Tag Archives: irish

Simon Cowell Joins Sunday Times Rich List. Who's Up and Down This Year.

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SIMON COWELL JOINS RICH LIST
MUSIC TOP 10 WITH £200m FORTUNE

KATHERINE JENKINS WITH £13m FORTUNE PIPS CHERYL COLE, WITH £12m, TO HEAD YOUNG MUSIC MILLIONAIRES TOP 20

ADELE AT £6m, FLORENCE WELCH £5m, TAIO CRUZ £5m, ARE NEW ENTRIES IN YOUNG TOP 20

U2 HEAD IRISH MUSIC CHART WITH £455m

X-Factor judge Simon Cowell has amassed a personal fortune of £200m to place him at number six in the annual Music Millionaires Top 50, published in The Sunday Times Rich List 2011 this weekend.

The 23rdannual Sunday Times Rich List – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – is published as an extra 104-page magazine, free with the paper on Sunday.

The Music Millionaires Top 50 is headed by Clive Calder, with a £1,300m fortune made from the sale of Zomba Records in 2002. New entries include AC/DC’s lead singer Brian Johnson, born in Gateshead, who is worth £50m, and Moya Doherty and John McColgan, worth £70m, who own the Irish dance show Riverdance.

Katherine Jenkins, worth £13m – up £2m on 2010, tops the young music millionaires chart of people aged 30 and under ahead of Cheryl Cole, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua, who all have £12m fortunes. The top new entry in the young music millionaires chart is Adele at ninth equal with a £6m fortune. Two more new entries are Taio Cruz and Florence Welch, each worth £5m.

U2 with a combined fortune of £455m, up by £26m from last year – see table below, head the list of Irish music millionaires who appear among Ireland’s Richest 250 in The Sunday Times Rich List 2011.

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2011
TOP 50 MUSIC MILLIONAIRES

Music rank 2011

Music rank 2010

Name

2011 wealth

2010 wealth

Difference
(+/-)

