Mika on his sister's accident in the Daily Star 26/09/2012

[smokesignal]

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/...red-new-album/

MIKA: MY SISTER'S MIRACLE RECOVERY INSPIRED NEW ALBUM

OUTRAGEOUS popster Mika has revealed how the near-death of his sister helped inspire his new album.

The flamboyant singer, whose hits include Grace Kelly and Love Today, saw his older sibling Paloma fall 50ft from the fourth-floor balcony of her flat, impaling herself on railings, in October 2010.

Incredibly, Paloma, 30, has started to walk again after surgeons saved her leg from being amputated.

A tearful Mika, 29, told me: "My sister should have died but she's a miracle of the NHS. I really believe in fate now. I think you have to fight, but also to surrender your fears into the hands of fate.

"You can lose everything in five seconds. It was a massive jolt and made me realise: 'You'd f***ing better make the most of what's in front of you.' As soon as Paloma was stable, I ran away to make my record."

Paloma's accident happened at her housewarming party in Kensington, west London, on the night before their dad Michael's 60th birthday.

Mika, who releases new single Celebrate on Sunday, said: "Paloma was having a cheeky cigarette, lost her balance and wasn't strong enough to save herself.

Her neighbour held on to the railings for an hour, to ensure they didn't fall into the basement. It was a total disaster, yet a weirdly positive event too."

At the time Mika was suffering from writer's block after splitting up with his boyfriend.

But Paloma's recovery and falling in love again boosted him to make The Origin Of Love in Canada with producer Nick Littlemore, 34, of Pnau. It is out on October 8, Mika, real name Michael Penniman, enthused: "It's an incredibly joyful record.

"It's going to take time to catch on as it's not apeing anything on the radio, but it smashes the current model of what pop songs should be."

It's a stunning album that Paloma should be really proud of.

[Marilyn Mastin]

More publicity for Mika and the album in the UK. I'm also very glad Paloma is doing okay.

[robertina]

same adjectives over and over
they have such poor writing skills.

[suzie]

Originally Posted by robertina

same adjectives over and over
they have such poor writing skills.

It could be that the Daily Star is for people with poor reading comprehension skills.. plus, it looks like they have simply copy-pasted from an article 2 years ago.
" A tearful Mika, 29, told me: " yes, he told me, too.

[Kumazzz]

The pic is awesome !

[willywonka]

What's a cheeky cigarette? never heard of those before...

[Christine]

Originally Posted by willywonka

What's a cheeky cigarette? never heard of those before...

I think he means she was trying to sneak one out the window so the smoke didn't go into the apartment instead of going outside (downstairs) like you would normally do. I had always assumed that's what happened. I lived on the fourth floor of a house in South Ken and my husband would do the same on occassion but we had access to a bit of a roof/terrace just below our flat so it would just get him in trouble with the neighbour for being too noisy, but it wasn't dangerous. But I can easily imagine how something like that could happen because our apartment was the same. The windows are huge and there is an inside ledge that is at the right height for sitting on. If you were purposely leaning outside because of the smoke...I'm sure she's not the first or last person this has happened to sadly.

[mari62]

T4P!

Originally Posted by willywonka

What's a cheeky cigarette? never heard of those before...

Originally Posted by Christine

I think he means she was trying to sneak one out the window so the smoke didn't go into the apartment instead of going outside (downstairs) like you would normally do. I had always assumed that's what happened. I lived on the fourth floor of a house in South Ken and my husband would do the same on occassion but we had access to a bit of a roof/terrace just below our flat so it would just get him in trouble with the neighbour for being too noisy, but it wasn't dangerous. But I can easily imagine how something like that could happen because our apartment was the same. The windows are huge and there is an inside ledge that is at the right height for sitting on. If you were purposely leaning outside because of the smoke...I'm sure she's not the first or last person this has happened to sadly.

Thanks Christine, I was wondering the same.
Why do they build such dangerous windows in UK?

[Christine]

Originally Posted by mari62

Why do they build such dangerous windows in UK?

The houses were built in the 19th century and many of them have balcony terraces. So if you lived there at the time you would have had access to the entire house and would have used the terrace to go outside. But now that most of these houses are divided into flats you may have no other outside access depending on where your flat is. The upper floors tended to be servants' quarters and the family lived on the first and second floors where there is access to the terrace or a juliet balcony.

[mari62]

Originally Posted by Christine

The houses were built in the 19th century and many of them have balcony terraces. So if you lived there at the time you would have had access to the entire house and would have used the terrace to go outside. But now that most of these houses are divided into flats you may have no other outside access depending on where your flat is. The upper floors tended to be servants' quarters and the family lived on the first and second floors where there is access to the terrace or a juliet balcony.

thanks for explaining Christine, that makes sense