Cautionary Wife

Me too. And a pal put the movies on their iPod. I suppose it's down to Hit40uk site, what they will allow. I love all this live session stuff. Sadly never got to see or hear the Everybody's Talkin'... is it here on site somewhere? Dotmusic aka Launch@yahoo displays a permanent error message. CW.

Grace Kelly link should work now. Gremlins. CW.

These videos are lovely. Two fab video downloads of Mika in Session on http://www.hit40uk.com/ Watch the two tracks here and see for yourself why he's a hot tip for 2007! : LOVE TODAY : GRACE KELLY - link repaired I hope I haven't repeated anything here and that this is correct place for this sort of item. CW.

I was telling a DJ about Love Today being a fab song to dance to last night at a function, and generally clueing him up about Mika. He did manage to dig out a Grace Kelly to play it. Quite made my night. Also at same function, I requested 'Hips Don't Lie' by Shakira, as curious to hear the original, after Mika's marvellous version on radio 2 last week. Right... his was defo better than the original and I think he should release 'Hips'. Petition anyone??? CW.

TRANSCRIPT: RADIO ONE CHART SHOW With JK and Joel Sunday 21 January 2007-01-21 Transcribed by: Cautionary Wife. PRESENTER: … which means we have a brand new Number One in the UK this week – it’s up 2 places for Mika and Grace Kelly and this time on the show last week, we told him he’d be number one this week. He’s somewhere in America. Hiya Mika. MIKA: (laughs) How are you? P: Really good. Are you? M: Very well. P: Told you we’d call you this time this week. M: Yeah. You did indeed, but I’m a superstitious little boy, so… P: Right. Before we start this interview properly, I have to say this because usually other chart shows, well they tend to pretend that they’ve got you on-line, okay, and normal studio quality. However, at this present moment in time you are, where? M: I’m just taking a day off and we’re doing a series of secret shows around the States. P: Wow. M: It’s all very ‘Willy Wonka’ and no-one was able to buy tickets. They’ve been giving away tickets all week on my website. P: Now, last week you said to celebrate you were gonna go and buy a Japanese toy, cos I know you collect toys. M: I haven’t bought it yet – but – there is the Mother of All Toy Shops in New York, a place called Toy Tokyo and, you know what, I think I’m gonna upgrade and get a bigger one. P: Whooooo ! Well you’ve sold a few copies then. M: (chuckles) P: Let’s talk about something that’s that a bit more serious now. You really have taken hold of these new chart rules. Because of downloads you’ve got to number one and stuff like that, and you’re a relatively new artist as well. What do you think of these new chart downloading rules? M: I think it’s absolutely amazing, and d’you know, I was helped a lot by on-line media and blog media, right through to websites and stuff, and I’ve got an amazing set of people who support me. P: What’s your myspace address? M: It’s http://www.myspace.com/mikamyspace - all one word. P: Very exciting. Well, I’m gonna get on there in a minute and you’re gonna be one of my new friends. M: Brilliant. P: If you accept me. M: Ummm. I don’t know. I’ll look at the pictures. (laughter) P: So you’re in New York right now, okay. What’re you gonna do later on? Are you gonna go out celebrating, are you going for a drink, you’re gonna spend it with friends, family? What are you gonna do? M: I’ve got, I’m typical, cos I’m half Lebanese, I’ve got an enormous family wherever I go around the world. So I’m gonna gather about 30 of my family and go and go and find some restaurant in New York with a big enough table for the 48 of us. P: Brilliant. Now, might speak to you at the same time next week. M: (sighs) Uh. Hope so. P: Alright Mika. Introduce your Number One single. Oh no – you’re not gonna do that, are you. M: I’m not gonna do that myself, in fact. I’ve got a song called ‘Lollipop’ and a little cartoon based on that song and one of the characters is called Lollipop Girl, and the real girl is who’s on the record and who’s actually on the animation that we’re making, is sitting right next to me, and she’s 8 years old and she’s my cousin. And she’s gonna introduce the song, and she’s nervous, so give her a chance. P: Oh we will. Okay Mika. Take care. M: Thanks for everything. P: Alright. Bye bye. LOLLIPOP GIRL: Hi. This is Lollipop Girl and here’s Mika’s single, Grace Kelly. Lollipops all round. EVERYONE: Whooo hooo. (clapping) P: Thank you very much. M: Brilliant. Thank you guys. P: Take care. Bye bye. M: Bye. <Grace Kelly plays. From: Cautionary Wife

Thanks for posting on Downloads, SM. Is it possible to cross link back to transcript from that download page too. Cheers CW

