life, unfortunately.

"It won't affect Ronan. Ronan's focussed on what he's doing. He knows the truth, we know the truth and certainly Simon Cowell and everybody at Syco knows the truth."

She also denied the blogger's claims that Ronan had received coaching to lose a Norfolk accent.

"He's not got a Norfolk accent, but neither has my other son. He's certainly never had coaching. The only coaching he's had is singing lessons," she said.

Syco said in a statement: "Ronan first came to Syco/Sony's attention when he entered this year's competition.

"Syco/Sony Music will not hesitate to take whatever legal action is appropriate to prevent further publication of these unfounded allegations."

[Mark Uttley]

I don't know if the statement from the Sony guy is a hoax, but this.....

She said Ronan had applied to the show without his parents' knowledge.

".....the first we heard about it was when we got a phone call from Britain's Got Talent saying he had an audition," she said.

....from his mother, is clearly untrue

[tonytramcar]

Simon Cowell for FIFA ?

[tinker]

If Simon Cowell got into politics all he would need is a funny moustache and an armband.

[Guest eight]

Just like Leona Lewis then.

Hasn't it always been blatantly obvious that these fiascos are just a multi-week advertising campaign for the eventual (pre-ordained) "winner"? And if somebody even more "talented" should emerge from the process then heh, bonus!

Whatever happened to that guy who ripped off Biffy Clyro? I mean, what was the point of that whole exercise?

eight

[Ash4781]

Interesting read that article but mods may need to review

[bendy]

glad i didn't load up on that

maybe the sony blog is a hoax, cowell's just in pocket with the bookies. now that there is money in.