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HELLO INTERVIEW

Hear�say Creator Nicki Chapman charts her rise through the tough world of pop music to become television�s top star maker

At 34, pop svengali Nicki Chapman is a maker and breaker of dreams, already wielding enviable influence in the male dominated, cut throat world of music.
Her role as a judge on the phenomenally successful Popstars TV series made her a household face, with millions of viewers tuning in each week to see her deliver good news and bad to the wannabes fighting for a place in the band that became Hear�say.
And now Nicki�s reputation is set to increase thanks to Pop Idol � the new ITV show she�s involved in � where 100 would be superstars are being offered the chance to become the next Robbie Williams or Kylie Minogue.
Just as Popstars gave inspiration to aspiring performers everywhere, it turned Nicki into a role model for young women interested in the business side of pop music. �I was surprised how many letters I received as a result of being involved in the series,� she says. �The fact is that there aren�t many women at the top of my industry and yet there�s no reason to believe that it�s a mans world� I�m proud to be woman, proud of what I�ve achieved.� Does Nicki ever feel that the notoriously bitchy pop business has hardened her? �No,� she says, �but it has probably toughened me.�
Popstars showed viewers the transformation from ordinary mortal to superstar and from minicab to stretch limo. Not that that�s the kind of life Nicki aspires to. �Me and Shacky (husband Dave Shackleton) are definitely a low profile couple. We�re not showbiz. We�ve got a lovely new house in Chiswick where we spend as much time as we can. There aren�t any skeletons in my cupboard! There�s nothing I�m ashamed of except for a few drunken nights with Take That��
Even so, for Nicki, the glare of the camera is never far away. Before Pop Idol went on air she�d already got to know those youngsters � aged between 16 and 26 � who have made the final 100. Each Saturday, on a live show hosted by Ant and Dec, we�ll see those contestants sing in front of Nicki, legendary producer and songwriter Pete Waterman, top record label executive Simon Cowell and Capital Radio DJ Dr Fox, who�ll help viewers select the two per week who�ll go forward to the final 10. Ultimately those 10 will become 2 � �It�ll be like a presidential race,� says Nicki � with millions undoubtedly hooked as the overall winner emerges.
And throughout it all, Nicki, who hails from Herne Bay in Kent will be in the limelight. Even now, she shakes her head at the way Popstars took off. The five chosen by the panel to become Hear�say asked Nicki if she would manage them. But, by then she�d already accepted an invitation from the pop entrepreneur Simon Fuller � the man credited with creating The Spice Girls � to join his production company 19 as Creative Director and with it the chance to learn more about television after spending many years in Pop.
Hear'say went on to Number One success but does she think they're a band with staying power? "Well, they've certainly got the talent. In the end, of course, it'll be down to the music and the general public. I can't pretend it won't be tough for them. Everyone was very supportive at the start. The test will be whether they can ride out the rockier times.
Nicki's husband Dave, who's also 34, is Vice President International of BMG whose record company RCA will sign the winner of Pop Idol.
Sitting amid the discreet opulence of Chewton Glen, the five star hotel, health and country club in Hampshire, the pair seem to make their own winning team, constantly interrupting one another with words of praise and support. "She's the girl I chased, the girl I married, the girl I love," says Dave at one point, "No one could be more proud of her. She's so natural and honest."
"Shacky understands my world," continues Nicki "Five days after we married, I had to go to LA with the Spice Girls. I was handling their publicity at the time. It meant Shacky and I couldn't have a proper honeymoon but he never complained. "
Nicki no longer manages acts, although she will be heavily involved with the Pop Idol winner. The last act to go was teenage singer Billie Piper. Representing her was an experience without its pitfalls. There was the drama of Billie's collapse in a London club, the death threats left on her answer machine and then her burgeoning relationship with Chris Evans.
"I only ever looked after Billie's professional life." Insists Nicki. "She was, and is, a very strong minded girl with a clear idea of what she wants and where she's going." Billie has now allowed her career to take a back seat to married life with Chris. Does Nicki think she's happy, "Absolutely. Very happy indeed." She says.
Nicki's smart enough to know that you don't indulge in tittle tattle about the famous faces with whom you work. "I could write a kiss 'n' tell book full of celebrity anecdotes," she says, "but I'd never work again and then I'd have to live with myself - and what I'd done."
Her role as Creative Director of 19 (where Nigel Lythgoe, scourge of the Popstars hopefuls, is now on the payroll) requires, she says, knowing a little about everything. Nicki's CV suggests this won't be a problem.
She began her Pop Industry career plugging records for MCA. "It was my job to arrange a meeting, say, with the producer of Terry Wogan's chat show and convince him to book Kim Wilde to sing her new record the following week."
She then moved to RCA where she helped publicise acts like Take That, M People and Annie Lennox. It was there that she met two men who were to change her life.
One was Nick Godwyn, with whom she set up a promotions company, Brilliant, handling, among others, the Spice Girls, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and the Eurythmics.
The other important man to enter her life at RCA was, of course, her future husband. "When I first saw him I had a dual reaction: what a lovely guy, but look at the state of him!" Dave, a devotee of heavy metal bands, in those days favoured long hair and cowboy boots. "As soon as he saw me he knew I was the one." It took time together in New York for Nicki to feel the same way too."
In her present job at 19, Nicki is her boss Simon Fuller's right-hand person. "If he's not around, people will come to me. It's sort of a floating role. And whenever Simon goes abroad, I go too. He's a genius when it comes to the world of entertainment. He simply has the touch."
Nicki's sounds a helter-skelter sort of life, but don't brand her a workaholic, she says, "I'm driven but not ambitious. I've been in the right place at the right time and I've grabbed my opportunities when they've presented themselves. If all I did was music or TV it would become incredibly unhealthy. Work will never become my master."
Refreshingly, it seems unlikely that Dave will come to resent his wife's public persona: "If I wasn't also involved in Nicki's world, I might want to take a pop at someone who walked right up to her and asked for her autograph. But I'm used to the general public reacting as they do to someone they've seen on TV. They're not being rude, they're paying her a compliment."

The pictures that accompanied this interview can be found HERE