Hi This transcript is extract of Podcast - Mika talking to The Sun on Friday 19 Jan... I've sent a nice edit of the sound file to Sunny Monkey and you can get it here. Too big for me to upload on this section I think. Enjoy the words - and happy Sunday. CW TRANSCRIPT The Bizarre Podcast 19 January 2007 Transcribed by: Cautionary Wife HAYLEY RADFORD: Every January some poor chump gets labelled as the new Musical Messiah of the year and they spend the next eleven months buckling under the pressure. Just look at Corrine Bailey Rae. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already. Well for 2007 it’s Mika’s mug that’s all over the place. All we really know about the boy is that he was born in Beirut, has celebrities flocking to his gigs and sounds more than a little bit like Freddie Mercury. BIZARRE grabbed 10 minutes with him at the end of a gruelling photo shoot. MIKA: My Dad is American, my Mum’s Lebanese. I was born in Beirut and then I grew up in Paris, but most of my life actually here in London and I make hyperactive pop music. I started doing music from a really early age and it was actually at the age of 11, ‘cos I was having a bit of a hard time at school ‘cos I was this dyslexic kid who couldn’t really speak English that well and certainly couldn’t spell anything. I didn’t go to school for couple of months and during that time I started doing music really seriously. I had this terrifying Russian singing teacher, who used to torture me into practising. I was trained almost like an athelete. I had 2-hour lessons twice a week and I also had to train a couple of hours a day. Within a couple of months of doing that I started to get jobs in opera and then I ended up doing everything from in-flight music. It’s just ‘stuff’. I kept getting thrown jobs ‘cos I was really fast. It was good. It trained me at a really early age. I managed to sharpen my teeth on a lot of session work. Fast-forward a couple of years – I ended up at the Royal College of Music, which I left about a year and a half ago in order to make this album, but I started writing songs from a really early age. Because of my dyslexia, I couldn’t really read any music. I still can’t. It’s all gibberish to me. I found that writing songs could be quite a powerful little tool, because the things that I used to get in trouble for saying to people’s faces, especially my teachers, and other people in my class, I could put into a song and get away with. I took inspiration from absolutely everywhere. Bits of it from my own life and other things are, you know, from people around me, or things that have happened to friends of mine or just things that I see on television. I’m a bit of a trashy TV addict. It’s a lot of transitional themes in the record because it’s a bit of a coming-of-age record. It’s an album I knew I’d only be able to make once, at point in my life where I was leaving school, leaving university, trying to kind of find my feet as a grown-up. Ironically I’m acting much more like a child now than I ever had when I was about 16 years old. I just spent the morning doing a photo shoot, where I was jumping around in bright blue trousers and an anorak and jumping into the air while they took pictures. The whole thing was so silly. On Monday morning I was a Zoo Keeper at London Zoo, being filmed for a TV show. While they filmed me as I scrubbed the … er… penguin crap off the side of the walls. And – London Zoo have named a penguin after me. So rock ’n’ roll and I got to name the other baby and I called it Humphrey, even though it was a girl, because I think Humphrey’s a lovely name. The funny thing about celebs is that they’re either too skinny or too short, but people even say that about me. They’re like – “Ohh, you’re too too tall and too skinny”, when they meet me in real life, but it’s true. I’ve never met a celeb who’s actually fits the body image that I had of them in my mind. That’s completely irrelevant, but I just thought I’d share that with you. There are people who are starting to pop up and around. It’s quite fun. You know, when I was recording the album in Los Angeles, Beck, who I’m a huge fan of, just kind of showed up and I just didn’t recognise who he was for the first 25 minutes, because he had such a big beard on and I wasn’t used to that. “The Feeling” have been really supportive. They keep popping along to my gigs and I, I opened for one of their shows. The’re a lot of people who’re into what I’m doing, but I think it’s, it gets a little bit cheesy once you start going, “Yeah, Victoria Beckham’s my best friend”, ‘cos she’s not. I’ve never met her, but, whatever. Yeah, I’m not, I’m not too into that. I get a, a much bigger kick out of the fans that I have on-line, you know, and the messages that I get from them. Some of them are absolutely insane and hilarious and they really make me giggle.

Yes - just watched TV too - and see it is repeated on E4 and E4 plus. The TV ad for Grace Kelly is also in the programme. As has probably already mentioned Mika was interviewed in London Zoo. Very cute and fun. CW CW

This came into my In Box this morning... REMOVED I've no idea if this is legal. Sunny Monkey - maybe delete this message, if it isn't? CW.

