Peter Andre | Extraordinary Life Stories

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0:38On this episode of Extraordinary Lives, I'm talking to Peter Andre. Peter is a global star known for his successful music and television career, with numerous number one hit singles, two number one albums, and he's toured all over the world. I've always felt like I can multitask, but Peter is another level, from concerts and gigs, podcasts, TV and radio work, feature films and West End shows, his schedule is off the scale and he's still clearly so motivated and enjoying it. I'm really interested to hear how he keeps motivated and has managed to stay so current and relevant and more popular than ever.

1:16Mysterious Girl was a massive hit amongst others in the mid 90s and his video for the song showed his ripped physique. He's still ripped now at 50 so I'm really interested to know what Pete does to keep physically in shape as well as mentally fit. Welcome. Thank you, mate. It's good to see you, actually. I saw the interview you did with Claire, and it was really nice, actually. Thank you for joining me today. Yeah, thank you, mate. Tell me, who is Peter Andre?

1:46Well, my actual last name is Andrea, as in the best way to explain it to someone is Andrea Bocelli, because it sounds cooler when you say it like that. but at school in Australia because my dad didn't put a thing on the E so everyone used to call me Peter Andrea so it was a shocker got picked on so much at school for other things but that as well and so when I went on a talent show New Faces which was the show that I got signed up on in rehearsal he kept saying coming up next Peter Andrea and I thought I can't have this I can't so I was really embarrassed but I'd go up and say is it okay if you you know just say Andrea yeah no worries next rehearsal Peter Andrea so then I said look can you take the a off and then when you say Andre just if you remember the a at the end just say Andre ah right anyway he's on the night he went in rehearsal he got it right the last rehearsal Peter Andrea then on the night he went Peter Andre and that was it nailed it and well the the judge on the show offered me a recording deal live on TV which is the first time it had ever happened on Aussie TV well as far as I know someone might correct me but yeah and and that was how that's how that name was born yeah that was your break as well right well I mean how old you were at that point 16 cool and that launched a music career that yeah we've all now heard all through the 90s yeah so what I did was I so I started off in in in 1990 I got signed up but before that I was entering talent competitions and I wouldn't even get a looking because you know we were in a blonde haired blue-eyed beautiful Aussie gold coast you know all the surfers and here I was this Greek kid curly hair big nose English accent because I was born in England so I'd moved out there when I was six or seven so by the time I was 13 I still had quite an English accent and I remember I'd enter competitions and the judge would be like yeah right who's next and I'd come out and I'd say hi my name's peter andrea they say yeah what are you singing and i'd say already i could tell they weren't interested and i'd say um stand by me benny king and he'd be like right next and and that was it you know you just get ushered out so i entered loads and then eventually there was a talent show on tv called new faces and i thought i know i'll go on national tv and get humiliated that way why not you know i thought the worst that can happen is they say i'm terrible and that's it the best that could happen is if i do a good enough performance i'll have it on vhs vhs of course was the thing back then yeah then i could send it off to record companies or send it off to people to get work but it just so happened that night that the judge on the show was australia's biggest music guru i guess you could kind of say like simon cowher here but he was also a journalist so he also interviewed all the stars so he was a very loved person his name's molly meldrum ian molly meldrum and he was a judge that night and so not only i i won but i got offered a recording deal live on tv and they got my name to a way that would work so then i toured with madonna and i toured with bobby brown and all of that in australia toured big big arenas stadiums before i even came to england before mysterious girl five years before mysterious girl that's awesome and what's amazing for me right is you're 50 now yeah and you're still performing all the time gigs car fest last weekend to tens of thousands of people how have you stayed so current how have you kept on training well i always believe there's many factors to staying i don't know if the word relevant is correct because that sounds a bit big-headed but you know i think management is a very key part you know claire who you've interviewed I've been with Claire for nearly 30 years now and the first manager in Australia, Molly Mildrum, when I left Australia and came to England, I met Claire and she offered to manage me in the UK and I rang him and I said, look, there's a lady here that wants to manage me.

