Simon Cowell has claimed he “came close” to punching 90s boyband icon as he opens up about the music industry.
In a new documentary, Simon Cowell revealed the dark side of Nineties boybands, exposing the “horrible and disgusting” side of the music industry.
The 65-year-old music entrepreneur recounted working with 5ive on the BBC show Boybands Forever, saying that during one violent argument, he almost hit a vocalist in the face.
In 1997, Simon and BMG/RCA signed 5ive, which consisted of Ritchie Neville, Scott Robinson, Sean Conlon, J Brown, and Abz Love, to a six-album contract.
However, the band found it difficult to handle the demands of their demanding schedules and the spotlight.
One member, Scott Robinson, confessed he reached breaking point in 2001, recalling: “I pinned one of the big cheeses at the record label up against his desk with my foot, crushing him into the wall, and said, ‘I will f***ing leave this band, you try and f***ing stop me’, with Simon Cowell trying to fight me off him.”
Simon admitted: “We almost ended up in a fist fight. I was that close to punching him in the face.”
As reported by The Sun, Scott confessed: “I’d lost my mind. They had to call security and carry me out of the building kicking and screaming like a f***ing wild dog.”
Admitting the music industry came with a dark side, Simon said: “You could make a lot of money, but it’s a really horrible, disgusting business at times. You’ve got to have thick skin.”
However, he claims stars were advised what they were getting themselves into, so he said they shouldn’t complain.
“There is a contract you sign which says, I will be available to shake every hand, to have my picture taken whenever requested and my privacy now has pretty much disappeared. It’s just a fact,” Simon explained.
“If you don’t want that, be an accountant. You can’t have it both ways.”
Speaking ahead of his boyband series, Louis Theroux said: “I couldn’t be more thrilled about this series. An epic story featuring a cast of stars and star-makers, spanning three decades, it involves some of the icons of modern British pop.”
“We see them through them through their highs and lows, hearing from the key players, as we chart the golden years of boybands.”
“How they came together, the experience of sudden fame, the opportunity and temptations that came their way, conflicts within the groups, between the groups, and between the boys and their managers,” he continued.
“It’s a gripping fable about getting everything you dreamed of, and it not being what you imagined, centred on a generation of young men, and their managers, who were wildly successful and also immensely vulnerable, having the times of their lives and also in some cases cracking up.”
“Those boys we all watched singing and dancing in tight formation – Take That, East 17, Westlife, Blue, Five, Damage, 911 and so many others – are now middle aged men who have the time and the maturity to look back reflect on what they went through. It’s taken us more than a year to make the series.”