Clive Calder

£1,300m

£1,300m

No change

Lord Lloyd-Webber

£680m

£700m

-£20m

Sir Cameron Mackintosh

£675m

£635m

+ £40m

Sir Paul McCartney

£495m

£475m

+ £20m

Simon Fuller

£375m

£350m

+ £25m

Simon Cowell

£200m

£165m

+ £35m

Sir Elton John

£195m

£185m

+ £10m

Sir Mick Jagger

£190m

£190m

No change

Sting

£180m

£180m

No change

Keith Richards

£175m

£175m

No change

Olivia and Dhani Harrison

£170m

£160m

+ £10m

David and Victoria Beckham

£165m

£145m

+ £20m
13=

Jamie Palumbo

£150m

£150m

No change
13=

15=

Ringo Starr

£150m

£140m

+ £10m
15

15=

Sir Tim Rice

£143m

£140m

+ £3m

Sir Tom Jones

£140m

£135m

+ £5m

Eric Clapton

£125m

£125m

No change

Roger Ames

£120m

£120m

No change
19=

Phil Colins

£115m

£108m

+ £7m
19=

Rod Stewart

£115m

£105m

+ £10m

Barry and Robin Gibb

£110m

£110m

No change

26=

Roger Waters

£105m

£85m

+ £20m

David Bowie

£100m

£100m

No change

Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne

£95m

£95m

No change
25=

George Michael

£90m

£90m

No change
25=

26=

Robbie Williams

£90m

£85m

+ £5m
27=

David Gilmour

£85m

£78m

+ £7m
27=

33=

Brian May

£85m

£75m

+ £10m
27=

26=

Charlie Watts

£85m

£85m

No change
30=

29=

Chris Blackwell

£80m

£80m

No change
30=

29=

Robert Plant

£80m

£80m

No change
30=

Roger Taylor

£80m

£70m

+£10m

33=

Jimmy Page

£75m

£75m

No change
34=

–

Moya Doherty and John McGolgan

£70m

_

_
34=

36

Chris Wright

£70m

£64m

+ £6m

38=

John Deacon

£65m

£60m

+ £5m

Noel and Liam Gallagher

£63m

£55m

+ £8m
38=

29=

Judy Craymer

£62m

£80m

– £18m
38=

Mark Knopfler

£62m

£62m

No change

38=

Engelbert Humperdinck

£60m

£60m

No change

41=

Nick Mason

£50m

£50m

No change
42=

–

Brian Johnson

£50m

–

–
42=

41=

Van Morrison

£50m

£50m

No change
42=

41=

Sir Cliff Richard

£50m

£50m

No change

44=

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow

£48m

£45m

+ £3m

44=

John Paul Jones

£45m

£45m

No change
47=

50=

Mick Hucknall

£40m

£35m

+ £5m
47=

50=

Kylie Minogue

£40m

£35m

+ £5m
47=

46=

Bernie Taupin

£40m

£40m

No change
47=

46=

Pete Townshend

£40m

£40m

No change

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2011
TOP 20 YOUNG MUSIC MILLIONAIRES (aged 30 and under)

Young
Music rank
2011

YoungMusic
rank
2010

Name

2011 wealth

2010 wealth

Difference
(+/-)

1=

Katherine Jenkins

£13m

£11m

+£2m

Cheryl Cole

£12m

£10m

+£2m
2=

1=

Leona Lewis

£12m

£11m

+£1m
2=

4=

Katie Melua

£12m

£10m

+£2m

Joss Stone

£9m

£9m

No change
6=

1=

Charlotte Church

£8m

£11m

-£3m
6=

Craig David

£8m

£8m

No change

9=

Paolo Nutini

£7m

£5m

+£2m
9=

New entry

Adele

£6m

_
9=

9=

Lily Allen

£6m

£5m

+£1m
9=

Natasha Bedingfield

£6m

£6m

No change
9=

9=

Duffy

£6m

£5m

+£1m
9=

9=

Amy Winehouse

£6m

£5m

+£1m
14=

9=

Nadine Coyle

£5m

£5m

No change
14=

New entry

Taio Cruz

£5m

_
14=

9=

Sarah Harding

£5m

£5m

No change
14=

9=

James Morrison

£5m

£5m

No change
14=

9=

Nicola Roberts

£5m

£5m

No change
14=

9=

Kimberley Walsh

£5m

£5m

No change
14=

New entry

Florence Welch

£5m

THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2011
THE MUSIC MILLIONAIRES IN IRELAND’S RICHEST 250

Irish
Music rank
2011

Irish
Music
rank
2010

Name

2011 wealth

2010 wealth

Difference
(+/-)

U2

£455m

£429m

+£26m

Michael Flatley

£214m

£241m

-£27m

Denis and Caroline Desmond

£185m

£186m

-£1m

Enya

£85m

£85m

No change

Moya Doherty and John McColgan (Riverdance)

£70m

£72m

-£2m

Van Morrison

£350m

£50m

No change
7=

7=

Chris de Burgh

£32m

£31m

£1m
7=

New entry

Bob Geldof

£32m

_
7=

7=

Westlife

£32m

£31m

+£1

The 23rd annual Sunday Times Rich List – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – is published in a special 104-page supplement, which profiles the 1,000 richest people and families in the UK and the 250 richest across Ireland. The list is based on identifiable wealth (land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies), and excludes bank accounts (to which the paper has no access).

The Sunday Times Rich List 2011 is compiled by Philip Beresford, the leading authority on British wealth, and edited by Ian Coxon. Ireland’s richest 250 is compiled by Colm Murphy.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding: Alex Knott on Grabbing

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The Channel 4 series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has been a great ratings winner for the TV station, bringing in an average of 7.4m viewers – the highest for any programme on the station since the 2008 series of Big Brother. Aside from being a draw for the public, it has brought a bit more insight into the lives of the Roma and Traveller communities, most of whom are of Irish extraction.

