Times up

Seven years ago Whispers joined a battery of Nine Network stars at a Kings Cross restaurant to celebrate the launch of celebrity interviewer Richard Wilkins' book Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms.
Nine's then head honcho David Gyngell was there along with Australia's powerful music mogul, Sony boss Denis Handlin.
TV colleagues who joined the throng included Georgie Gardner and Lisa Wilkinson with Karl Stefanovic who launched Wilkins' book with some pretty raunchy tales. They were all at the peak of their careers. Now they have crashed and burned and their careers lie in tatters.

left- Wilkins with Vanessa Amarosi at his book launch.

A Nine insider has told Whispers that the rot began not with Stevanic's over hyped wedding, rather in 2017 with the pay negotiations over presenter Lisa Wilkinson who demanded $Millions or she would defect to Network Ten's The Project. Our source says Nine's management were more than happy to see her leave and only half-heartedly continued negotiations.

The departing Today crew that includes Richard Wilkins, well passed his prime as a star interviewer and presenter Karl Stefanovic may have believed  as many TV presenters do -that they were irreplaceable and more powerful than the show they fronted.

 Our Nine spy says senior management were secretly delighted over the endless tabloid tales of the Stefanovic shenanigans and were determined to use Karl's courting of the media as a reason to clear the decks.
 His sale of his wedding snaps to a rival magazine lead to the coup de grâce. Georgie Gardner remains having never (sensibly) rocked the boat.You can be sure those pretty younger faces who replace the other sacked Today crew are on a fraction of the wages of their predecessors.
right- Georgie Gardner & Lisa Wilkinson at Wilkins' book launch.

Predictions:  
# Our source says Karl Stevanovic is sure to end up on the board of his close pal James Packer's Crown Casino in Sydney.
# Difficult to imagine where Richard Wilkins goes from here except downwards.
# And there are warning bells for a particular high profile publicist who seems to court publicity with numerous clients questioning their involvement with her.
Below: Karl on Christmas Day:

A tale from the world of pop

 Legendary rock manager and author Simon Napier Bell (he's half Australian) writes a story about his involvement with a promising Aussie band WA WA NEE and the death this week of the singer of the group, Paul Gray (second left in the photo below).


WA WA NEE - PAUL GRAY
In April 1987 I got a call from Dennis Handlin at CBS in Australia telling me I ought to manage a band he’d signed - “Come to the CBS conference next month and hear them play. They’re bloody marvellous. They’re called Wa Wa Nee.”
Meanwhile he booked me a first-class ticket.
A month later on a Thursday, I was due to leave home for a 9pm flight
when I got a sudden lurch in my stomach. I’d clean forgotten that since I’d last been to Australia they’d introduced visas for UK citizens. And I didn’t have one.
A bit panicked because I had to leave for the airport in half-an-hour, I called the airline and asked if exceptions were ever made. “Absolutely never!” they said. “Not even for the bloody Prime Minister”
Which didn’t sound promising.
With some help from my very well-connected squash coach, I managed to get the home number of the Australian ambassador. By which time there was only a few minutes left to get things sorted out.
I told him who I was, that I’d managed Wham! and had taken them to China. But it turned out he wasn’t a pop fan and didn’t know who Wham! was. “What d’you want exactly?” he asked bluntly. He sounded put out to have been called at home by someone he didn’t know.

I said I’d been invited at very short notice to go to Sydney to sign an Australian pop group who, if I signed them for management, would undoubtedly become a substantial earner of foreign currency for Australia. But I needed a visa.
“No way,” he said. “You’ll have to go to the visa office tomorrow morning. It will take at least 48 hours, and we’re closed over the weekend. So that means Monday.”
I could tell he wanted to hang up but before he could I politely repeated the whole story again.. “They’re called Wa Wa Nee,” I said. And by a piece of good fortune he repeated the name out loud.
Immediately, from the other end of the phone came a cacophony of screams .
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“My two daughters.”
Two hours later I was on the plane with a handwritten visa. Thirty-six hours later I’d become the manager of Wa Wa Nee. They were a four-piece band who wrote their own songs. The singer was Paul Gray, blond and starry, and the musicians who played with him were Steve, Chris, and Mark.
I must say it went rather well. With unusual speed, I extracted a substantial budget from CBS and flew the group to London where we made a video of their latest single, Sugar Free. I then persuaded Epic in New York to give them the full monty promotion-wise.
In September Sugar Free went into the Billboard Hot 100 and by the time we arrived in New York to do promotion it had climbed to 35. I had discussions with the Epic marketing department re its onward progress. They planned to put it into the Top Twenty the following week, the Top Ten the week after, and if things still looked good the week after that, they’d go for a Number One.
In New York the group played a gig that went exceptionally well and we moved on to LA. After an equally good show at the Whiskey, I had to tell Paul he’d be having dinner with the wives of a couple of CBS executives. “They’ve rather taken a fancy to you,” I explained.
He didn’t like the idea at all. “I’m not a piece of meat,” he said. “I’m an artist.”
“It’s only a dinner. Be nice for a couple of hours, then you can go home to Australia knowing your record will be in the Top Ten.”
“N-O!”
It’s what everyone wants to say but in the end doesn't. But Paul did. And he refused to go to dinner.
By the following week Wa Wa Nee’s record had disappeared from the Billboard chart and the group’s career in America was over. You couldn’t really fault Paul. He was principled and stuck with what he believed in. His life was about music, not PR. He was a charming fellow, wrote amazingly good music, and sung brilliantly.
For me - for the rest of the band - for Paul too - it was just one more rock experience. Sometimes that’s how things work out.
Last week Paul died and everyone is very sad. Me too. For the musicians who were in Wa Wa Nee, he was for a while the focal point of their lives. He was funny, witty, and delightfully self-deprecatory. When Steve, the guitarist, learned he had cancer a couple of months back, Paul said, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing. Just a little setback. I’ll soon be over it.”
But unfortunately he wasn’t.
 The funeral is on Thursday. RIP Paul. You’re much missed.

