As Darius Danesh he wore a ponytail, oozing confidence and looking like a potential winner, in his most dramatic performance yet of an over-the-top, falsetto version of Britney Spears’ hit… Baby One More Time – before judges Nigel Lythgoe, Nicki Chapman and Paul Adam sent him packing halfway through the series. He admitted that: “I wouldn’t vote for me.” Despite this, the 20-year-old – who is in the midst of studying English and philosophy at Edinburgh University – told ‘Nasty Nigel’ he would record a platinum album by the time he was 30. She went straight into Popstars successor Pop Idol later that year, putting to rest any notion that presentation was overshadowing substance. He came third, behind Gareth Gates and the winner, Will Young, but turned down a recording contract offered to him by Simon Cowell, who made his name as a judge and TV personality after years working as a record company executive. The 2002 Pop Idol finalists. From left: Gareth Gates, Zoe Birkett, Darius Campbell Danesh, Hayley Evetts and Will Young. Photo: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Cowell had plans for Darius to release a cover of the Tom Jones hit It’s Not Unusual, but he wanted to record his own material. “I thought if I released It’s Not Unusual I’d be selling myself short,” he said. Instead, Darius – as he would be credited on the record – signed with Mercury Records to make his first album, Dive In (2002), with Steve Lillywhite, who launched U2’s career, as executive producer. Darius wrote all the songs and it became a Top 10 hit that quickly fulfilled its vow to go platinum. He also went straight to No 1 that year with his debut single, Colourblind. In his video, Darius can be seen jumping out of a car in the middle of Spain’s Sierra Nevada, dressed in a black suit and clutching his guitar, before changing into jeans – meaning he was leaving his Pop Idol image behind. He followed Colourblind with four more Top 10 singles and then opened up a new career in musical theatre. He played defense attorney Billy Flynn for two runs in the West End revival of Chicago at the Adelphi Theater in 2005 and 2006. Although there was some skepticism about this casting, Darius proved to be a seasoned stage star and made a brief return to the part in 2011, as well as touring with the show in 2017. After his first stint in Chicago, he was taken seriously enough to be given the lead role of Sky Masterson in director Michael Grandage’s Olivier Award-winning production of Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre, 2007). The following year, directed by Trevor Nunn, he starred as Rhett Butler in the original production of Gone With the Wind (New London Theatre, 2008), Margaret Martin’s musical adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s epic novel. The extended three-hour show was met with criticism and ended after eight weeks, although there was some praise for him. Paul Taylor wrote in the Independent: “The devilishly impetuous Darius Danesh (of Pop Idol fame) brings a seductively sassy charm, a darkly velvety voice and a genuine, fugitive passion to the cynical elimination runner.” He later returned to the West End starring as First Sergeant Milt Warden in the world premiere of From Here to Eternity (Shaftesbury Theatre, 2013-14), a musical written by Tim Rice with Stuart Brayson and Bill Oakes, based on the play by James Jones . novel. It opened to mixed reviews and ran for six months. Darius Campbell Danesh as Rhett Butler with Jill Paice as Scarlett O’Hara in a musical adaptation of Gone With the Wind at the New London Theater in 2008. Photo: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Critics were most enthusiastic about the West End revival (2015-16) of Funny Girl, in which Darius played gambler Nick Arnstein, opposite Sheridan Smith’s Fanny Brice. It opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory, with one critic noting the “caddish charm” he brought to the role, before moving to the Savoy Theatre. Born in Glasgow, Darius was the eldest of three sons of a Scottish mother, Avril (née Campbell), a general practitioner, and an Iranian father, Booth Danesh, a gastroenterologist, and grew up in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire. He was just 12 when he took to the stage with Scottish Opera in the non-singing role of a Trojan boy in a groundbreaking production of The Trojans. He then toured with the company in Carmen, which included a performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Leaving the Glasgow academy, he longed to train as an actor at the Rada, but his parents wanted him to become a doctor or lawyer. He said going to university was a compromise. Failure to make the Popstars final 10 meant Darius would not be part of Hear’Say, the band formed by the five winning contestants, or Liberty X, who make up the runners-up. But Pop Idol set him on his way and he followed Colourblind into the singles chart with Rushes (2002) and Incredible (What I Meant to Say) the following year. A second album, Live Twice (2004), proved to be his last LP, hovering outside the Top 30, although it produced two Top 10 singles, Kinda Love (2004) and the title track (2005). His 2003 memoir, Sink or Swim: My Story, was a bestseller. He returned to reality TV to win the first series of Popstar to Operastar (2010) and even managed to break into feature filmmaking, as a producer credited as Darius Campbell on Imperium (2016) and Tomorrow (2018). In 2011, Darius married Canadian actress and model Natasha Henstridge. they divorced in 2018. He is survived by his parents and siblings, Cyrus and Aria. Darius Campbell Danesh, singer and actor, born 19 August 1980. died 11 August 2022
