Waterman attacks 'greedy' pop stars

Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman has taken a swipe at greedy pop acts who he says are ‘‘pricing themselves out of the market’’.

The music svengali and songwriter - who launched the careers of Kylie Minogue and Steps - said that many do not realise how lucky they are to have been given such a golden opportunity with often little talent.

And in an interview with Radio Times, published today, he says that discovering Minogue was the worst thing that ever happened to his famed partnership with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken.

The trio created the former Aussie soap star’s first hit, I Should Be So Lucky, in 1988, but he said it virtually destroyed their company.

‘‘In 1989 we banked £17m (€27m) and I thought, ‘Fantastic’, until the accountant phoned to say we were £8.9m (€14.2m) overdrawn.

‘‘No one warned, ‘You’re paying the artist too much’.

In retrospect Kylie was the worst thing that happened to us although she’s fantastic and we’re all best mates.

We were a small company, sharing our revenue with the artists, which sounds applaudable, but when you become Kylie, running the empire is enormously expensive.

‘‘This sounds silly but we didn’t have time for a haircut so the hairdresser came here - for £1,000 (€1,600). Clothes and shoe shops visited us and we spent £15,000 (€24,000) a time on suits. The cost of not having to shop is enormous.’’

Waterman has also helped Rick Astley and Bananarama to chart success and was even instrumental in ska band The Specials’ career.

But he was critical of pop acts who were in the business simply for the money they can make. He said there was no loyalty to record companies and that artists were simply trying to pin down the most lucrative deals they could.

But he warned: ‘‘Artists are pricing themselves out of the market, like footballers. All they talk about is how much money they can make and I’m fed up with it.

‘‘Musicians come off the street, uneducated like me, and the business gives them millions, although a bank wouldn’t lend them 100 quid. As Mark Twain said, ‘Feed a starving dog and it won’t bite you’. That’s the principal difference between an artist and a dog.’’

His comments come in the wake of reports about Robbie Williams seeking a £40m (€64m) deal to renew his contract.