5:53Will you let me do it? And he said, yeah, go for it. He could have said no. He could have said, get back to Australia and stop mucking about. But he let me go and it was really kind of him. and so I met Claire and she said to me, I'll tell you in answer to your question she said to me I want to manage you, I can make you a huge star in the UK completely unknown here and when we had our first number one I remember I was so elated number one in the UK was huge, it was a dream come true what was even more interesting was she turned around and said right, now we're going to get you into presenting and I said why would I want to go into presenting?

6:34I'm having number one records and she said that's not going to last forever she had the foresight to see that you need to be diverse you need to diversify in this industry from back then so i started presenting on the big breakfast and doing the outside broadcasting meantime still having number ones i mean it was huge hosting the smash hits road shows which i was also performing at cool and introducing all these bands and yeah and I think I think that's part of the key is being being able to diversify and be able to do different things you're incredibly good at that you know in terms of reading and kind of researching before we talk to they let alone just everything that my kids talk to me about you or I already know you're so multifaceted there seems to be so many things that you either tried your hand at or are currently doing even after this program you're going off to Greece, the musical in the West End.

7:28Yeah. And yet you're sitting here concentrating in an interview. Goodness knows what you've done this morning. Unfortunately, not going to Greece the country. That would be really nice. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I'll be joining you. That has just got better. You've been to Ibiza recently. True. No, I'm just joking. Your turn. Well, yeah, I do try my hands a lot. I can't leave a stone unturned. I can't. I remember saying to my dad at 13, When I'm, I'm going to make it in Australia. This is before I even got signed. This is way before when I was getting rejected in talent competitions. I said, I'm going to make it in Australia.

8:05Then I'm going to go to the UK and I'm going to make it in the UK. And then one day I'm going to sell out Wembley Arena. Now, Wembley Arena in the 90s was like the O2 Arena now. Yeah. It was the place. And my dad's like thinking, yeah, all right, son, whatever. And then I said, and when I get to my 40s, I'm going to go into film. he's going just go upstairs and do your homework whatever well it did happen in Australia it happened in England ten years later I sold out Wembley Arena which was huge and then in my 40s albeit late 40s at 47 I did my first short film in America and it got nominated for three awards in LA in Hollywood one was for best actor in a short film which was amazing and and but billy zane won which rightfully so billy zane's a great actor and then i did some more short films and now i've just done my first feature film awesome what's it called it's not out until well it's still in edit at the moment but it's called jafaken okay jafaken basically is a fake jamaican but what it's about is a is a guy that's trying to pull off the ultimate heist you know he's got to go to jamaica and get this money and get out of there before they kill him basically.

9:21And it's all because he wants to help his nan in the UK who's in a care home and he can't afford to keep her in there. And because there's a reason why he goes to Jamaica, something happens in order for him to go there and try and extract this money. It's a really good twist. And of course he's never going to get... When's it out? When does it come out? I don't know, it's still in edit at the moment, but it's a really good fun comedy it's brilliant and I can't wait and it's you know it's my first proper feature film and first of many exactly you can feel the excitement it's where I want to go it's where I want to go and doing things like Grease in the West End where you're you know you're acting and it's all part of it I think totally and something like Grease the musical West End great big audience let alone the tens of thousands people at Wembley and so on that would make me nervous right have you had pre-performance nerves do you still get people people's nerves yeah i do i think pre-performance nerves are natural i think they're really good and all the people that i loved growing up everyone from frank sinatra to michael jackson to prince to sammy davis jr yeah i remember seeing them in interviews and they all said if you don't get nervous before you go on stage you know they said that it's not only natural but it's really important because it gives you the adrenaline to give a great performance obviously you can go on with confidence but you're always going to have slight nerves i love i i love performing the only thing i find difficult is if i'm on live television so i love doing concerts love it everything's live live musicians you've got the atmosphere of the crowd the vibe from the people right but when you're doing a live tv and that red dot is on the camera yeah and you've got to sing live and it's really quiet and every little thing is heard i find that really really really scary you've got like a coping mechanism that you've you know what would prepare you for that because that's obviously the one thing you still find nerve-wracking what do you do to prepare for that i just try and reassure myself that I think it stems from being a kid, you know, where you get rejection, so you automatically think it's going to go wrong.

