Saturday, 19 April 2008

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Bullied teen Andrew Johnston reduces Simon Cowell to tears

Has Simon found his new star on Britain's Got Talent?

When 13-year-old Andrew Johnston performed Pie Jesu from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem on Britain's Got Talent, Simon Cowell, 48, looked close to tears.

The teenager's incredible voice won everyone over but Andrew's friends don't understand why he loves to sing.

'I've been bullied at school since I was six,' he told the judges. 'My mates have been telling me to leave out the singing. They don't like that kind of music.'

Home in Carlisle, where Andrew was made head chorister at the city's cathedral last September, head of music Jeremy Suter is as big a fan as Simon Cowell.

'It's sad, but a number of boys do suffer bullying at school because it's not cool to sing in a choir,' he reveals. 'I admire Andrew so much for the way he's persisted.'

There's still a long way to go for Andrew in Britain's Got Talent, but Britain's love of choristers should help see him through to the final stages.

Charlotte Church and Aled Jones became national favourites.

See Andrew Johnston's first performance on Britain's Got Talent in this video...

Simon Cowell's £2m love gift for Terri Seymour

Friends of Simon Cowell were swift to deny that he's split with his long-term girlfriend Terri Seymour. Gossips had suggested that Simon and ex-lingerie model Terri, 33, had split because she was rumoured to have bought her own house in the Hollywood Hills. But it turns out the plush mansion was a gift from Simon. One pal confirmed to Now: 'They're still very much together.'

With pressies like that in the offing, Terri's smart to hang on to her man.


See the full article in Now magazine - out now!