Damien Rice will make a lot of money from his song being on 'The X Factor', but it won't mean much to those at his next gig – in South Korea, writes BRIAN BOYD
BEFORE HE WAS famous, the Kildare musician Damien Rice travelled around Europe busking. He pitched up in Edinburgh one year and was out on the street playing cover versions but attracting no interest. When it started to rain he took shelter in a shop doorway and, to make himself feel better, starting writing and singing a new song on the spot.
Within a few minutes the pound coins were pouring in from passers-by. The lesson this taught him, he says, was to "trust in life". Soon afterwards he began writing his now classic 2002 album O, which went on to sell millions of copies and win the US equivalent of the Mercury Music Prize, the Shortlist Prize.
Last weekend he learned another lesson when his song Cannonballwas chosen as this year's X Factorwinner's song. The plastic girl group Little Mix, who won the TV talent contest, look likely to top the Irish and UK charts over the next few weeks with their overblown version of Rice's song.
Rice's reaction to this unexpected Christmas bonus – as writer of the song he could receive a few hundred thousand euro in royalties from sales and radio play of the Little Mix version – was to take to his Twitter account to say: "Some people asking about Cannonball. Once a song is released, anyone can record/release a version without approval, upon certain condition".
What that appears to mean is that it wasn't in his power to stop The X Factorusing his song and turning it into melodramatic slush. Rice is the antithesis of an X Factorcontestant. This is a man who walked out of a major-label deal with his old band, Juniper, because, as he puts it, "I found I was happier busking on the street than I had been playing in big venues with all the hype going on."
When sales of Oreached a million, he would say in press interviews that he wished people would stop buying it. He once tried to stop Obeing released in Spain because he had aspirations to live in the country and didn't want to be bothered by fans. "I want to be able to buy a pair of shoes or go for dinner without being asked for an autograph or see my poster stuck up everywhere," he explained.
Rice tends not to do launches, jump through hoops or play the media-go-round rent-a-quote game to up his profile. And by today’s standards, whereby musicians end up as panellists on talent shows or contrive stories about their drink or drug hell for column inches, Rice is an anachronism.
The X Factorconnection is a financial bonus, but Rice is likely to be uncomfortable with it. Perhaps when the shock of what Little Mix have done to his song wears off, he will see that his own version of it is racing up the UK and Irish charts this week. The huge exposure that The X Factorbrings means people will start to investigate his back catalogue.
Now 38, Rice was brought up in Celbridge, Co Kildare, and while at the local secondary school he befriended the people who would go on to form Juniper. They were a big noise in Irish music in the 1990s, but, just as they were on the verge of recording their debut album for the Universal music label, Rice abruptly quit the band and went off to farm in Tuscany. The other members of Juniper are now Bell X1, and Rice remains on good terms with them.
After his busking and farming days, he wrote, produced and released Oon his own independent label. The stark, emotive beauty of the album was praised by critics, and word of mouth helped shift it in large numbers.
It took him four years to release his follow-up album, 9, and although that earned impressive reviews and sold well, it didn't have the same overall impact as O.
Instead of doing interviews to promote 9,Rice issued a statement: "In writing songs you're expressing your emotions but very often they're immature emotions. When you don't have yourself sorted out, you've got issues and you're turbulent inside and struggling to find a balance, then you write about them because they're frustrating you."
At the O2 Academy, in Brixton in London, he shouted at audience members who were talking while he was performing and said from the stage: “If this is what bigness and popularity means, I want to play somewhere smaller.”
He seems to have cut off contact with the media, and he is believed to be living somewhere between Ireland and France, or on a boat that sails around the Mediterranean, depending on whom you talk to. It has been five years since his last album, but a rare live gig is coming up next month – except it’s at the Olympic Hall in Seoul, South Korea.
Curriculum vitae
NameHis stage name used to be Dodima Rice; now he uses his given name.
AppearanceUnlikely to be seen in an "I Love The X-Factor" T-shirt despite being set to make a small fortune from the winners' cover version of Cannonball.
Under no circumstances. . . When he next plays a show in Ireland, do not shout, "Play the X-Factorsong."
UnlikelyTo thank Simon Cowell on his next album.