11:37Sure. And I think it's just about, you know, having a word with yourself over and over again. It doesn't take the fear away, but it somehow takes the edge off. You're almost turning the fear into excitement, and there's a very fine line between certain fear. Not the fear of a tiger running at you, but, you know, actually kind of, actually I'm here because I want to be turning into positive. Yeah, and it's, you know, I think it's humbling to be scared. And I think it's, you know, you don't want to go out there being so cocky. It can work for some people. But for me, I think, you know, I was cocky once on, you know, on T4 on the beach, and it was a big, big comeback performance.

12:21And the crowd were amazing. and you know I was feeling great and it was an album that was double platinum called Revelation the album went out and performed the song live band got cocky went to take my jacket off so I wasn't concentrating fell off the stairs yeah and I mean of course it was hilarious because I came up and my sunglasses were like that I dropped my in-ear that I had so an in-ear for people that don't know it's like a monitor within your ear so that you can hear everything in real time because when you're on these big stages if you go down the front sometimes there's a delay from what they're hearing and what is on the stage so not only i got up my glasses were disheveled i'm trying to be cool my in is falling out now it's delayed and instead of me stopping singing because you know you want to prove you're singing live yeah yeah um i'm carrying on but it's delayed it was it was a nightmare but it was it was it was humbling yeah again it's humbling it's all part of your not something i want to do again no no but it's interesting because just touching on nerves ultimate anxiety mental health's been talked about a huge amount more now which is a good thing especially as as men you know in the time that you grew up i grew up you kind of kept things in didn't necessarily share how you were feeling whereas now that seems to be opening up how do you feel about that yeah i think mental health is so is is such an important subject to be talked about i think yes in the 90s it was difficult you know you kind of felt it was quite taboo and if you i remember you go and see a doctor and he'll say oh i don't know you need to go and maybe check in a clinic or you know you think there's something really wrong with you when all you might be having is anxiety you might be having intrusive thoughts you might be having social phobia.

14:12It could be any of those, but because you don't know what it is, you think there's something wrong with you. One of the things doctors used to say back then as well was, look, you can't cure it, but you learn to live with it. Now that is a hard thing to take. It's a hard pill to swallow because what it means is you're broken. That's how it feels. It doesn't mean they mean it in that way. Now fast forward 20, 30 years, people talk about it publicly on TV there's amazing therapists that understand all facets of mental illness or mental health and I've I went to many in the late 90s I went to many psychiatrists psychologists I was on medication and all of that stemmed from a lot of things that happened when I were younger with the bullying but the bullying wasn't just kids laughing you know we got beaten to a pulp I mean now Me and my brothers copped it hard in Australia.

15:08And then as I got older and things took off and I was doing the tours, you know, a lot of guys... I've talked about this opening before, but where I got taken into a... In a nightclub, I was in a nightclub and a group of guys took me somewhere and had the knife to me and it freaked me out. In fact, it put me off going to nightclubs again. Right and so. And only 10 years later, I started going out again a little bit and then I just thought it's not for me. But those things, they can bottle up and then eventually it's like someone said it's like a Coke bottle that you've shaken it and the lid's not quite on properly.

15:47At some point that lid's going to come off. So therapy and medication really helped me. I've always been open about that and I think talking about it is so key because some people won't agree with medication and some people won't agree with therapy. But in my experience, the medication helps you to be in the right place to be able to deal with the problem you know but then you have to deal with the problem and in my case that was therapy now if I had just taken the medication then when I stopped it all I would have done was swept it under the carpet and it would have appeared in my face again and sometimes even harder far worse yeah so the therapy was key for me and I think now people can talk to people anonymously they can do things over the phone it's a different world men are talking about it more I'm so happy to see this yeah the other part the sort of mental zone physical I can remember mysterious girl you were ripped you're in such good shape you're 50 and you look absolutely amazing what's your what's your routine what are you doing Says you.