Report on MUSIC ROOMS Mika -Grace Kelly 19 January 2007 January 29th 2007 sees 23 year old virtuoso MIKA release his deliriously catchy debut single ‘Grace Kelly’ on Casablanca Records. Already being tipped as a major breakthrough artist for 2007 MIKA closely follows ‘Grace Kelly’ with his debut album, ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ which comes out on February 5th. Having fast become his signature song, ‘Grace Kelly’, is a sensational 4/4 opera set to a technicolour pop backdrop. “It was a ####-off song to the music company that I was working with at the time,†MIKA explains. “It is where the line ‘shall I bend over, shall I look older, just to be put on your shelf’ comes from. I was so angry. That company had every resource except a soul.†‘Grace Kelly’ comes complete with a video directed by British director extraordinaire Sophie Muller (Beyonce, Coldplay, Gwen Stefani). The infectious pomp of ‘Grace Kelly’ became a benchmark for where MIKA wanted to go, with the results displayed in gloriously full effect on ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’. A songwriter, performer, producer and orchestrator, MIKA’s songs combine a heady euphoric rush with darker unexpected elements: daytime melodramas and night-time tales of love, loss, abandonment, hope and happiness. The album also comes with some brilliant artwork created by MIKA himself. MIKA has been causing quite a stir since his arrival this summer. His download single ‘Relax’ was a Radio 1 Record of the Week and playlisted there (virtually unheard of for a limited edition/download single) and his myspace site has grown to over 120,000 plays in just three months. Popbitch called him ‘the breakout superstar of the next few years’, Rob Da Bank said ‘he is going to be a huge star’, i-D declared ‘he’s pops new saviour’ whilst Observer Music Monthly described him as ‘glorious new pop star’. MIKA has also been specially chosen to be one of the faces of Paul Smiths 2007 Spring/Summer Global advertising campaign. Debonair, with a touch of degenerate dandy, MIKA has a stunning, you-wouldn’t-believe-it life story (born in Beirut, grew up in the war, a father held hostage in an embassy in Kuwait, self-imposed exile in Paris before settling in London) and you have the first chapter in a story that is destined to keep us enthralled for the foreseeable future. Following a sell out show at the Borderline and gigs at Ibiza Rocks, Bestival, The Union Chapel (special show for Mencap) and his first UK tour MIKA will be returning to the stage for his largest headline show to date at Koko in London on February 22nd. A full UK tour is also planned for February. MIKA digital only ‘Dodgy Holiday’ EP which includes Billy Brown (album version), Love Today (Acoustic), Relax, Take it Easy (Live from Maida Vale - Blue Room session - Radio 1) and My Interpretation (acoustic) is available to buy now. Released 29, January 2007 From: MUSIC ROOMS http://www.musicrooms.net/cm/live/templates/?a=3853&z=5

19 January 2007 SINGLE OF THE WEEK 1 Mika Grace Kelly 5/5 John Dingwall ALREADY high in the charts thanks to download sales alone, the Beirut-born singer's hi-camp offering is a blistering slice of feelgood power pop. With the best chorus of the year so far, the single doffs its cap to Freddie Mercury and Queen. Having heard his album, Life In Cartoon Motion, Mika is sure to be a major talent for 2007. From: Glasgow Daily Record http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm_headline=single-of-the-week-1&method=full&objectid=18500202&siteid=66633-name_page.html

It is just so bad that I can't send iTunes gifts to my friends abroad. A recipient of an iTunes gift has to be subscribed to iTunes.co.uk. That really sucks. So iTunes rejected some of my Christmas gifts to friends abroad of the Dodgy Holiday EP. Go figure !! ITunes - get your act together. CW.

Popbitch Newsletter ISSUE 333 - 18 January 2007 * Charts: Mika v Just Jack for number one Chart Predictions New entries/High climbers Sun 22nd Jan ++ Number One MIKA Grace Kelly ++ Top Ten JUST JACK Stars in Their Eyes ORDINARY BOYS I Luv U THE KLAXONS Golden Skans JAMIE T Calm Down Dearest ++ Top Twenty THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE QUEEN Kingdom of Doom ++ Top Forty GUILLEMOTS Annie Let's Not Wait * Congratulations to Mika and Just Jack, currently at no1 and no2 in the charts, for making British pop fabulous again - just like we predicted they would. From: POPBITCH http://www.popbitch.com/latestIssue.html

LIVEDAILY.COM 17 January 2007 UK Single Charts Midweek Sales Singles 01 Mika - Grace Kelly [Download] - 8k 02 Just Jack - Stars In Their Eyes - 7.3k 03 The View - Same Jeans - 6.6k 04 Jo Jo - Too Little Too Late - 5k From: http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?t=562869