On the back of the programme, the deep-rooted cultural tradition of ‘grabbing’ has reached both the public consciousness and jokingly entered our vocabulary, perhaps a bit like ‘bunga bunga’ has in Italy on the back of Silvio Berlusconi’s wild parties. So what exactly is grabbing and are these girls as promiscuous as their outfits suggest?

Grabbing often occurs at pre-arranged gatherings, often in somewhere like a car park on the site where they live. While grabbing looks very malicious, the intention is not to overstep the mark but to simply assess if the female in question has any mutual feelings. It is basically a mating ritual with the girls slightly like bulls on parade. The boys try to tempt the girls away from their friends and attempt to get a kiss. If the gentleman gypsy is successful, then there is ‘something there’. Otherwise he has to forget it.

At these meetings, the girls dress up in very slutty outfits in a way not dissimilar to a prostitute. It suggests they’re very much looking for action – but their actions and morals are very different from the whorish image they portray. Traveller girls are not allowed to as much as approach boys. Their community believes in the ancient and, let’s face it, dying principle of no sexual intercourse before marriage and girls who break this code have to accept that the are considered ‘dirty’ and risk being left on the shelf.

Watching the show, grabbing can look violent and you can tell that the girls don’t necessarily love the art. Instead, they simply accept it as something that is part of their culture and also as something there appears to be no alternative to. Females are subjected to the ritual until they are engaged, which will typically happen in their late teenage years. One reason for them being engaged and married so young is the low life expectancy. Less than half of all travellers make it beyond their 50th birthday.

It is easy to look askance at the Daily Mail’s moral outrage, but it is fairly obvious for all to see that this tradition is pretty upsetting and degrading to see still going on in 2011. The show doesn’t get to the bottom of the complex cultural traditions behind grabbing. What programme that length does? In 2011 it is difficult to understand it, certainly when the young women involved appear to hate it. Perhaps it is a classic example of “outsiders” not understanding traveller culture, but I doubt it.

LONDON IRISH GANGSTER MOVIE SET FOR FILMING NEXT YEAR. {Film}

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Dark and Gritty Movie Reaches into the Bloody Heart of London’s Underworld

Written and produced by Londoner Andrew Nolan, Clan London will be filmed in London and Boston next year. Starring Jay Giannone (The Departed, Three Kings) former World boxing champion Steve Collins and former bank robber now best selling author Noel ‘Razor’ Smith – the movie introduces today’s world to a dark corner of the city when extreme lawlessness and chaos comes under the control of the most ruthless crime family this country has ever seen.

Set in the capital, Clan London centers on three second generation Irish brothers growing up in 1970’s London up to the present day. Against the backdrop of anti – Irish feeling the McDonagh clan refuse to keep their heads down and become heavily involved in organised crime. So much so they rise to the top of the British underworld.
The movie is primarily located in the Kilburn and Ladbroke Grove area of North West London where many of the Irish settled during the recent wave of immigration from the 1960’s onwards. London Irish artists such as Johnny Lydon were giving the World punk music whilst thousands of young Irishmen were the rock in the foundation of London’s construction boom. This movie will finally bring to life an accurate portrayal of what it was like to be Irish in a deeply suspicious city when the troubles of Northern Ireland often exploded onto the streets of the capital. For one family, the brutal criminal underworld provides a way out of poverty and an opportunity to confront the anti Irish sentiments of the day head on.

At the heart of the film is a story of Love, Honour and Loyalty set against the brutal criminal underworld of greed and corruption. Primarily aimed at the lucrative 18 – 30 ‘crime’ genre market, it has the potential to appeal to older audiences in the footsteps of The Godfather. With it’s fully realised and above all authentic characters, their seducing charm and unquenchable thirst for power, Clan London manages to be that rare beast; a truly original, high concept film that engages an audience emotionally but is still fresh, powerful and above all highly marketable.

Among the many artists who have agreed to feature on the soundtrack are Elvis Costello, The Dropkick Murphys (The Departed) and Spider Stacy from The Pogues (PS I Love You).