16:55Well thank you very much. Exercise has been a big part of my life and I actually, going back to mental health, I think that's one of the greatest things that I could ever do to keep me feeling happy and to keep me feeling positive. But the difference is in the 90s I used to train to look good. Now I train to feel good and there is a huge difference because the byproduct of looking good in the 90s was feeling good the byproduct of feeling good now is that you may also look yeah good or okay or whatever I'm trying so you're doing it for the endorphins you're doing it because I work out in the morning yeah I literally wake up and it's the first thing I do the gym kits by the side of the bed or my running kit I don't go that hard I have to have my espresso first I have to just I need an hour I need an hour of just not talking if I don't do it something else will get in the way that's my problem and then I don't do it and then I'm annoyed with myself yeah actually I've yeah but let's see how long I manage that routine but that's that's always been in your life you've always kept it always and then when I thought ah you know who cares even when I stopped taking my shirt off and I stopped doing all that sort of stuff that didn't change anything because then it was no longer about you have to do this because you have to look a certain way the feeling I got was what it was all about and and like I said the byproducts are your mental health is better you you look you know I think Ken I don't want to say you know you don't want to say you look good you look you look how you want to look yeah there you go yeah it's one less thing to have to think about yeah feel good yeah it's amazing how the difference of why I trained then and why I think you've articulated that really well there's a lot of things that you can look at through your career your life family that have been a success how would you define success 100 % family there is not even a question because at the end of everything if you can't fall back on the people that you absolutely love you have nothing.

19:01I've seen people that are billionaires, that are unhappy. I've seen it. I've seen them wanting and wanting and not feeling satisfied. But I've also seen very wealthy people that are happy because they've got the network around them. And for me, I've got a great team work-wise that I rely on and they're amazing. But also I've got my wife and my kids and they it's easy to say that it's a bit cliche to say but it's the truth yeah i know i can feel it from you 100 yeah well you know that if when all this is over which of course it's going to be one day you can't do things forever unless you're michael douglas who was still doing films when he was 100 you're doing a good job right now i feel good yeah well i'm only halfway there though so you know i've still got i'm on my i'm on my second half of the century now so but yeah I feel I'm going to keep going while I've got the energy and while I want to do it but then when that's gone what then yeah or if something stopped you now yeah actually that's a massive I need that family is everything I love that yeah I remember reading somewhere recently and listening as well that your father helped you with property obviously I've done a lot of property development investment and I thought that was one what a legend he saved some of your royalties bought some properties or a property I'd love to hear more on that so I want to know well as well whether you're gonna instill that into your kids 100 % so dad what happened was when I took off in the 90s this was in Australia so again most people only remember what happened in the UK but think five years prior to that Australia was it was huge sure and I was young, I was stupid, you know, I was partying, I was, I never got into the drug scene.

21:01That was, that I'm really happy about. You know, yeah, I drank, we used to go out and drink. I think back then, really, it was more about drinking than anything else, you go out and party. I remember doing that. I remember not really caring, spending money, taking my friends on holidays, you know, paying for everything, constantly, constantly, constantly. but it made me happy. None of them asked for it. None of them said, can you fly me first class? You were enjoying your life as a youngster, being successful. No one said to me, can you buy my drinks, but I wanted to. And I'm still like that now.

21:35I love, we go out for dinner, I don't like anyone else paying. I love doing that sort of stuff. But the problem was I was spending more than I was earning, and I was earning a lot. And one day when I had that breakdown, when I went back to Australia and I was just, I stepped away in 1998 because I wasn't, I was getting this thing that I now know is brain fog, but I couldn't understand it then. And I said to Claire, I just need a break. And this was at the peak. You know, I'm working with Diane Warren, who wrote for Aerosmith and, you know, big songwriters, working with the Fugees, working with Coolio at the time.