This interview doesn't appear to be posted here. CONTACT MUSIC (Approx October 2006 Mika Interview Having spent most of his youth travelling from country to country Mika finally settled in London, and he has got a lot to say about with his experiences through life. Born in Lebanon and raised in Paris and London, hopping from country to country like a footloose hippy with his four brothers and sisters he has managed to write some classic songs that are currently being aired all across stations like Radio One. We [Contactmusic] got the chance to speak to him after his first ever festival performance, and where better to debut then the Bestival. Contactmusic.com: Hi Mika, pleasure to meet you Mika: You too CM: So would this be your first festival M: Yes, It is! I'm a festival virgin. It's only my third gig so I'm really looking forward to playing. I've been here all day so I've been busy looking around. last night I went bumbling around so I'm hoping my voice holds out for 1.30 in the morning!! CM: So you're playing tonight in the Big Top what can we expect? M: My show is quite bouncy, I cant control myself, I don't do drugs I think if I did id probably fall off the stage, I just bounce around I don't know, ill probably throw in a Shakira cover or something I have no fu**ing clue, the thing is with being here, I can get away with pretty much anything so I'm really looking forward to it! CM: Feeling a bit nervous about it at all? This will be your biggest crowd so far. M: No, how can I feel nervous when there's people walking around dressed up as harlequins, monkeys and tigger, you can't be nervous around here. CM: Very valid point! You're a very new artist yet your new is spreading very quickly, do you find websites like that a real help to you, I know you have, like everyone, your own myspace? M: I think they are amazing actually, I developed my myspace page on my own before it all got kinda exciting, but it's great, receiving messages from people and having an outlet for people to contact you, I've had so many messages from people from all over the world who have heard my music and people from MTV, Radio 1 and djs, really famous musicians, it's just amazing to have an outlet like that where so many levels of people can use it, like if I didn't know what people were thinking id probably be loosing my mind. The only outlet for my music previously had just been through press and that's always a little bit dangerous to rely on. CM: So talking about websites I have been on yours and the artwork is just amazing, did you design that? M: Yea I did that with my sister, who is actually here at the festival with me, we collaborated with a company that also makes all these little non permanent tattoos that I'm wearing (takes jacket off to reveal the non-permanent tattoos all down his arm). Being a solo artist, I think I can do a lot of things bands couldn't usually do. I think people are becoming more visual with music, I guess this is just one of my ways. It's kinda like a psychedelic children's storybook on acid! CM: You say how 'Grace Kelly' is a big 'up yours' to the people you were working with at the time, can you elaborate on that at all? M: oh sure! Well like a lot of people who were trying to get signed I was working with anybody to try and get somewhere people were trying to get me to write songs that really weren't me, I thought it would be really funny to turn all my anger into this song, so I wrote the song and I typed out the lyrics and sent all these people the lyrics and the CD, they never called me back, which is ironic because a year later that was the song that ended up getting me signed, so it's a good f**k you song! CM: So you have been recording the album in LA M: Yea I co-produced it with a guy called Greg Wells, he's pretty amazing, he did a lot of work with KD Lang and it was just cool to find a producer to collaborate with me, and also in Los Angeles which I think is one of the best places in the world to record, I love writing in London, that's my home but recording we used everyone from John Lewis String Orchestra and Paul Bukmaster who worked on all the Quincy Jones records and pretty much everybody, Mark Chamberlain the drummer flew in for a week so in LA everyone's available and everyone's so professional and open minded. So it's cool as long as you have the budget, which thankfully I managed to get as I knew I needed a lot of money to make the record. But I had the support & I had freedom. CM: So when will it be available for us? M: It's available in February 2007 so you gotta wait a little bit but i've got a little teaser single coming out on the 2nd October and that is "Relax Take It Easy" and "Billy Brown" and there is also 7 inches available. CM: Did you have any favourites when you were growing up that you listened too? M: I really leaned towards bands/artists, who write & and co-produce their records, you know with the writing & production, it's all part of the record so you can't take one away from the other, if you look at people like Prince. I think it would be very hard to sing any Prince song and do it any justice. CM: So do you have any tours planned? What's in the future for yourself? M: I've got a UK tour in November and we're doing everything from Bristol to Glasgow, we've also got some special shows, some of them are secret and some really fun unannounced Christmas shows. I have a 'secret society' where the secret shows will be announced, it could be seen as cheesy but I think its quite fun, I mean look, it's pop music! anybody who says I'm trying to be cool, I don't have any time for that quite frankly because I don't really want to be cool I just want to be myself and have a great time doing it. CM: Now, I have read that you have done a lot of travelling in your life; do you think that has influenced your sounds at all? M: Oh yea its given me a very strong sense of self, Grace Kelly would never of come out of a person who has stayed sensible all there lives and grown up in the same place, it takes away some of your sense of home and security but I think that's a good thing as an artist even if its not a good thing for your life. But yea Defiantly it stretched me and it continues too, luckily I've found a home in London but I still question everything , the state of everything and nothings permanent to me, so it keeps me awake. CM: So one final thing then can I ask you about the chewing gum commercial? M: (laughs) yes of course, shall I sing it? (sings) "and it cleans your teeth too, Orbit chewing gum clap, clap". I was a kid when that came out probably about 13 years old, £45...that's all I got, royal rip off!!!! It wasn't Orbits fault it was the studio I worked with at the time but it was good I got a lot of work out of it, I did that and then the next thing I did stuff with the Royal Opera House so erm, yea a little bit of a whore! you know...whores are very wise people!!! CM: Well Thank you Mika, its been fantastic! M: Thank you, I just hope my voice keeps up later! Adam Prickett Site - http://www.mikasounds.com From: http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/mikax13x09x06

