- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: WHITE TOWN'S JYOTI MISHRA SPEAKS ABOUT HIS RECORD 'YOUR WOMAN'
- Date: 13th February 1997
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FEBRUARY 13, 1997) (REUTERS) JYOTI MISHAR SAYING I TRIED TO SIDESTEP IT (FAME). IT WASN'T THAT I WAS EMBARASSED ABOUT MYSELF OR SHY OR RECLUSIVE OR AS SOME PEOPLE SAID A '19 YEAR OLD LIVING IN CAMDEN'. IT WAS THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO OVEREXPOSE THINGS AND I WANTED TO FOREGROUND THE MUSIC. NOW I'M DOING THINGS BECAUSE THERE'S BEEN ENOUGH TIME SINCE WE RELEASED THE RECORD. IF I'D DONE EVERYTHING I'D BEEN ASKED, PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN SO SICK OF ME. I'D HAVE BEEN ON MILK CARTONS. YOU WOULD HAVE SEEN MY FACE EVERYWHERE. PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN BORED WITH IT. YOU HAVE TO BE SELECTIVE AND BY DOING IT PEOPLE THOUGHT I WAS RECLUSIVE BUT I WASN'T (ENGLISH)
- Embargoed: 28th February 1997 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Entertainment,General
- Reuters ID: LVADBOTUJQZO2CWJYE89048ASQCB
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: He became an overnight sensation when the single he mixed from his bedroom went to Number 1 in Britain, but White Town's Jyoti Mishar happily admits he's no teenage pinup.
Shunning the pop star tag, Jyoti wants his music to speak for itself.
In his first interviews with the media -- arranged only after weeks of appeals to his record company -- Jyoti explained why he prefers to remain out of the spotlight.
"I tried to sidestep it (fame). It wasn't that I was embarassed about myself or shy or reclusive," he said.
In a dig at Oasis singer Liam Gallagher and the media circus following his on-again off-again marriage to actress Patsy Kensit, Jyoti said he didn't want to be a "Patsy and Liam sideshsow".
The musician also believes pop stars should shut up about their views.
"Pop stars, especially musicians, aren't really that clever," he said. "We haven't really got that much to say about things so why ask our opinion about drugs and politics because we're going to come out with rubbish." Jyoti has no firm plans yet to appear live, perform on television or ditch the anonymity of his White Town tag.
But he said his reluctance to step into the limelight is not just because he is no sex symbol: he is overweight, over 30 and wears glasses.
"If I can do it and get to number one, being myself, not compromising - just being a fat bloke basically - then why can't anyone else do it? Also, why is it important? As a musician you should be judged on the strength of your music and that's it. At the same time, I know I'm not going to be a teenage pinup." As a struggling musician he could only afford to press 10 copies of Your Woman, but the one his girlfriend persuaded him to send to Mark Radcliffe at Britain's Radio 1 got played 22 times and won him a record contract with Chrysalis.
"It is just amazing it is possible. I got turned down by all the major labels and now I have a big gold disc hanging up in the bedroom," he grins.
Jyoti, who still lives in Derby, in the English Midlands, is quietly confident White Town will be more than a one hit wonder.
"My song wasn't on an advert or a television show or a holiday hit, it got there on its own strength, its own little legs," he said.
His album "Women and Technology" will be released on February 24. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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