A former BBC showrunner has revealed which pop stars cemented their diva status – at least in his memory.
Gareth Davies, who worked on the now canceled show Top of the Pops, opens up about the bizarre behavior and random requests of singers such as Shania Twain, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna.
Davies also mentions the stars who surprised him by being unexpectedly sober.
He claims that because Twain “doesn’t open doors,” there was a “very long line of entourage walking one after the other, almost like a conga.”
“They basically all ran to the next door, the next door, the next door through the BBC corridors to make sure that when Shania started walking, she didn’t have to slow down at any point,” Davies exclusively shared. Page six.
Shania Twain has been called one of the ‘greatest divas’ by former BBC showrunner Gareth Davies
Davies told fascinating stories about Jennifer Lopez and Madonna backstage at Top of the Pops
Davies noted that “it was very fascinating to watch” and claimed that there was “a sort of orderly, rehearsed rule that if anyone hesitated, if anyone didn’t get to the door before Shania, he or she could get into trouble.”
He describes it as ‘a bit exaggerated’ and crowns her ‘one of the greatest divas’ he has ever met.
Meanwhile, he says Lopez will take home the award for “most brutal.”
Recalling his encounters from the corridors of the British program TOTP, Davies revealed in the new interview that she had all her dressing rooms decorated in white.
“It was like a white plastic film that went everywhere,” The Presenter Studio founder explained.
‘She managed to take over an entire hallway and furnish all those rooms [in] white, which felt very unusual for the BBC at the time.’
He added, “A lot of time, money and effort went into making sure J.Lo felt maybe as sassy as what she actually wants to be backstage.”
It wasn’t just backstage that the star’s bizarre requests were fulfilled. She also demanded a white microphone for use during the show.
Davies claims that Twain did not open doors when she visited the BBC studios and performed
Davies said that while people like Macy Gray kept their posse small, Madonna showed up with a huge entourage.
“Everyone has their very specific role within a pretty big machine,” he said of the “Like a Prayer” singer’s crew.
He went on to explain what happened when a member of the entourage messed up on one occasion.
“She actually had that one job of bringing the outfits, but she didn’t bring them, which I thought was really funny,” he said. ‘But I didn’t see any fireworks back there, and the fireworks would certainly have been hidden from Madonna.
‘You can still have a huge entourage, but sometimes the simple things don’t go quite right.’
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Twain, Lopez and Madonna for comment.
Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue were all surprisingly quiet guests
On the other hand, he noted the rather down-to-earth experiences he had with Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and the Spice Girls.
Davies added that despite his expectations, Janet Jackson was also surprisingly a non-diva.
“Janet Jackson was one where we waited quite a while for Janet to arrive and expected Janet to be very late and just hang out on stage with all of Janet’s backup dancers,” Davies said.
“Everyone assumed Janet was going to be late, until someone pointed out that Janet Jackson had been there the whole time and was just sitting on the studio floor waiting for us, rather than it being the other way around.”