DOTMUSIC (LAUNCH.COM) Mika: Number One? Mika is set to claim the UK's Number One single this weekend with his debut release "Grace Kelly". Midweek sales figures suggest "X-Factor" winner Leona Lewis will be displaced from the chart top spot on Sunday by the flamboyant, hotly-tipped pop newcomer. "Grace Kelly", which charted at number three on downloads alone last weekend, is expected to overhaul Lewis, with Just Jack's "Starz In Their Eyez" close behind. Elsewhere in the Top Ten, The View, Klaxons, Jamie T and Damon Albarn's new project The Good, The Bad And The Queen are also expected to chart with new entries. Mika releases his debut album, "Life In Cartoon Motion", on February 05. From: http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/dyna/article.html?a=/070117/340/gwml9.html&e=l_news_dm --- VIRGIN.NET 17 January 2007 Leona to lose chart top spot Leona Lewis is set to be toppled from the top spot in the singles chart this week as a clutch of up-and-coming artists battle for number one. According to midweek sales figures, camp solo artist Mika is winning the race to top the chart ahead of rapper Just Jack and Scottish indie band The View. Mika, who was born in Lebanon but has lived in London since he was nine, has sold almost 8,000 copies of his single 'Grace Kelly' on download sales alone a week before the physical release hits the shops. Mika is now on course to jump from number three to number one ahead of Just Jack, who has sold more than 7,300 copies of his single 'Starz In Their Eyes' and is at number two in the midweek chart. Dundee-based rockers The View are currently at number three with their third single 'Same Jeans', which has already proved to be their biggest hit to date. But while the race is tight at the top of the chart, it seems certain that X Factor winner Lewis will not hold on for a fifth week at number one. From: http://musicnews.virgin.net/Virgin/Lifestyle/Music/virginMusicNewsDetail/0,13556,1847353_music,00.html

THE CD TIMES 17 January 2007 2006 saw Snow Patrol selling more albums in the UK than anyone else, beating the follow-up albums from both Scissor Sisters and Keane for the top spot. This year, if early predictions are anything to go by, the chart will be dominated by relative newcomer Mika, who has already been tipped by many as the artist most likely to succeed in 2007. Single Grace Kelly is already in the top five, purely on download sales alone weeks ahead of its physical release, and anticipation among Radio 2 listeners is high for the debut album. Helping matters along nicely is that fact that Mika is a relatively interesting fellow. Born in Beirut, he now resides in London after spending some of his childhood in Paris. Striking to look at, he is certainly a talented, charismatic musician, who has not had an easy route to fame, earning his living writing advertising jingles and experiencing various struggles with record companies (as outlined in Grace Kelly). Comparisons to the likes of George Michael, Freddie Mercury and Elton John have all been made, but despite the evident influence, his sound is reasonably his own and his debut album is not entirely without merit. With that in mind though, this is a very mixed bag, ranging from the good to the downright awful. Lead single Grace Kelly is a good indication of what to expect, a flamboyant mix of glamour and swagger, showcasing his vocal range and his expertise in arrangement. But the second track Lollipop plummets the album into excruciating farce, whilst My Interpretation opens with a piano tinkling what appears to be the theme to Baywatch. Relax, Take It Easy also opens with a tune not a millions miles from Died In Your Arms by Cutting Crew, before launching into the territory of a Scissor Sisters tribute band. The second half of the album is heaps better, opening with Any Other World, a wonderful song, delicate and gentle, slowly unwinding. It is on this track that his talents begin to shine and you start to see what all the fuss is about - the lyrics are passionate and heartfelt, set to a gentle string arrangement. Billy Brown is also a reasonable song, from the Gilbert O'Sullivan songbook, full of parping horns and a ramshackle atmosphere. The quality remains throughout Big Girl, an ode to the lady with a fuller figure, and Stuck in the Middle, both songs nodding a respectful glance towards Scissor Sisters, the kind of material their second album could have sorely benefited from. Closing number Happy Ending though is a disappointment, a sugary piece of whimsy that allows the album to dwindle to its conclusion. Let’s face it, many people buy just a handful of records a year and are quite happy to be actively encouraged as to what those purchases should be. Nothing will stop this album being a riotous success, whether Mika deserves it or not. There are some bright spots on this release, but they are few and far between. What remains in the middle are moments that will test the tolerance of many in an album sure to be found in second hand shops all over Britain by Christmas. From: http://www.cdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=3816