Subo, Anna Wintour and More

Susan Boyle is in Sydney for an exclusive appearance on X Factor.  
Sony boss Denis Handlin took her on that all important harbour cruise yesterday to meet Susan's local family members and fans. What a sweet lady.
It's difficult to reconcile that the down-to-earth Subo is one of the major recording stars of the last ten years.

Meanwhile Vogue editors from around the world were summonsed to Tokyo by 'she who must be obeyed'- Anna Wintour for Japan's Fashion Night Out last Friday night and they complied.
Wintour reckons Japan is a major player in the fashion world and who are we to argue ?. Also in attendance Jonathon Newhouse  the chairman of Conde Naste International , publishers of Vogue.

Here's a snap of the 18 Vogue editors from all over the globe. Our own Kirstie Clements is second from the left.

Vogue Editors (left to right): Yolanda Sacristan, Spain (seated), Kirstie Clements Australia (middle), Anaita Adajania - India (back), Christiane Arp, Germany (seated), Angelica Cheung, China (standing), Franca Sozzani, Italy (seated), Mitsuko Watanabe - Japan (standing), Anna Wintour, America (seated), Emmanuelle Alt - France (reclining), Alexandra Shulman - Britain (seated), Victoria Davydova, Russia (standing), Anna Harvey, representing Brazil and Greece (seated), Seda Domanic - Turkey (seated), Myung Hee Lee - Korea (seated), Rosalie Huang -Taiwan (standing), Eva Hughes, Mexico and Latin America (standing), Paula Mateus - Portugal (seated)

On The Waterfront

Cam McGlinchey & Natalie Bassingthwaighte

Dennis Lillee

Nikki Phillips

To one of our favourite spots-The Finger Wharf in Woolloomoolloo for Sony's Wharf4Ward.

Odds-on favourite to win X Factor-16 year old Reece Mastin at the Finger Wharf

Wharf4Ward is a music business charity raising funds to build cancer wards for kids across Australia and with a turn out of 800 at 10 top restaurants today nearly half a million dollars was added to the kitty.

Melissa Doyle &Sony's Denis Handlin

It was also a chance to check out the current X Factor finalists who all attended .Entertainment was provided by Sony Music artists, including platinum-selling Kate Miller-Heidke,  Guy Sebastian, 2009 Australian Idol's Stan Walker and 2010 Australia’s Got Talent winners Justice Crew.

Jo Casamento & Ronan Keating

Jodi Gordon &Braith Anasta

Amongst the guests- Ricky and Rianna Ponting, Geoff Huegill, Eamon Sullivan, Natalie Gruzlewski, Richard Wilkins, Kerri-Anne Kennerley, Angela Bishop, Melissa Doyle, David Koch, Natarsha Belling, Samantha Armytage and Larry Emdur. Plus teen sailor  Jessica Watson and cricket great Dennis Lillee. 



Every one can also get involved with Sony's You Can campaign without donating a single dollar. There are over 20 million old mobile phones lying in bottom drawers across the country - the You Can campaign calls on all Australians to recycle these. Sony Foundation has partnered with an international recycling company to swap old mobile phones for cash.

X Factor's Mitchell Callaway &Andrew Wishart

Every wharf should have one-the Champagne Bar

Every person should have one-a new Bentley

Here's a message from Alice Cooper, Meatloaf and others:

Vanessa Amarosi Sings For Richard Wilkins

Richard Wilkins & Vanessa Amarosi

 Plenty of network heavies and stars from NINE TV clambered up the steep stairs to the second floor in the Kings Cross nightclub Kit & Kaboodle last night to pay homage to Richard Wilkins.

