Post by News Reporter on Jun 30, 2004 21:27:03 GMT
Girls swamp Asian idol with offers of marriage
By Tom Spender
Popstars are used to getting fan mail from girls who send in pictures of themselves in a bid to win their hearts.
But for Raghav, a 23-year-old Asian singer now living in Barnet, it is a bit different the girls send him pictures of their families.
"I get a lot of mail from young Indian girls sending in pictures of their families and saying, My family is dying to meet you and they've said yes to marriage.' What do you do? I feel bad not replying to them," said Canadian-born Raghav, who has lived in Barnet for three years and plans to buy a house in Friern Barnet.
Raghav is being touted as the next big Asian music star in the UK after the breakthrough success of 22-year-old Jay Sean, a medical student from Hounslow who recently landed a big recording contract with Relentless Records.
Raghav was at the RAF Museum in Grahame Park Way, Colindale, about to go outside to face hordes of screaming schoolgirls. He was up until 8.30am the same morning putting the finishing touches to his first album Storyteller, which mixes modern urban R 'n' B music with reggae and Hindi songs. Understandably, he is drinking a lot of coffee.
"I hope it works out. Indians are all very talented and a lot of them go into the performing arts. It's important that they are not successful because they are Indian but because they are good at what they do. It is the music that is closest to my heart," he said.
Raghav undeniably has a lot of star potential you can't fault his looks and there is a hint of Elvis in his low voice and easy-going manner.
"I have a substantial Asian fan base. But I played at the Stratford Rex in east London, which is kind of a West Indian place, as well as straight urban clubs and they all know the lyrics to my songs. But I'm very precious about my Asian fan base. I even have fans in India my sister is out there and she says they are playing my songs."
But he himself is happy to put down roots in the borough.
"Coming from Canada, I like the suburban big city style. It's just very peaceful. I started out in Hendon and Barnet, doing the nights and seeing the records grow. I feel very much at home here now," he said.
And ladies wait for it he is single.
But pictures of your families are unlikely to move Raghav so there's no need to raid the family album.
"I'm single at the moment. I don't frown on the arranged marriage process. But I'll probably end up falling in love," he said.
5:26pm today
www.edgwaretimes.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.504993.0.girls_swamp_asian_idol_with_offers_of_marriage.php
By Tom Spender
Popstars are used to getting fan mail from girls who send in pictures of themselves in a bid to win their hearts.
But for Raghav, a 23-year-old Asian singer now living in Barnet, it is a bit different the girls send him pictures of their families.
"I get a lot of mail from young Indian girls sending in pictures of their families and saying, My family is dying to meet you and they've said yes to marriage.' What do you do? I feel bad not replying to them," said Canadian-born Raghav, who has lived in Barnet for three years and plans to buy a house in Friern Barnet.
Raghav is being touted as the next big Asian music star in the UK after the breakthrough success of 22-year-old Jay Sean, a medical student from Hounslow who recently landed a big recording contract with Relentless Records.
Raghav was at the RAF Museum in Grahame Park Way, Colindale, about to go outside to face hordes of screaming schoolgirls. He was up until 8.30am the same morning putting the finishing touches to his first album Storyteller, which mixes modern urban R 'n' B music with reggae and Hindi songs. Understandably, he is drinking a lot of coffee.
"I hope it works out. Indians are all very talented and a lot of them go into the performing arts. It's important that they are not successful because they are Indian but because they are good at what they do. It is the music that is closest to my heart," he said.
Raghav undeniably has a lot of star potential you can't fault his looks and there is a hint of Elvis in his low voice and easy-going manner.
"I have a substantial Asian fan base. But I played at the Stratford Rex in east London, which is kind of a West Indian place, as well as straight urban clubs and they all know the lyrics to my songs. But I'm very precious about my Asian fan base. I even have fans in India my sister is out there and she says they are playing my songs."
But he himself is happy to put down roots in the borough.
"Coming from Canada, I like the suburban big city style. It's just very peaceful. I started out in Hendon and Barnet, doing the nights and seeing the records grow. I feel very much at home here now," he said.
And ladies wait for it he is single.
But pictures of your families are unlikely to move Raghav so there's no need to raid the family album.
"I'm single at the moment. I don't frown on the arranged marriage process. But I'll probably end up falling in love," he said.
5:26pm today
www.edgwaretimes.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.504993.0.girls_swamp_asian_idol_with_offers_of_marriage.php