22:11Yeah, they were huge though, yeah, yeah. Montel Jordan, even Jay-Z was in the studio on one of the sessions, although I didn't work with him, which I wish I did. But he was there, you know, and here I was surrounded by all this. It was at the peak, you know, touring, but something wasn't right. And I needed a break. When I went back and before I had that breakdown, things weren't feeling right. I opened up to dad and I said, look, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't have anything. And dad went, well, you know, son, you're going to learn. instead of telling me, he wanted me to understand the seriousness of the situation.

22:50This was about 1998. And this is about, what, six years before the jungle even. And then a few days later, he said to me,

23:04you have got something, you've got a lot. But, and he saved me, I mean, a lot. So I was earning a lot because I was touring. you know you don't think as a kid he said you can't have it he said i'm putting it in properties and you're going to learn to live simply so i was without again sounding in any way big headed i was wealthy in the sense that i had properties you know i was oh if i sold all my properties i retired then in 1998 but what I didn't have was cash and dad did that on purpose because he said now when you earn you're going to save so I started getting into property from then it's awesome and I'm very grateful you know I got property in Cyprus properties in Australia um properties in England and I so you've got a nice diverse portfolio yeah and that really started from dad and he kept telling me invest but dad was right because if at the start he didn't let me spend anything that I would have been going, oh, well, you know.

24:09So when Junior started and he got his deal with Columbia Records, I didn't want to tell him what to do. I said, be careful. But I didn't want to be involved because I didn't want him to say, oh, you know, dad controls. I just didn't want that. So then what happened was he learned a valuable lesson very quickly. And then when his second advance came in, he was like, oh, whoa. He was, you know, Ubers and friends. and I said be careful it goes just as it comes you know so but but when you're young you don't think like that no no I get that awesome what your dad did though he my dad is my hero you know he's a good man and he and my mum of course but mum didn't want me to go in this industry she was against it he was the author I love that there's the film you talked about again Grease after this all the things that you're doing goodness knows what next week is kind of good bringing for you but what have you not done yet that's on your list that you want to tick off film was definitely one of them so that's great i said to claire my manager because this year is i'm 50 and this year's 30 years in the music industry because of that i said i want to do different things one of the things i wanted to do was i wanted to somehow pay tribute to the artists that inspired me the most which was the jacksons and michael jackson and the jacksons that happened we got the philharmonic national philharmonic orchestra were putting on a show called symphonic jackson awesome and they invited me to go and sort of you know me and three others to do the whole set of the night at the palladium it was incredible um so basically when you think of something you just do it so as the list is formed you don't hang around you're just getting on with it you're working out you're manifesting how you're gonna make i think manifestation is a huge thing the only thing i will say is it doesn't mean you're going to succeed hugely in all of them but you will succeed in some way yeah in all of them it's a new experience and you probably enjoyed it as well yeah because you know i went on that cooking show and i was petrified and i thought i'm not gonna i'm not even gonna get through the first episode yeah why have i done this what have i done what have i done and then i made it through to the final that was by chance that i got sorry that was lucky I got through that first episode because the first dish I did wasn't great.

26:25So I nearly went out in the first one. But once I got through, my remaining dishes ended up just really going well. But again, you might do some and it might not really work, but it doesn't matter. If you aim here, you might get here. But if you don't aim there and you aim here, you're never going to get there. I just really believe in manifestation and and laws of attraction. I do believe that. I believe that if you attract it to you, and stay positive, don't sweat the negative. Don't sweat a lot of the small stuff. I can feel that resonating for me. There's so much energy. Again, I'm 50 years old, and it's still totally focused on what's next.

27:07Got a few wrinkles though. Mate, you look great for it. I so appreciate you making time in a busy schedule to come and talk to me today. Thank you, mate. You're awesome. You're great. As I said, I watched you with Claire, and I loved the way that interview went. I thought it was just one of the night. I said to Claire, you know, it's the first time I really got to, I even got to know things about Claire I do know. Yeah, she's awesome. She's awesome, mate. And she said a lot about you as well. So thank you so much. Thank you, Pete. Thank you.