Ben Fordham & David Gyngell

The TV celebrity interviewer was launching his first book :Black Ties, Red Carpets, Green Rooms. It's a series of his interviews with some of the world's most famous stars plus heaps of back stage gossip with an insight into the sometimes strange world of celebrity ego.

However you won't find much in the book about his many love affairs including with the fashion designer Collette Dinnigan or Tottie Goldsmith although there are some tales about Tottie's famous aunt Olivia Newton John. Since arriving on these shores from New Zealand some 25 years ago Wilkins has been working non-stop, first in his own band Wilde and Reckless, then as an MTV  presenter and for the last 15 years as the Nine network's top interviewer of celebrities including on-camera stints from the red carpet at the Oscars.

Among those at the party-his Today Show co-hosts Cameron Williams, Georgie Gardner, Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic (who launched the book), Nine network supremo David Gyngell and Sony boss Denis Handlin.

Lots of Richard's interview subjects sent their best wishes- Prince, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman but one, Vanessa Amarosi presented her fondness by attending the party and singing. The video is below:

model agency supremo Peter Chadwick & Deborah Hutton

a night of hugs and kisses.....

Georgie Gardner & Lisa Wilkinson

even The Wiggles turned up!

Fear & Loathing in Monte Carlo

What is happening in the ritzy playground of Monaco ?. Stories abound of the South African beauty Charlene Wittstock fleeing the principality over tales of her philandering fiance fathering children but then being 'persuaded' by French police in Nice to return after her passport was confiscated.

 Robert Eringer is a former investigative journalist who has also worked for the FBI and CIA, written a book on the mysterious Bilderberg group and 5 novels. For a few years he was Prince Albert's security expert and set up Monaco's intelligence service. He reported directly to Albert.
According to the former spymaster Monaco has changed for the worst since Albert took over from his father.

Erlinger says Albert is an 'habitual liar' and is ruining Monaco's reputation. He reckons Monegasques are "horrified by Albert's self-indulgence and self interest and are aghast at his clownish behaviour". And he says that Albert has fathered a third child, an eighteen month old boy whose mother is a waitress in a Moroccan  restaurant with a 'dubious reputation' in Nice.

wedding guest Sophie Edington

Erlinger says it was news of another illegitimate child that was the final straw for Wiittstock that saw her flee. Palace officials have threatened to sue for libel and legal letters have been sent to the French newspapers La Monde and L'Express that first broke the story of the prospective bride's flight but Erlinger says tellingly, those letters only demand the name of their informant. Apparently Albert is terrified there is a leak in his palace and according to Erlinger there are heaps more potential scandals to emerge. He says Albert's subjects are alarmed by the shady characters that have flocked into Monaco. Erlinger whose job included background checks on potential residents says he warned the Prince that many had dubious backgrounds but that Albert has ignored all his advice.

More worrying is the fact that the feared Russian Mafia  now have foothold in the tiny country. Erlinger no longer works for Albert and he's launched a lawsuit in the US against Albert and Monaco for unpaid wages.

Lady Mary-invited

The Shuttle went to Monaco once in the 1980s. That was on a junket hosted by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi who owned a European magazine we worked for at the time. Three days spent lazing on his luxury boat Nabila (later sold to Donald Trump) and nights at the casino were enormous fun. We never went back but we did meet Prince Albert a few years ago at a party in Sydney hosted by Lady Mary Fairfax at her home Fairwater which doubles as the Monaco Consulate. Lady Mary has been invited to the wedding but is too frail to attend.

Today begins three days of celebrations for the royal wedding and Australian guests will include swimmer Sophie Edington , a long time friend of Wittstock's. British and European royalty and celebrities like Karl Lagerfeld will pack the principality for the celebrations that  Monaco residents hope will bring back the glamor days of Prince Rainier and Princess Grace. Robert Erlinger isn't feeling too positive about that happening.
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While nearly 500 people were celebrating at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomoloo on Thursday for the Variety charity and a host of local show-biz star were entertaining, a tragedy was being played out right next door.

Yesterday the news broke that former Australian Idol judge Jay Dee Springbett  had been found dead in his apartment directly opposite the wharf. Jay worked for Sony Music and was originally from the UK. He was instrumental in the careers of many local stars like Human Nature and Jessica Mauboy

Sony boss Denis Handlin had become worried that he hadn't heard from Springbett and phoned local police who discovered Jay's body in the early hours of Friday morning.

It's been reported that Jay may have been suffering from a heart defect. Friends say he was enthusiastically making plans to holiday with his wife Louis McCole and his two small daughters. Denis Handlin says he will set up a fund in Jay's name so his daughters are financially cared for and music pals like Natalie Bassingthwaighte have rallied around to support them.