2011 'Britain's Got Talent' winner Jai McDowall dropped from Sony

[Ome]

Britain's Got Talent winner Jai McDowall has been dropped by his record label.

The singer, who won the show last year, signed a joint deal with Syco and Sony back in August 2011 and reached number 54 on the UK album chart with his debut record Believe.

However, McDowall, who met Simon Cowell just once following his victory, was recently informed via his management that Sony would not be renewing his one-album deal.

"I don't think I got as much support as I was hoping to get. When you're on a show like Britain's Got Talent, it's one of the biggest shows in the country at the time. But it got to the stage where I started thinking, 'What went wrong?', especially when you see all these other stars coming out of reality shows," he told the Daily Mail.

"[Believe] came out around the same time as The X Factor was reaching its climax and you had big name stars like Michael Buble bringing out their Christmas albums. I didn't really ask for more support from Sony and Simon Cowell, and I kind of feel like I should have said something.

"I was just going along with it, because I didn't really know what I was doing. I did what I was told. I feel I could have pushed them a bit more, but I think they could have worked a bit harder with the promotion."

McDowall used some of his £100,000 winnings to buy his £52,000 three-bedroom house outright.

He added: "My advice to anyone on the show is try and enjoy it, because I was a nervous wreck. Take it in your stride, because at the end of the day the music business is ruthless. If it's not what you expect, you should be grateful for whatever you do get.

"Things were much better than they were if you'd asked me a year before Britain's Got Talent. You've got to be grateful for what you've got because sometimes life doesn't always work out the way you expect."

A Sony spokesman confirmed the news, adding that the label wishes him well in his future career.

Cowell revealed in January that he was "disappointed" with McDowall, claiming that he wasn't a "genuine star".

No real shocker here then....

At least he got a house out of it.

[Englishboy]

No real shocker here then....

At least he got a house out of it.

I'm minded to agree with Cowell on this one. Although he is a good singer he came across as a little bland and didn't have the star quality that some previous Britain's Got Talent acts have had.

It's simply not enough to be able to sing in tune and although he delivered a competent enough performance in the final I would never have picked him as my winner.

Plus it was always diffcult to see his style of music selling in the high volumes needed to sustain a recording contract.

Still, he got to perform in front of royalty and there's not a lot of singers who can say that.

[Ome]

I'm minded to agree with Cowell on this one. Although he is a good singer he came across as a little bland and didn't have the star quality that some previous Britain's Got Talent acts have had.

It's simply not enough to be able to sing in tune and although he delivered a competent enough performance in the final I would never have picked him as my winner.

Plus it was always diffcult to see his style of music selling in the high volumes needed to sustain a recording contract.

Still, he got to perform in front of royalty and there's not a lot of singers who can say that.

I agree he was no winner for me, I much prefer the dance acts on BGT and I'll leave the singing to the X Factor or the Voice.


While I don't like the focus on the panel in Cowell's shows, I do like BGT for the variety, I just feel cheated when a singer wins.

Having said that I was moved by a young guy on tonight's show who sang a song Noname (I think that was the title) His story was very good. I did wonder if it was all a scam, but agree that if it was it still worked.