DAILY TELEGRAPH - 18/01/2007 The spirit of Queen's Freddie Mercury lives on in the flamboyant music of pop's hottest new act. Michael Deacon meets Mika The most hyped British pop act since Arctic Monkeys is only on his fourth song when a fan wrestles her way on to the stage to jerk and jive with her idol. By the standards of this Camden crowd, she doesn't look desperately trendy: sack-brown pleated skirt, shapeless woollen pullover, perm. But then, she is in her eighties. "Big girl, you are beautiful!" the singer trills, over a beat so jaunty it makes Scissor Sisters sound like a crematorium house band. "Woo!" hoots his geriatric devotee, rolling her hips so energetically her spectacles almost fall off. He's yet to release a CD, but even at this absurdly early stage, it seems as if the buzz about Mika is felt some distance beyond the boundaries of MySpace. In a recent BBC poll last week, music business tipsters named this Beirut-born singer-songwriter the pop newcomer most likely to succeed in 2007. Now comes the test of whether the public agrees. Mika's first single, Grace Kelly – a Queen-ishly vivacious glam-rock stomp – went in at No 3 last week, and his album Life in Cartoon Motion is out on Feb 5. "There's so much pressure to get results now, it's scary," he grins, with a whinny of mock-fear. It's six weeks since the elderly stage invasion, and Mika perches, beaming and fidgeting, on the leather sofa of a Soho bar. If he had a tail, he'd be wagging it madly. In fawn and grey, he's dressed a little less flamboyantly than at that Camden gig – where, with his boisterous curls and braces hoisting chestwards an almost deafeningly loud pair of red trousers, he looked like Owen Hargreaves disguised as a gay Bavarian goatherd. Mika has always been an ostentatious dresser, he confesses. Aged six, he used to demand (and get) wincingly bright bow ties tailor-made to match his equally gaudy shirts and shorts. "I was a show-off as a kid. A bit weird. But I had that beaten out of me by everyone I was at school with." Mika – then Mica Penniman – started at his first English school after spells in Paris and his native Lebanon. So incessantly was he bullied (the bow ties, the "airport accent", the girlishly long hair) that his mother kept him at home for six months until she could enrol him elsewhere. He was saved by music, and his near-delirious single-mindedness. At seven, he wrote his first song, an "awful" piano instrumental entitled Angry. By 12, he was peppering record companies with home-taped demos. "They'd take my calls because I was so young – like, 'Aw, we'd better talk to him or it'll break his little heart.' " At 14, he wriggled his way into a house party thrown by the head of the record label RCA, scampered to the piano and bolted through five songs. "They said that I was talented," he blushes, "but that they didn't know quite what to do with me…" There's still a streak of childish precocity in the music Mika writes now, at the grand old age of 23. The hysterically bouncy Lollipop calls to mind the chanting Muppets of Sesame Street. On Billy Brown he relates the anguish of a married man torn in two by his bisexuality. But so jolly is the tune that Mika might be a playschool assistant singing the alphabet. Like advertising jingles, Mika's melodies, once heard, ping cheerfully about the skull without possibility of extraction. This will infuriate some, but nursery-rhyme catchiness has its advantages: at the Camden gig, the crowd hollered every word. He had, he says, only one moment of serious self-doubt about pursuing pop. "I was 19, and thought, 'I'm a nutcase. What am I doing? Thinking I can write funny little songs for a living. I'd better get a degree.' " He signed up to study geography at LSE. After a horrified skim through his textbooks, he quit on the first afternoon of term. Since landing a record deal (there was a false start when his employers tried to mould him, rather implausibly, into the next Craig David), Mika has insisted on creative autonomy. He designs his own posters and CD artwork, and builds personal websites in the guises of the characters described in his songs. It's little surprise to learn he suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. "I never offer to make tea for anyone – it would take too long. You've got to have a precise level of water in the pot, make sure the cup is in exactly the right place…" Being weird has been the bane of Mika's life; now, it could be the making of him. But, for all the ballyhoo, the odour of pariahdom still lingers. "I went to a party full of famous people – Elton John, people like that – and it felt like school. Everyone standing in their packs, and me wandering around like the new boy again. People snubbing me, being catty to me. It was like a club I didn't belong to." He considers. "I don't think I want to belong." 'Life in Cartoon Motion' (Island) is out on Feb 5. From: The Daily Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/01/18/bmmika118.xml

Hi Strudel It's quite levelling to see figures - to see just how close the competition is. CW.

The Grace Kelly and Starz In Their Eyes men are locked at the top spot... 16/01/2007 Watch today's MTV News bulletins... http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/news/16012007/mika_and_just_jack_battle_for_no_1'>http://www.mtv.co.uk/channel/mtvuk/news/16012007/mika_and_just_jack_battle_for_no_1 Two of MTV.co.uk's top tips for 2007 are battling it out for this week's No 1. Mika is currently sitting pretty at the top after selling almost 8,000 copies of 'Grace Kelly' (a week before it's available in shops) so far this week, while Just Jack is not far behind selling over 7300 copies of 'Starz In Their Eyes'. And Scots band The View also look set for a high new entry. Their jangly new tune 'Same Jeans' (which reminds us of Cornershop's 'Brimful Of Asha') looks set to land a No 3 spot according to our midweek figures. For more on Mika and Just Jack read our exclusive interviews with the boys. To watch the latest MTV News bulletins in Overdrive, click on the link above... --------- PREVIOUS MTV BULLETIN 29/09/2006 Remember the buzz around Lily Allen before she became a household name? Mika could be the male version… Classically trained musician Mika (pronounce Meeka) is being touted as the next big thing before he’s even released a tune. The 23-year-old London-based dude’s tunes are big, funny, orchestral and poppy - we see him in the same vein as Scissor Sisters or Lily Allen… You read it here first! So another male singer/song-writer? I don’t say I’m a singer/songwriter because I don’t sit at my piano and moan – my thing is creating huge sounding pop records. My music reminds people of artists from the 80s and 90s. Where’s the accent from? Well, I’ve lived in London since I was 9, but I was born in Lebanon in 1983. I left there as a baby because of the war and lived in Paris for 8 years. My accent changes all the time but my parents were taught English in an American accent which I’ve picked up on. Tell us about the first single 'Take It Easy/Billy Brown'… It’s a little teaser single coming out on limited release on October 2. We started the ball rolling slowing but Scott Mills on Radio 1 made it his Record of the Week recently. And 'Billy Brown' is about a bloke who leaves his wife for another man? You can tell stories in a pop song that aren’t the norm…Although maybe this song might encourage lots more Billy Browns to come out. There’s more than a touch of the Queen and the Scissor Sisters about your music, would you agree? Freddie Mercury: I take that as the highest praise. Scissor Sisters: Great, everyone loves them. As long as people don’t start comparing me to Danny La Rue I’ll be happy. Who floats your boat musically? Prince, and anyone who makes records who can’t be done by anyone else - non-karaoke records. Michael Jackson and Beck both make records like that as well. You’ve already been described by Music Week mag as the “next 21st Century superstarâ€Â. Are you? Are you serious? That’s amazing. I’m honoured. But of course, I have to say I am! 2007 will be mine. Fair enough. Anything else you want to get off your chest? Yes, what this fascination with grey clothes we've got at the moment? London's dull enough as it is in Winter - bring on the colour. To watch the latest MTV News bulletins in Overdrive, click on the link above... SLJ From: MTV http://www.mtv.co.uk

