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X-Factor winner dropped
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 20 March 2009
For every Leona Lewis there’s a, well… a… well… the point is that for every ‘X-Factor’ winner that goes on to be a globe-trotting record-breaking pop sensation there’s another victor on the ITV talent show that disappears into obscurity so that when I write stories like this I can’t even remember their names without digging out a list of past Christmas number ones.
Though I could use Leon Jackson to illustrate my point. Not that I want to write him off prematurely, but the winner of ‘X-Factor’ 2007 has just been dropped by Sony after his debut album ‘Right Now’ failed to capture the imagination of the pop audience at large. Though it did reportedly sell 130,000 copies, which isn’t that bad, though presumably not good enough for the Simon Cowell machine.
Actually, rumour has it that Jackson has never enjoyed the full support of Sony’s SyCo division because Cowell didn’t think the Dannii Minogue championed Jackson should have won the show, and never believed he had it in him to be a global superstar. Whether Jackson’s failure to hit the big time is proof that Cowell’s team chose not to pull out all the stops on his behalf, or that the ‘X-Factor’ producer was right about the winner to start with, I’m not sure.
Still, Jackson is reportedly looking on the bright side as he proceeds with his planned tour, telling reporters: “I had a great year and learned so much recording and releasing my album. Every artist knows these things can go either way. I’m really looking forward to my tour and doing more writing”.
