A former television producer has shared his memories of the pop stars he considered the biggest divas during his years behind the scenes.
Gareth Davies, who worked on the British music institution Top of the Pops from 1996 to 2001, said the job gave him a front-row view of the unusual behavior and unexpected demands made by some of the world’s most famous performers.
Speaking to Page Six, Davies singled out Shania Twain as one of the most memorable examples, claiming the country superstar did not open doors for herself while appearing on the show.
“With Shania Twain, as soon as she was asked to come on stage at ‘Top of the Pops,’ there was this very long line of entourage running one after the other, almost like a conga [to get the doors open],” Davies recalled.
He said the group hurried through the BBC corridors from door to door so that, once Twain began walking, she would not have to pause or slow her pace at any point.
Calling the scene “quite fascinating to see,” Davies described it as a regimented and seemingly rehearsed routine, adding that anyone who failed to reach a door before Twain did may have risked getting into trouble.
Shania Twain was named among the “biggest divas” by former TV producer Gareth Davies
Davies also shared behind-the-scenes stories involving Jennifer Lopez and Madonna at Top of the Pops
Describing it as ‘a little bit overkill,’ he crowns her ‘one of the biggest divas’ he’s ever met.
Meanwhile, he says Jennifer Lopez takes the prize for ‘sassiest.’
Davies revealed in the new interview that the pop icon had all her dressing rooms decorated in white when she went on Top of the Pops.
‘It was like this white plastic film that went everywhere,’ he explained.
‘She managed to take over a whole corridor and got all of those rooms decked out [in] white, which for the BBC back in those days, this felt very unusual.’
He added: ‘A lot of time, money, and effort was spent on making sure that J.Lo perhaps felt as sassy as what she kind of wants to be backstage.’
It wasn’t just backstage that the star’s bizarre requests were fulfilled. She allegedly also demanded a white microphone for use on the show.
Davies claimed Twain did not open doors when she visited the BBC studios and performed
Meanwhile, Madonna also scored a mention as somewhat of a diva.
Davies shared that while the likes of Macy Gray kept their posse small, Madonna showed up with a huge entourage.
‘Everyone’s got their very specific role within quite a big machine,’ he said about the ‘Like a Prayer’ singer’s crew.
He went on to reveal what happened when on one occasion, a member of the entourage messed up.
‘She kind of had that one job just to bring the outfits, but didn’t bring them, which I thought was very funny,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t see any fireworks off the back of that, and certainly the fireworks would have been hidden from Madonna.
‘You can still have a massive entourage, but sometimes the simple things don’t quite go right.’
Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Twain, Lopez and Madonna for comment.
Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue were all surprisingly low-key guests
On the flip side 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 too was surprisingly a non-Diva.
‘Janet Jackson was one where we were waiting for quite a long time for Janet to arrive and expecting Janet to be really late and just hanging out on the stage with all of Janet’s back-up dancers,’ Davies shared.
‘Everyone was just assuming that 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 just waiting for us rather than it being the other way around.’