Tuesday 16 January, 2007 In what promises to be the gay indie night of the year, new pop sensation Mika is set to perform live at Popstarz on Friday 26th January, 2007. The much hyped gig is now receiving even more attention due to Mika being placed at number 1 in the BBC’s ‘Best New Talent’’ sound of 2007 music poll. The award decided by 130 music critics and broadcasters indicates which acts industry insiders are tipping for the top in 2007. Past winners have included the likes of Keane, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight and the Scissor Sisters. Mika’s first single ‘Grace Kelly’ is currently the most frequently played song on BBC Radio 2 and is ‘Record of the week’ on several of Radio 1’s shows. "Every so often an artist comes along with hit written all over them and 2007 looks like being Mika's year" Radio 2's head of music, Colin Martin "He looks the part and his songs suggest what would have happened had Queen cross-bred with the Scissor Sisters." Q magazine editor, Paul Rees Music: Three rooms of tunes: Mashed up indie/Pure trash pop/Motown-RnB Entry: Before 11pm: Free with “Privilege Pass†or web flyer –while stocks last, flyer/advert £3 / nus £4 / others £5 After 11pm: flyer/advert £7 / nus £5 / others £8 Drinks: HAPPY HOUR 10-11pm with ‘buy one get one free’ drinks and £2.50 drinks deals all night long. From: GAY.COM/PlanetOut.com Network http://uk.gay.com/headlines/10895

12 January 2007 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW HUNK DU JOUR MIKA takes a few minutes to answer our Random Hunk Questions, and we wax poetic about the huge success he'll be in the USA. MIKA (pronounced "MEE-ka") was recently voted #1 in the BBC News site's Sound of 2007 poll, and is quickly looking like a force to reckoned with in 2007. His debut album, Life in a Cartoon Motion, hits the states on March 27th. He lept into internet popularity when his MySpace page generated 250,000 plays for his fantastic first single, Grace Kelly in less than four months. As of today Grace Kelly has been played 343,000 times. [ Ed: The track is also becoming a big hit at our house. ] It just so happens that the stars aligned and we were able to get in touch with MIKA for a brief interview, where we were able to ask our Random Hunk Questions! He graciously played along with some fantastic responses. You seem to be a fan of the Proclaimers, so if you really did walk 5000 miles where would you want your journey to end? In a warm fully occupied bed. It appears that you have literally been all over the globe - where have you not been that you are looking forward to visit? South America, Mayan ruins Mexico City really seems like a head f**k in the best possible way, I'm keen to get to see it myself. Do you have any plans to tour the states? (And screw Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco... What could we do to get you to Seattle!?) Not very much as that's one of the places I really want to visit. You can have a dinner date and see a movie with any of the following. Who would you pick as your date? Madonna, Cher, Liza, Barbara or Paul Rubens. I heard Barbara is very scary, Madonna far to savvy and I would be to busy extracting music biz info to actually enjoy my souffle. It would be Liza because I really want to take her home give her lots of water, healthy attention and keep her away from her scary mutant looking ex husband. [ Ed: You'd be doing a public service! ] Is MIKA really your name? Does MIKA mean anything? It's actually my real name. All of my siblings have exotic names, my sister Paloma (a dove) my brother Fortuna for which means lucky in French for example. I got saddled with a name that means plastic bag in Morocco, curse of the middle child! We personally hate cheesy duets, but if you were ever going to do one who would you want to "do it" with? Dolly Parton, not in a Kenny Rogers [way] - more in a White Stripes / Jack White fashion. For more information on MIKA, you can also visit his website. He has one song currently available on itunes "Love Today" and you can listen to an interview podcast to hear his sexy voice! From: Hunk Du Jour http://www.hunkdujour.com/blog/archives/2007/01/mika_pop_star_of_2007.asp

