We're engulfed in World Cup fever in the UK at the moment.  Gosh, even I'm talking football at the moment.  I never thought I would get excited but hey!  England really look like a world beating proposition at the moment.

And then the boxing...come on!  England again.  To hear my good pal and Ex World Light Heavy Weight Champion, John Conteh, describe the Lewis/Tyson fight was better than watching it.  We played golf together on last Sunday....and then, I played with Bobby Charlton at Carden Park on Monday...he was flying out to Japan on Tuesday.  I make it a rule never to discuss football with my football pals and they just love it....they are bored to tears with every single guy attacking them over some aspect of the game.  What did Bobby and I discuss?  Stretching exercises to loosen your back before golf and to prevent back problems [his daughter is a physio so we swapped tips].

The England Football Team are PURE Show Biz.

 I can't help but look at the English Football team from a Show Business 'selling' point of view.  Their image is 'the best' in the whole competition.  They must have spent fortunes on the advice.  Perhaps only guys who understand the 'selling' of music, 'selling' of image and the importance of making 'YOU' a world class sellable product will look at the English team and realise the gloss that has been applied.  The fact that David Beckham is now almost a 'good' talker.  His mentors have really worked a number on him in that respect.  His TV manner is phenomenal.  That 'little boy next door' twinkle in his eye that his advisors have picked up on and coached him to do more.  The hair style.  Soaked with rain before the end of the first half and beautifully styled and repaired in the half time minutes.

The way his head is almost locked in a vice when he is being interviewed on TV.  A 'trick' which you only learn from the top film actors [check out the Michael Caine 'master classes'...then check out any John Thor, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise performances].  The more still your head is on TV, in films, in major venue performance, then the closer the cameras will come in.  Then, provided you are perfectly groomed, with hair, teeth, skin and eyes to die for, you will attract a hoard of 'hungry for lurve' females and 'hungry for lurve' males ... understand? 

Watch 'Atomic Kitten'...now do you understand?  'Destiny's Child'?  'Backstreet Boys'?  'Enrique'?

How about the girls performers?

The girl performers understand this naturally but have the added problem of the camera adding 16 lbs to their shape....fellas should be aware of this as well....

David's 'designer' version of the team strip [did you notice?].  Same colours, but subtly styled to make him stand out.  Good for his celebrity image and good from a playing point of view...the other team members can pick him out so easily.

The white boots and extra long socks....plus the long, baggy, low crutch shorts make him the most identifiable player in the whole world.

NOW.....

Are you the most identifiable songwriter/performer/producer/music maker in the world?  And before you giggle, this is deadly serious stuff here.  This is the difference between being on benefit and earning $3 Mill. this year.

Do you pay as much attention as David does to the way you look, the way you talk, the way you present yourself to the public, who, at the end of the day are the ones you hope will buy your stuff?  As Dionne Warwick said at a recent Variety Club bash:  "Britney's an icon for Strippers".  And that's what SELLS!

Meeting The Big Boss:

When you eventually get to meet with The Big Boss is he going to think you are the David Beckham of music who is going to increase his Company profits by 25% next year?

I get asked all the time how to approach the Big Bosses....as if there was some underhand, totally unknown secret that scruffy, dirty, unwashed, untalented and unkempt Nerds can use that will get them to see Pete Waterman or Tommy Winnola....no there isn't.  There is the 'correct' business method that guys like me use, and use all the time, successfully....I explain it very carefully, in words of one syllable, in the 10 month program of 'How To Make A $Million From Your Music' at www.makehits.co.uk/swgintro.htm .  It is so logical, so 'business simple', that Nerds just don't believe it.  They also don't even begin to understand it.

So what does it entail?

It entails hard work...bl**dy hard work.  And it entails swallowing a lot of your pride and admitting that YOU, as you are now, in the mirror, do not have a hope in h*ll of impressing anyone - let alone Nick Raymonde, Simon Cowell, Dr Dre or Timbaland.

Typically, I will get a call or an Email from new Members of 'The Serious Writers Guild' asking me:

"Impossible dreams are obtained one goal at a time"

"It used to be , as I remember, that celebrity was earned.  Today it's created.  Before, it was talent that made a celebrity.  Now it's a manufactured image that is geared to please the eye as opposed to the ear."
dionne warwick