Dispatches from the North: “I’m huge in America”

I have always loved celebrity gossip, not to the depth where I read or even believe tabloids but I have been known to log onto TMZ from time to time. One thing I have noticed since I have been in the UK is that celebrities love to talk about how big they are in the States. Some stars like Leona Lewis, Simon Cowell and Gordon Ramsay can rightfully claim to be global celebs but it has come to my attention that some of Britain’s biggest stars claim to have a career in the US when I can’t remember ever seeing them in an American tabloid and I am sure most Americans wouldn’t recognize them.

The show Katie & Peter: Stateside on ITV follows glamour model Katie Price aka Jordan and her singer husband Peter Andre as they go about their lives in the US. In Posh & Becks fashion they moved to LA in hopes of breaking America and if you watched the show, you would believe they have succeeded. They still manage to capture the imaginations of the British public, but since they were first introduced to the American public in 2007 on an E! network reality show their American career has failed to gather any steam. Their American celeb status is D-list at best. Still, their reality show in the UK seems to support the idea that they are every bit as big in the US as they are in Britain.

In similar fashion, I was watching Friday Night with Jonathon Ross a few weeks ago and Hip Hop star Dizzee Rascal was on. When talking about his success he mentioned that he has had huge success in the US, yet a quick check of the Billboard charts reveals he hasn’t made a scratch on the US Hip Hop scene. The only Americans who will know his music are going to be die-hard Hip Hop fans and DJs but most Americans wouldn’t recognize him or his music.

Possibly it is arrogant of me to think that you can’t be a “global star” if you don’t have success in the United States but then again, if its not that important why are so many British celebs lying about it? Really it goes both ways, many American D-list stars love to come over to the UK and fudge their career stats so there must be something to being famous in America.

During his appearance on the hit reality show Celebrity Big Brother, American Hip Hop star Coolio talked constantly about his active career in the US as well as his many sponsorships and endorsements and any British viewer would probably believe that he has had a successful career in the US over the past decade. Really, Coolio hasn’t had any success in the US since 1997. The two albums he released in the 2000s flopped and failed to make any appearance on the charts and I have a hard time believing that he would be a hot commodity in the world of designer endorsements.

So why do these very successful stars continue to pad their resume and more importantly, why does the British public buy it? For all of the digging and mud slinging the British tabloids are famous for, why aren’t they exposing these stars? Why isn’t it enough for these stars to enjoy their A-list status in their home country and why has Britain become the place where American stars go when their star fizzles? There are countless stars in the US who are completely unknown in Britain, but it is rare to hear them claim otherwise.

What makes America the Holy Grail of celebrity? The Grammy Awards and Oscars this year have shown that show biz in Britain is nothing to be ashamed of and I can’t decide whether the need to appear successful in the US is driven by the stars themselves or by the British public. It saddens me to see the lack of pride British stars and their fan base have. I don’t see any advantage to this charade, the stars who lie about their American success are just as famous and sought after here as the other A-list stars who relish in their British fame and don’t feel the need to fabricate an overseas career. There is no doubt that show biz on any continent is a web of lies and PR stunts but I find this particular brand of spin a bit pathetic. Its right up there with Janice Dickinson demanding to be called the world’s first supermodel when it is well documented that European supermodels like the iconic Twiggy were called supermodels several years before she allegedly coined the term in the 70s.