I couldn't find this interview from a few weeks ago on the board.... CW. ---------- LATER WITH JOOLS HOLAND MIKA We met up with operatically trained, pop-maestro MIKA for a quick chat about hiding out in Barry Gibbs recording studio and performing Proclaimers covers... Welcome to Later… How does it feel to be on the show? Amazing, I just wanted to come and see it, and now I’ve ended up performing on it! (giggles) Which is kind of hilarious, as most things have been in the last few months! We’ve heard some stories about how you originally got signed…gate crashing record company parties… Well how I ALMOST got signed about seven or eight times, and then as soon as they got more into my music they got terrified and ran away! Well did you literally just turn up and start playing? Yeh I did! I wasn’t desperate but I just came from a weird place. Well I didn’t have a crowd you know? I was rejected by the Indie crowd and I was rejected by the record companies, so I had to do my own thing, and where-ever I could get exposure I just gate-crashed. But people always got scared, and I just so fed up of it to the point where I REALLY started to do my own thing (gives a cheeky grin) and I wrote Grace Kelly. It was musicians who helped me out, and the record companies came to me later. But it must have been nice to have the support of fellow musicians… Absolutely! For instance I developed my project in Miami where no-one cared about me, because I didn’t have much money or support so I teamed up with some song-writers in Miami. What I was doing was so different to everything else over there, apart from Latino pop and like Hip-Hop and rap, which meant that all the musicians were donating their time for free. Also I was at the Royal College of Music at the time so I took a student loan out, then every holiday was getting myself over to Miami recording on borrowed time, so we would hide in Barry Gibbs’ studio in South Beach, but he found out and ended up firing his engineer of eighteen years, who he ended up re-hiring! Anyways…the whole thing was just ridiculous, but it was all done for free, ALTHOUGH it did take us a year to do four songs! But it was worth it in the end. Is it true that Grace Kelly was written as a bit of a fingers up to those original record companies? A screw you, yeh totally! I was working with some musicians…well it was just a company who completely didn’t understand that I had it in mind to become an artist. They were all ‘Well why can’t you just do something else, for now? It’s alright, just make a first record, we can do something that will be helpful to your career and then you can do whatever you want.’ I just thought that was ridiculous! I wrote the song, typed up the lyrics, recorded it, sent it to them and never heard from them again! But a year later I got signed in my own right. You had a very difficult time growing up (MIKA and family fled from Beirut in the war, then moved to Paris, then London, but his father was held captive), to the point where you stopped talking, reading and writing…you’ve said that this is when you really got into music… Well I was always really into music even when I was living in Paris as a small kid, then once I moved over here and went to a French State school in London…it was just a disaster for me. I had a really hard time both with students and teachers and I had to be pulled out so I didn’t go to school for six months and I forgot how to read and write, and completely forgot how to read music, and ever since then I haven’t been able to read music. So I just didn’t have anything else to do, cause no other school would take me, so my mum just said ok, lets do music! I then got this horrifically tough but amazing Russian singing teacher, and within three months of her training two hours a week and then every single morning for around two hours of practice I started getting gigs. You know my first gig was at the Royal Opera House I really went straight in at the deep end! So in a way it was by circumstance and it got me on my feet again, everything after that just fell into place. Music really got me on my feet again, which is good, but if I could have had a normal life you can’t say you wouldn’t have wanted it. You’ve done so many different types of gigs…the Royal Opera House, Bestival, sung jingles… ...milk commercials… …what has been the most nerve-wracking so far? Oh I get so nervous. Phew…you know there must be something…(long pause)… I think it was probably Ibiza. Yeh! I had hardly any voice, this was a couple of months ago now, and it was my first ever pop gig with a full band, it was at five fifteen in the morning and it was at Manumission with the jungle crowd after the topless women being chased by the midgets and I went on… We sang the first song and I was kind of excited and I jumped up, but as I landed I jammed one of the pedals so we were stuck. There’s all these people completely out of their heads in front of me and I really didn’t know what to do, so I just started singing folk songs and Proclaimers covers! (laughs) But now it’s an in-joke with my band, if ever anything goes wrong we just start singing Proclaimers songs cause we don’t know what else to do! But that was pretty hilarious! As soon as we started doing it the whole crowd started singing it back and the next song they were ballroom dancing to Billy Brown which is one of my songs! It was pretty terrifying but brilliant! Thank God! You always say that you want to work your own way, and want to do songs that no-one else can sing… Yeh (laughs) the anti X-Factor musician, that’s what I want to be! Imagine if I walked onto that show and started singing Grace Kelly…they would just completely laugh in my face, and I love that! I’d be very surprised if someone was to walk onto that show and sing one of my songs in a year or so’s time, it would be impossible, they’d just laugh! …but if you had to work with anybody (dead or alive) who would it be? I really would love to work with somebody like Beck. I relate to him in a way…he’s like a one man band, that circus ring master thing that he does, that I kind of relate to as a solo artist, there’s not many people that I can look at and think, I relate to them. If it wasn’t Beck it would be Kurt Weill, I’d just like to have tea with him, or Harry Nilsson, I’d like to have a whiskey with him, I don’t think tea was ever on the books with him! From: bbc.co.uk http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/interviews/mika.shtml

Agreed. That was a great interview. Really enjoyed reading it too. Thank you. CW.

Also played a bit of QUEEN'S KILLER QUEEN. CW.