The pop tsars
Even in the weird world of showbiz it was a bizarre spectacle. Kylie Minogue belting through Can't Get You Out Of My Head for a handful of boozy Russian businessmen on Christmas Day. The rowdy crowd was too drunk to applaud... or even stop talking as the superstar performed her biggest hits. But however strange it felt for the 36-year-old Aussie - used to playing arenas packed with adoring fans - to be virtually ignored, she could afford to smile indulgently. For when she walked off stage Kylie was $1million richer - £600,000 for 20 minutes work. We should be so lucky.
Kylie is not alone in agreeing to sing at a private party to swell her coffers. Hiring Western pop stars for an exclusive performance has become the ultimate status symbol for the elite group of Russian billionaire businessmen who emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And they are willing to pay whatever it costs.
Celebrities unable to resist the understandable temptation of earning so much for doing so little include Robbie Williams, who performed for £600,000, and Elton John who sang for £1.2million. By comparison, Eminem is a snip at £300,000. Whitney Houston even interrupted a concert tour in Moscow and St Petersburg last summer to do a performance for businessmen.
A fortnight after Kylie's lucrative low-key gig, the Russian capital's upmarket Prague restaurant was the venue of another extraordinary party. Just 40 guests at the New Year bash saw the bizarre bill of Robbie Williams, Mariah Carey and Ricky Martin. Martin and Carey both got £500,000. Sources claim that Robbie got £600,000 for his 40-minute slot, yet his audience appeared bored and uninterested.
"They thought he was a Russian soap star," explains Moscow showbiz journalist and TV presenter Otar Kushanshvishili. "The guests hardly paid any attention to the stage. Robbie was unspeakably bad. He didn't even try to excite the audience. It was an awful farce, neither the singers nor the audience caring a jot about each other. Throwing money at expensive foreign stars shows that you've got cash to burn. In reality, they never care who entertains them." The party ended at 8am and Robbie, Ricky and Mariah - who were flown in on separate private jets - were checked into Moscow's luxurious Balchug Kempinski hotel.
Yet while pop stars are happy to pocket the big cheques, it seems they would rather we didn't know about it. Despite the efforts of their entourages to keep it quiet, news of the "secret" gig was leaked in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper. One journalist joked: "It must have been the smallest stage they've ever performed on."
Before Kylie's show, her security team did a rigorous check to make sure there were no cameras. But a party-goer managed to snap her on a mobile phone. The image may be fuzzy but there is no mistaking who it is. As Nadezhda Soloveva, head of SAV Entertainment which brokers deals to bring stars to Moscow, says, "I would say they don't like coming, but enough money always solves the problem. The only purpose of inviting a foreign pop star is to show off personal wealth. Usually their guests are just friends and people the organiser wants to impress."
Before Kylie performed on Christmas Day, Geri Halliwell took the mic. During her act she failed to drag the party's host onstage with her. Whether she or Kylie knew that their host, Suleiman Kerimov, is a nationalist in Russia's far-right Liberal Democrats, is unclear. What is very clear is that, to him, money is no object. On top of Kylie's bumper fee, Geri made £300,000 for just 15 minutes work and was flown in and out on the same day on Kerimov's private jet.
In the wealthy French ski resort of Courchevel, the ruling elite of former Soviet state Kazakhstan were also determined to see in the New Year in style. Friends of the country's president Nursultan Nazarbayev are said to have forked out £1.2million for Sir Elton John's singing services. According to reports in Russian newspaper Izvestia: "When Elton John appeared on stage, the guests had to admit that the Kazakhs had triumphed as the ultimate hosts."
They even outdid Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich - the Russian billionaire who prides himself on hosting the biggest party on the ski slopes for Orthodox New Year celebrations on January 6 and 7. The last singer he hired was transsexual Verka Serdjuchka.
It seems the mega-rich Russians will have to dig ever deeper to maintain their reputations. But the prices commanded by the stars vary wildly. Moscow newspapers say US rapper Eminem was paid £300,000 to play a party there last May. But Boney M did a private gig in the Urals for just £8,000. Even '70s has-beens Smokie came away £10,000 better off when life-long fan President Vladimir Putin booked them for his New Year do at the Kremlin. In the mega-rich world of showbiz, it seems everyone has their price. (Mirror)
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