Pull quote will be the title
“going solo saved my career … and my life”
The dps will be in a q&a format
the questions will be in a different font colour to the answers in this plan I have done the questions in red and the answers in blue but this may change depending on the look of the style compared to my image and other colour schemes throughout my magazine.
The image will take up the left hand side page
There will also be an image of the artist with his former
band towards the question linked to this topic
It will start off with a brief intro of the artist and what
he is about and what he has done etc
In july 2011 the once chart topping boy band ‘fresh kids’
was torn apart by their lead singer Sam Banks announcing that he was leaving
the group in order to reinvent himself as a solo artist. Later that year in November
Sam signed with a new record label and produced his first track ‘save me’, this
song went straight into the uk top 20 and peaked at in impressive 3rd
in the charts announcing Sam on the world music stage as a real solo artist to
look out for. Since then he has had three number uk number one singles and also
released two albums one of which was a Christmas bestseller in 2012. He has
well and truly taken over the music industry and it’s quite clear he has no
regrets about leaving the fading boy band back in 2011. I caught up with Sam at
a fancy oxford street bar (with his success has quite obviously come an
increase in earning by the looks of this place to
find out the real reasons behind why he left ‘fresh kids’ and also what he
thinks about his global success story.
So let’s get straight to business. What were your reasons behind leaving ‘Fresh kids’? And are the stories of your
falling out with bass guitarist Ben Parker true?
Well I think it was a
combination of many things. I was fed up of not being able to have full control
in what went on in terms of music and so when our 4th album came out
and was a complete failure I felt like as the lead singer I had to take the
blame even though most of it was not my fault because the crap songs that were written
were nothing to do with me. I think it’s been well documented that I have had
my troubles with drugs in the past and I was getting closer and closer to the
brink of madness simply because we were all taking them and I felt as though being
in that environment meant that I just couldn’t stop. The only way of
stopping and sorting out my life was to get out of that environment as quickly
as possible. Look, I have fallen out with a lot of people in my life and I am
not proud of that but if I spend every day dwelling on these falling outs then I’m
never gonna get anything done so yes I did have a falling out with Ben but that
was not the reason I left the band because we fell out with each other years
before the break up and just tolerated each other. At
the end of the day I’m a multimillionaire now with 3 number ones under my belt
do you think I give a monkeys about losing one person from my life?
Do you ever look back on your times
with the band an miss anything?
Of course I do, I’m not a robot.
I do miss the guys even Ben because when we were all getting on and having success
we were all happy and enjoying life but these great memories were tarnished by
the seriously dark days the band had with our drugs problems, arguments,
failures and I think what really capped it all off was Franks court case that
was a seriously dark time for the band and really affected all of us and I think
as soon as that happened no matter what the outcome was (lucky for Frank he got
through it) we were never going to be as successful as we were because we lost
so many supporters during that time that it was just impossible to gain that
support back.
Did you expect this sort of career
as a solo artist? Was there any part of you that was nervous about your
decision?
Eeeerm to be honest I really wasn’t
sure how it would go because you can never really tell how people are going to
take to you until you put a record out there and see. I knew that the music I was
writing was good and that the route I was taking was the right one but I just didn’t
know if other people would think that and so when my first single was a success
I was incredibly relived and that gave me the confidence to just keep doing
what I was doing and push on to become what I am today. I would say that I wasn’t
so much nervous about leaving the bad but I was slightly nervous about the fact
that if I was a flop and didn’t reach the success rate that the band reached then
I would be considered as a massive failure by everyone and that I wouldn’t be
able to create the legacy in the music industry that I have always wanted to
create and so it was a massive relief when my solo career hit the ground
running.
What would you say has been the highlight
of these last two very successful years for you ?
There has been so many that it
is near on impossible to single out one but I would probably say the first
album release was an incredible achievement for me and also to see it go
straight to the top of the Christmas album. Also alongside that achievement I truly was starstruck when I was asked to collaberate with the Stone Roses on their comeback album, to be in the presence of people with that amount of talent is just the most amazing experience. I also
would like to mention one achievement aside from music that sticks out and that
is my triumph over my drug addiction, I have now been clean from all drugs for
near on two and a half years and that is what makes me feel the most proud as
it has proved that I have the strength and will power to fight a problem that
many people fail to beat and that is why I sometimes think that going solo
changed my career …. And my life ( a tear begins to run down Sam’s face ).
So what’s your plans for 2014 and
how do you plan on keeping and improving your incredible reputation in the
music industry?
Well I’m in the process of
writing some new material for my new album which if all goes to plan should be
released during the early part of July this coming year. On the album I am
going to do something that I haven’t really done before but have always loved
to do and that is collaborations with other artists. My manager will probably crucify me for telling you this but who cares i'm the one who pays him (Sam let's out an enormous laugh) I've already had professor Green and Lilly Allen down to write some stuff and i'm hopefully meeting up with an old friend of mine (who will remain nameless for the time being) to record some stuff and let me tell you this will be an incredibly big shock to a lot of you. Along side a few of these global mega stars I am also hoping to feature with a few lesser known artists who I have been working with and mentoring recently as I know how hard it is to gte your foot in the door in this business and so I want to give a little bit back and help some other realize the dream that I had.
Well it is clear that Sam Banks has no regrets about his
past decisions and is fully focused on moving forward to greater heights and
well and truly on his way to becoming a music legend.
