Rik Waller – What’s He Doing Now?
Richard “Rik” Waller was born in 1981 in Kent and his road to stardom was a short and bittersweet one.
| How old is Rik Waller? | He’s 40. |
| When did he appear on Pop Idol? | In 2001, when he was 20. |
| Where’s he from? | Gillingham, Kent. |
Today, you might recognise him from his cover versions of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”.
Video Source/ Youtube
His hit single made No.6 in the UK Top Singles Chart during his time. In 2001, the Pop Idol contestant with the voice of an angel captured our hearts during his audition performance.
And we immediately fell in love with him and got him into the final ten! Unfortunately, we’re all gutted as the almost Pop Idol has since been forced to leave his almost singing career and revisit the job centre.
Through a series of unfortunate events, together we will unravel the bittersweet journey of Rik Waller.
“It’s why I don’t make a lot of effort to talk to the press these days – it can be more trouble than it’s worth.”
Says the singer during the end of his singing career.
Keep reading as we piece together the puzzle of what happened to this hopeful star.
Pop Idol
Let’s throw it back to where it began for our Rik- as one of the OG Pop Idol stars. Pop Idol was the first of its kind, way before X-Factor and BGT came on the scene!
With over 8 million people voting in 2002, people like you and me could have a say about our favourite contestants!
The vote for who will take home the trophy was in our hands and we were obsessed! The engaging talent show also included then not-so-famous judges such as Simon Cowell, Neil Fox, Nicki Chapman, and Pete Waterman.
Did you know that Pop Idol was THE show that put major record label boss Simon Cowell in the spotlight?
A Series Of Very Unfortunate Events
18 years after his audition on Pop Idol, sadly the hopeful star is a far cry from where he had planned to be today. Rik Waller nailed his audition and we gave him his deserved spot on the top 10.
Devastatingly, we couldn’t keep him as he contracted severe Laryngitis and had to quit the show.
I’m sure you were as shocked as we were!
Sadly, for the once hopeful crooner, competitor Darius Danesh was brought back in to take his place on the show.
Despite this, Waller went on to sign a £400,000 recording deal with EMI; he then released two top 40 hits with EMI, both of which appeared on his album From Now.
After being dropped by EMI, the hopeful singer decided to take his music out on the road. Thankfully for his fans, he signed a deal with Red Admiral Records.
Just when you thought things were looking up for Waller, poor ticket sales forced him to cancel three concerts. You didn’t hear this from us, but one of his shows only managed to sell two tickets. That hurts my heart…
Rik Waller’s singing career then came to a halt after the release of his second album Innocence in September 2005.
He renamed his band several times to ‘Rik Waller’s Mighty Soul Band’, and again to ‘Rik Waller’s Unfinished Business’
Alas, his career never took off. Poor Rik.
Rik Takes Reality TV
While his singing career was struggling, the sedulous almost superstar appeared on several reality TV shows on the big screen.
In an attempt lose weight, the singer appeared on the first series of Celebrity Fit Club in 2002 alongside Ann Widdecombe and Coleen Nolan.
Embarrassingly, his cut from the show made him famous for the wrong reasons as he was caught binge eating – Rik! What were you thinking!?
Here are other stars who were famous for the wrong reasons!
Refusing to give up, in 2004, Rik featured in another short-lived reality TV Back to Reality where he finished in sixth place.
The show put Waller in the spotlight again for the wrong reasons as he had fierce rows with fellow star Jade Goody.
Lastly in 2007, we witnessed his last appearance on TV as he did an obligatory identity parade as guest star on the panel game show Never Mind The Buzzocks.
Giving Up Rik Waller’s Career And A Pagan Wedding
Yes. You read that right!
In 2007, the short-lived star announced that he fell in love with a pagan and was finally giving up on his singing career.
When asked to comment, Waller said:
“I’m getting tired of singing and I can’t rely on it for 100 per cent of my income. I’ve got two people to think about now and talent doesn’t always pay the bills.”
Waller was said to marry pink-haired pagan-goth and starstruck fan Kelly Bliss and they were to have a Pagan wedding. The two were said to have met when Bliss rushed up on stage to hug Waller during one of his performances.
According to Waller, he said:
“This is definitely the real thing and, although our pagan beliefs mean that ours isn’t an engagement in the conventional sense, we have bought rings as a gesture of love and commitment to each other.”
People also reported that Waller’s wife-to-be had banned him from ever performing again.
Losing His Voice For Good – Another Twist To The Tale
Devastatingly, Rik Waller has completely lost his voice. We know, can’t he catch a break??
In 2013, he bitterly said to the Daily Mail:
“When you’ve lost the ability to do the job you’ve always done, it’s an incredible stab in the back to find people are actually laughing at you.”
He also added:
“The most demoralizing thing I’ve ever had to do was queue up at the job centre and have people look at me saying, ‘What a failure’.”
Since giving up on his singing career, he still lives with parents Kris and Christine at their hometown in Sittingbourne, Kent.
Rik Waller also announced that has officially changed his name to Richard, leaving Rik behind to begin his new life.
He has since also experimented with new looks by trying out different hairstyles and colours.
A Career Change
Rik’s career has taken a rather surprising turn, managing to land a job as an exam invigilator, overseeing secondary school exams.
Rik has actually kept his fingers in the music industry pie, by running a mobile karaoke and disco business. Maybe not what he’d quite imagined, signing up for Pop Idol…
Oh, and the Pagan girl friend? They’ve since split, and she was never heard of again. Surprise Surprise.
Thus, this is how the tragic but uncanny story of Rik Waller unfolds.
Let’s Conclude
With so many unfortunate events occurring to the almost-superstar, I’m sure we can agree that life can be quite comical sometimes. Nonetheless, his positive energy and relentlessness can be an inspiration to us all!
When life hits you with severe laryngitis, change your name and become an exam invigilator. What a guy!
If you love timeline edition stories, check out our story on Patsy Kensit!
