Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman has paid tribute to his 'brilliant' friend Darius Danesh following his death at the age of 41.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that Darius had passed away on August 11 after being found unresponsive in his US apartment room. Appearing on Talk TV on Tuesday evening, Pete spoke to Jeremy Kyle about the last time he saw Darius - who competed on Pop Idol in 2002.
When Jeremy asked whether or not they kept in touch, Pete replied: "Yes, I spoke to him, I had tea with him two days before lockdown on the Wednesday before and we went to tea.
"I met him… he was full of ideas. He wanted to get back into the music industry, wanted me to go over and look after him and mentor him through his meetings. He was doing a film in Hollywood."
Pete continued: "But you know what? Truth is with Darius, he was so brilliant at everything he did, he could never concentrate on one thing.
"So, I knew I've got a friend but I knew there was gonna be no business partnership. I just knew that was not part of what the deal was. He just could not concentrate."
Jeremy also asked what made Darius different and why Pete had believed in him from ‘day one’.
Pete revealed that he'd never seen Darius' infamous Britney Spears rendition until now: "Well, for the first time I saw that - to be honest, this is true, I've never seen that audition before now, okay and I didn't see it on Popstars.
"So, when he walked in the room on Popstars in Glasgow, you know, Simon [Cowell], and everybody else is saying, ‘Oh, no, not Darius’. I’m going, ‘Who's Darius?' And they go, ‘Well, this is crazy Scottish geezer', and he came out and sang and I froze.
"This guy is different. He's got real talent. And so, I took him to one side and I talked to him and it was quite obvious very quickly, his guy knew exactly what he's doing," Pete added.
Asked to sum up Darius and what he would be remembered for, Pete responded: "The guy who sang Hit Me Baby One More Time and changed television."
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