When Will I Be Famous? was a hit song

"When Will I Be Famous?" was a hit single by UK boyband Bros from their 1988 album Push and whether you loved it or hated it, the song asked a question so many budding and wannabe singers, musicians, actors and many other people who have their goal set on becoming a celebrity ask.

For Luke and Matt Goss it helped propel them into the limelight and success in the music business they so desired. They were to carry on as hit-making pop act. It certainly worked for them.

So very many budding pop stars, actors, and other "wannabe" celebrities get caught up in desperately seeking fame. In recent years many TV shows like the X-Factor have picked up on this and used it well in the popularity ratings. Overnight celebs are being created by these programmes and the media coverage generated.

But what drives people to seek fame? For some it is the attention they get but for many others it is the promise of becoming rich. Often it is a combination of the two. Of course it is widely known too that fame has many more advantages. Famous people get treated better in many ways. It may not be fair but it is how the world operates.

Famous people get clothes and other expensive products given to them by manufacturers, and they may get given complimentary tickets to all sorts of events. Fame attracts sponsors too and sports-people are always sponsored by some big sportswear supplier or other.

Famous people can be used to sell things. If a product is any way endorsed by a celebrity then other people are more likely to want to buy it.

Of course, there are disadvantages to fame too. It can be very difficult to have a private life and the very famous are beleaguered by paparazzi. I am sure you have seen stories about this sort of thing. Exaggerated and untrue stories appear in the gossip columns of the media and this is something celebrities have to get used to. It almost goes with the territory.

A famous star cannot live a life that you and I can. They cannot go out in public places, for example, without receiving the perhaps unwanted attention of fans and other members of the public. Some very famous celebrities need bodyguards and minders, some only see an exclusive world of hotels, limousines, private planes and other ways of life that keep them within the world of the rich elite.

My personal search for fame, which is an ongoing one because I still haven't found my "big break", is motivated mainly by a desire to make a lot of money and at the same time see my artistic creations as a singer and musician and as a writer find an audience and readership out in the world. 

I know very well that to sell my music and to sell my book that the more famous I become then the easier it will be. The public buy the music and writings of very famous people, often just because they are very famous and not necessarily for the quality of whatever it is. I remember years ago my teenage son used to buy records just because they were in the charts. It was if by being a hit record that made them something you should own but songs by acts that hadn't made the grade were not worth buying. I am sure this goes on all the time.

My quest for fame has led me down many avenues where I have been seeking as much publicity as I can get. I am currently in the YouBloom Song Contest, in which my song Mañana has made it through to the semi finals being judged by Bob Geldof and a team of music industry professionals. I have been actively trying to get this publicised as much as possible for the simple reason that the more people that know about my entry then the more potential votes it gets.

The Bros hit asked "when will I see my picture in the paper?" I have done that so many times. I used to be regularly in the South Wales Echo . I was in it for growing kiwi fruit, for growing a pineapple, for keeping hissing cockroaches and stick insects, for being a druid, for being a user of kombucha "miracle fungus" and once had a full page profile for my status as a singer-songwriter and local performer. I have been in The Guardian in CJ Stone's Housing Benefit Hill  column. I have also been in several features in Wales on Sunday newspaper.

In Tenerife I used to have a column in the now defunct Tenerife Sun and there was a photo of me in colour showing my green beard in each issue. I have just been in the latest edition of Tenerife News in a story promoting my song contest success so far. 

Back in the UK, I often appeared on TV programmes and even was a co-presenter for two series of the magazine In Full View on Choice,  but all of this is clearly not enough fame to sell my talents and so my search continues!

I used to dream of having a hit single one day and being on Top Of The Pops and even if I was only a "one-hit wonder" it would be a dream come true and a major achievement. I can't do that now because the series has gone but I can still live in hope of writing a song that would catapult my name into the charts. Then I'd be famous! 

Copyright © 2011 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.