Paul Cattermole - S Club 7

stickyfiddle

I know it's not remotely cool or "authentic muso" but Paul from S Club 7 has been reported dead. Always reported to be a nice but troubled guy so I have a bad feeling about the timing just after they hit the spotlight with a reunion.

And FWIW was not a bad guitar player either: 

https://twitter.com/mr_johnny_mac/status/1644363591640928258

Kittyfrisk

Yep. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65215283
Sad at any age, but that's way too soon. 

beed84

Just seen the news. Very sad, especially as he and the group have only just been preparing for a reunion tour. RIP.

EricTheWeary

News reports seem to be saying cause of death unknown but no suspicious circumstances. He was getting ready to tour so presumably it's not related to a long term condition. Interesting that he played in a metal band for a while when not in S Club. Certainly a shocking bit of news. RIP. 

mrkb

Kittyfrisk said:

Yep. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65215283
Sad at any age, but that's way too soon. 

Interesting bbc article, shows what can happen when you want to move on from what made you famous.

sev112

Reaching for the stars , rip

i remember a Wednesday night cricket match in a public park, and the local club hall has gym classes on and when they played Reach for the Stars, all of the fielders were doing all the actions 

axisus

Sad news. I rather liked the fact that they were off on tour again, but it will never quite be the same again now. We just don't know how long we have.

Lebarque

Sad news. Remember seeing him on First Dates a few years ago. He seemed a bit 'damaged'.

Dominic

too young

bertie

Lebarque said:

Sad news. Remember seeing him on First Dates a few years ago. He seemed a bit 'damaged'.

"funny" as Mrs Bert said to me "he was on first dates, don't you remember?" said at the time - there's something hiding behind those eyes/mannerisms........same when he came on 1 Show to announce the tour................ looked awkward like he didnt want to be there.................. and TBH he did look "out of place" as he'd obviously enjoyed who he was/had become - and all the others still (trying ?) to be young/bouncy/thin.......... etc etc - at least that's an observation all be it cliched

EricTheWeary

I don’t think there’s any video of his rock band but there are three music tracks on YouTube (there was a whole album I think). Not exactly my thing but seems really well done modern rock…

https://youtu.be/PSLoSH2PoXA

monquixote

For anyone interested in him I recently read "Exit Stage Left" which is a book which investigates what happened to various pop stars after they were famous. It has a chapter on Paul Cattermole.

It seems he had a pretty bad time of it. Exploited in S Club and didn't earn any money, then had various ventures that went bad and was made a fool of on a couple of TV shows.

I imagine he probably didn't want to do the tour but money worries forced him into it.

beed84

Mindful of my own setbacks in life, I find it quite frightening how a person's life can ruthlessly turn on a sixpence. You become part of a successful pop group but come to realise you're not actually earning any money. You win a Brit Award but have to sell it to clear debts. You make seemingly cheerful plans to make a comeback with your bandmates but days later you die. However he passed away, I feel for the poor bloke and how hard it must've been for him having to hold it together for as long as he did. It's both sad and sobering.

usedtobe

Poor guy. RIP

the_jaffa

Natural causes 

Paul Cattermole: S Club 7 star's cause of death revealed - BBC News

barnstorm

monquixote said:

For anyone interested in him I recently read "Exit Stage Left" which is a book which investigates what happened to various pop stars after they were famous. It has a chapter on Paul Cattermole.

It seems he had a pretty bad time of it. Exploited in S Club and didn't earn any money, then had various ventures that went bad and was made a fool of on a couple of TV shows.

I imagine he probably didn't want to do the tour but money worries forced him into it.

There's an old piece from the Guardian, about a book on the Spice Girls, that has stuck with me. On Fuller:

'Yet the unmistakable story here is the vicious, seething rage of a man astonished that a group of strong-willed young women could have dared to stand up to him.

'One lasting effect of the Spice Girls' success was that managers such as Fuller would be very careful in the future to pick the blandest, most malleable characters for their money-raking vehicles: nice kids who wouldn't answer back. Fuller's next project was S Club 7, about whom he says: "S Club 7 were a really nice group. I don't know them as closely as I did the Spice Girls. But I don't want to." S Club 7 eventually made about £50m for Fuller's management company, of which the band themselves pocketed a grand total of £590,000 each. Where is girl power now?'

Wild that he obviously felt no duty of care to the S Club kids. Even by the most uncharitable assessment of the band's career, they were the face of his business.