James Arthur reveals how he was turned down by Rita Ora AND Ellie Goulding to do a duet with him
The comeback kid said he was snubbed both of the singers
AFTER losing it all JAMES ARTHUR has clawed back his record label, his doubters and his chart success.
But despite his efforts there is still one person the singer can’t win over — his ex RITA ORA.
After calling off their romance back in 2013, Rita has now dealt her former lover one last blow by snubbing his offer of a duet.
In an exclusive interview, James told how the singer ignored his calls after reaching out to her for a collaboration on his new album.
Even his old pal ELLIE GOULDING turned him down.
James admitted: “It was tough to get people involved in this one, because I don’t think anyone expected me to come back.
“I was calling Ellie Goulding, and Rita Ora, all these guys, saying, ‘Do you want to sing this line?’ I got nothing.”
James dated Rita in early 2013 while he was riding high off his X Factor win, but the couple’s fling was short-lived.
The singer told James she had feelings for him but cut ties after a series of controversies saw his career crumble, which he says left him “bitter”.
But it is more fool Rita, because as of yesterday James’ comeback album Back From The Edge was still flying off the shelves and is set to hit No1 tomorrow.
Luckily his newfound success is bringing old faces out of the woodwork.
He joked: “They have all come back because I don’t think anyone expected me to come back.
“They have all come crawling back saying, ‘Well done, we always believed in you’. I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, so when I was calling trying to get a feature…’”.
The person he was most pleased to hear from was his old pal Ellie.
He explained: “It’s nice. People wrote me off quite rightly. At least people are humble and have come back and said congratulations.
“I did used to speak to Ellie Goulding a bit when I first came out. She expressed that she was a fan. I didn’t hear from her for a while, so to have her come back and say something is amazing.
“She is super unique and that’s inspiring to me.
“She said something really nice. She was like, ‘It’s lovely to hear just an acoustic and a voice in a chart where everything is electronic.’”
A duet between the pair would be even nicer.
Lou's threads
IT’S lucky LOUISA JOHNSON’s knots didn’t come undone in her new video for So Good.
The X Factor star has debuted her raciest look yet, going knickerless in two strips of latex and hopefully an extra-sturdy ribbon.
The video, which is out today, shows Louisa’s good side battling with her bad.
At the weekend fans gave her a lot of stick for flashing her undies on the X Factor. They won’t be able to moan about that now . . .
Deb: Let's C if it works
LAST night’s Q Awards brought together music royalty, including JAMES BAY, THE EDGE, and RONNIE WOOD.
BLONDIE’s DEBBIE HARRY asked MEL C for a duet.
In an exclusive chat at the London Roundhouse bash, Debbie said: “I’d like to collaborate with Mel, we were talking right now.”
But she had no idea who THE 1975 were when asked about them winning Best Album over DAVID BOWIE.
Debbie replied: “The what? The who?”
Frontman MATT HEALY might have a bone to pick with her.