Leon laid-off

James P emails with upsetting news:

Sad news: After a glittering year, one album and two top-5 singles, 2007 X Factor winner Leon Jackson has been dropped by Sony.

He's keeping his chin up, saying "I had a great year and learned so much recording and releasing my album. Every artist knows these things can go either way" (which isn't quite true - George Sampson apparently didn't know that).

He adds that he's looking forward to his tour which begins later this year, and looks like being the most awkward bill in recent memory. He's being supported by X Factor runners-up, overly-toothsome brother-and-sister act Same Difference. If you can't picture this line-up, imagine a tenth-rate Michael Buble tribute act being supported by an eleventh-rate Steps tribute act. I'm sure it'll sell out, even though the evening promises to be half cheap-big-band covers and half the sort of performance you get towards the end of a local drama group's pantomime when the leading girl sings a duet with Buttons.

Where was I? Oh yes. He's been dropped.

Steady on there, James, people might think that this is the hate George Sampson society. Which, of course, it isn't; that's firmly behind the paywall.

Still, it's sad to hear that Leon Jackson's fabulous career has ended. On the bright side, he did get a couple of months longer reign than if he'd won Miss United Kingdom title, so it's not all bad. And it's not everyone who gets to do a farewell tour when they're still young enough to enjoy it.

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Who's laughing now

Confusing times we live in: Leon Jackson releases a single at the same time as Peter Kay launches a spoof single in character from last week's leaden X Factor spoof. Kay beats Jackson. Who can explain it?

Well, yes, there's the obvious detail that people like Peter Kay and nobody much can even remember which one Leon Jackson was. But beyond that, who can explain it?

Step forward, HMV's Gennaro Castaldo, pop music's answer to ever-present Independent Travel Editor Simon Calder:

Commenting on Kay’s latest hit, Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV, said: “It’s actually not a bad pop tune . . . Millions watched his [TV] show and are obviously playing along with the spoof.”

What does that mean, Gennaro? That people are buying the record in character as the sort of easily-swayed saps who buy a record because they've seen it on the television? Because that starts to sound almost as if they're making a cameo appearance rather than playing a character.

Gordon in the morning: The ex-factor

The return of Leon Jackson, who won Deal Or No DealThe X Factor, excites Gordon Smart:

LAST time I saw LEON JACKSON, we were sharing a glass of Irn Bru after his X Factor win.

It wasn’t the most formidable interrogation I’ve ever conducted — but it seems to have scared the poor boy into hiding for eight months.

You have to wonder what Gordon considers his "most formidable interrogation" to be, then - perhaps it was "so, when can we expect a great new album, then, Madonna's publicist?", or maybe "would you like me to buy another beer, Serge?"

Still, Leon Jackson is back, and Gordon isn't impressed:

Unfortunately, it was the most boring five minutes of pop promotion I have ever seen.

Boring - and yet Gordon does get 500-odd words out of it. Presumably, had Jackson had anything interesting to say, Smart would have been looking at getting pagination from the Sun's Olympic coverage.

To be fair, though, Jackson does appear to have had nothing to say at all:

“Photo shoots have started to take place. There are definitely a couple of looks. You’ve got the smart suits and shirts and ties and dressy shoes.

“And on the other hand I’m younger and edgier, so we’re trying to keep it trendier.

“So we’ve got jeans and T-shirts. We’re trying to mix and match the looks. It’s cool.”

Edgier? Edgier than what, exactly? Given that Jeremy Clarkson is probably the most famous jeans wearer these days, it sounds like Jackson is going for the 'edgier than Huw Edwards' look.

But still, Gordon has more important matters to deal with - Liam Gallagher's got a new haircut:

HERE’S LIAM GALLAGHER yesterday after finally sorting out his rubbish haircut.

Oooh, Liam, why don't you cut your hair? You'd look really pretty with shorter hair, you would. Go on, then... go on.

... and even then the kids were secretly hoping for Kylie

Leon Jackson was doing some good work for charidee at Great Ormond Street, only to discover that as he was working his way up the ward, KT Tunstall was working her way down it.

Leon was thrilled to be invited to the hospital, although hospital sources say that when they'd invited him in after seeing him on TV, it was because they thought he needed his adenoids checked.

Steve Brookstein: A warning from history

Remember Steve Brookstein? He was the winner of the first X Factor. Now, though, he's doing pizza restaurants in Kent. Although fifty people turned out, which isn't bad for a bloke who was briefly famous in 2004. We don't know how good the pizza is, though - it could be that it's very good and will bring out a crowd even if you have to listen to Steve Brookstein singing while you eat it.

We suspect that Steve's jokes about the X Factor that pepper his set are designed to show he's not a sore loser, but the obsession with the show and does tend to make him sound a little... well, bitter.

The kick:

"I'm sure he's [Leon Jackson] a nice guy but there are so many talented people out there who don't get a chance."

... says the man who got a huge chance, despite limited talents, and blew it.

Gordon in the morning

In his quest for showbiz, erm, Prime Ministery, Gordon Smart has tripped out to meet Leon Jackson, the voting irregularity who won X Factor. The resulting article is largely about how Jackson intends to drink overmuch:

He said: “I’m not shy of nipping to the corner shop to get myself a cheeky half bottle of Buckfast.

“I like to drink my beer but if it’s not going down well I like some vodka Red Bull. It gets me steaming then keeps me going through the rest of the night.”

Gordon is approving:

LEON JACKSON has set his sights on being crowned Bizarre Caner of the Year 2008.

The X Factor winner is barely old enough to drink but happily confessed that he is a lager monster with a taste for vodka Red Bull.

The Scot has even sampled the devil’s brew, Buckfast - the drink of choice for an army of Scottish troublemakers.

Only Smart could call Buckfast - made by monks - "the devil's brew", of course. But we're a little alarmed at this snickering about heavy drinking. Let's hope that Gordon doesn't upset that newspaper which thundered earlier this year:

... as a society we accept alcopops, booze marketed specifically at kids, and we regard binge-drinking as a bit of a joke.

Which paper was that again? Oh, yes: Gordon's own.

Talent shows are sources of discontent

It's bad - by which we mean amusing - enough that The X Factor result has already been called into question by claims that the phone system collapsed allowing Leon Jackson to edge out Leland Palmer (Rhydian Roberts) and claim the right to ruin the Christmas charts. Ofcom is looking into it - although, surely anyone stupid enough to trust ITV to run a properly managed phone-vote after the year they've had probably deserves to be fleeced - and some Welsh radio stations are going to boycott Jackson's single until there's a recount.

A gathering conspiracy base is suggesting that Welsh voters were more likely to encounter an engaged tone than voters elsewhere, doing down the boy from the valleys. Talkback Thames have denied any such thing would have happened, pledging that, erm, actually, they're just incapable of putting a system in place which would count all the votes.

Meanwhile, in America, Light of Doom are claiming they've been kicked off The Next Great American Band because the organisers more-or-less bounced them in to having big drums on a cover version of We Will Rock You. They don't seem to have thought that, perhaps, the problem would be covering Queen rather than the nature of the cover.

Actually, they have thought of that, claiming they didn't want to do it in the first place. It's a pity, actually: a bunch of guys who are happy to be pushed around so much would have been a delight for the major labels to mould.