AFTER the high of winning Britain’s Got Talent, Jai McDowall became an overnight star, signing autographs and singing on the UK’s biggest stages for millions of adoring fans.
But then came the low, when a seemingly innocuous comment about Simon Cowell, led to an eight year feud with the talent show mogul, leaving him dumped by the record label.
Soon after the winning the show and nabbing the £100,000 prize money back in 2011, Jai also secured a record deal with Syco, Simon’s label through which he released the album, Believe later that year.
He then performed in a series of sell out shows across the country which included duetting with international US artist, Josh Groban at the Glasgow Concert Hall in 2011.
Having had a fractious relationship with Cowell during his time on BGT, where Simon had slammed his vocals for being monotone, Jai later made a comment about Cowell being anti-Scottish.
But the media mogul bit back, pointing out that is mother is Scottish as well as his client Susan Boyle. He also slammed Jai for not being a proper star, expressing his disappointment that he’d won.
But speaking for the first time about their feud, Jai says that his comments were misinterpreted.
In an interview with The Mirror, he said: “Back in the day – some stuff with Simon and it was all sort of misinterpreted. It was a shame because I was doing an article for a paper on BGT and the guy was giving me a million reasons why and that Simon could be anti-Scottish. I laughed and said, ‘Yeah, sounds like it.’ And then it was like, ‘Jai says Simon is anti-Scottish’ and I was like, ‘No, that’s not what I said!’
After his comments went viral, Jai explained that he found himself frozen out by the media mogul’s HQ.
He said: “It then took eight years to get back on the show. I remember getting the call for it and my agent was like, ‘Will you go?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I will.’ And he was like, ‘Are you sure?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I’m sure.’ Because I thought, at the end of the day, if there’s an issue I want to rectify it because I’ve always been grateful for the show.”
And Jai told how he was eventually able to make amends with Simon, who also apologised for his critical remarks. He said:
“I’ve done lots of things with my life now that I just wouldn’t have looked to do if it wasn’t for BGT. It was life changing and I am and always will be grateful for it. I didn’t know how that was going to go and if Simon was going to slate me. But thankfully, he apologised and then I had the chance to apologise back.”
Clearly Jai is back in Cowell’s good books as he was asked to join another group in Simon’s stable of talent- the successful operatic quartet G4, replacing some departed members.
The group have reformed to celebrate 20 years since finding fame on the X Factor, led by the crystal clear vocals of Jonathan Ansell.
Speaking about performing with a group of first class singers, he said:
“It’s been a massive learning curve for me. I knew the guys before anyway through Jonathan, so it wasn’t such a big change as it may be. I worked with Jonathan [Ansell] a few times and I met Duncan [Sandilands] through him, so it’s a slightly easier transition. But it’s still one of those things – especially on stage because I’m used to being alone – it’s funny to have three other guys singing different lines or different harmonies.”
But Jai is no deluded performer and the 37 year old understands that it was Simon Cowell who provided him with the platform to continue making a living as a singer.
He said: I spoke to him and shook his hand and said, ‘Look, genuinely, my life is a dream come true and I’m grateful and it’s all because of an idea you had. You made this happen to my life. So thank you.’
