by Dynamo
The hardest part was mentally preparing myself to go over the edge, and trying to come to terms with the thought of anything going wrong. As I looked down, I tried to compose myself. I had to block out any negative thoughts otherwise I’d never be able to do it. The gravity of the situation began to take hold, but I tried to battle my fears head on.
if there’s one thing I’m not fond of, it is heights
I knew that, if I could pull it off, millions of people would be watching this. I knew that I’d had a great first series and that I needed to have an even better second one. I wanted to test myself; I wanted to push my own physical and mental limitations.
So I simply turned on a switch in my head that would allow me to throw myself off a building.
I went from standing on the top of the building to leaning over the edge, leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning, leaning… until I was completely horizontal, and looking at the ground.
Eighty feet in the air and there was only one way to go. When you’re afraid of heights everyone says don’t look down, but I had no choice!
Under the glare of the street lights, I could see the cars slowing down, the bicycles skidding to a stop, the people looking up at me, their hands covering their mouths in shock.
‘What’s he doing?’
‘Is he going to jump?’
‘Should we help him?’
When I first appeared on the roof, people thought I was a suicide jumper. There was a couple watching and when I went over the edge, the woman literally freaked out. Then I started to walk and she freaked out even more. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
I walked right down the wall, right to the bottom, before stepping off onto the pavement almost like Spider-Man.
I felt every single step of those eighty feet. Walking down the LA Times Building, I have never, ever felt closer to death. I can honestly say it’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done.
I love that magic gives people the feeling of being young, carefree and open to life’s unexpected surprises. When you’re a kid you believe you can do anything. It’s only as you get older you get cynical and you start to put up barriers. This is why I loved superhero films as a child and what makes me want to recreate the special effects through my magic as an adult.
Why do I do these things? I guess I’m a little bit mental. It’s that whole Evel Knievel syndrome. The more you do things successfully, the more you start to feel invincible. And, even if you fail at something, you still learn so much from it.
I believe that passion is the biggest form of motivation. When people ask me why I would walk down a twenty-storey building in LA, I tell them it’s because I want to show people that there’s more to life than just working nine-to-five. You don’t have to follow what everyone else is doing. You can have a mind of your own. You have to go against things and innovate. I like to take the impossible and flip it inside out by using magic.
I think that if I can create it in my head, if I can imagine it, then it must be possible. I think everyone can live their life to their full potential. But it requires work. Everyone has a certain skill set that they are better at than anyone else. Everyone has their own unique selling point; magic just happens to be mine.
IF YOU GO to LA thinking Hollywood is all fun and glamour, you’ll be quite disappointed. It’s just a city. It’s a city where people go to work. There are hardly any transport links, meaning the pavements are deserted because everyone drives. The weather is usually warm but because of the pollution it gets really smoggy.
LA is a good city to go to if you are in a position like the one I’m in now. Because I’ve been there so much and worked with so many people, it really is the City of Dreams for me. If you know people then you will be looked after and you can have the best time of your life in LA. One minute you can be chilling by a hotel pool surrounded by superstars; the next you’re averting your eyes as half-naked ladies run about at pool parties. It’s a ridiculous city in many ways and I absolutely love it.
Although walking down the LA Times Building is top of the list, I’ve had all types of crazy experiences in Los Angeles. I’ve hung out with Snoop Dogg and his kids, I’ve turned paper butterflies into real ones for Natalie Imbruglia and I’ve performed for Kim Kardashian, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher. I did a card levitation and then I swallowed some string and pulled it out from my stomach. Ashton was pretty freaked out! Kim said to me, ‘Are you married?’ I didn’t take that as an actual proposal!
I have had some of the most surreal moments in LA. In 2009, I flew over to film an advert for adidas alongside Estelle, David Beckham, Run DMC, Katy Perry, The Ting Tings and Missy Elliott to name just a few. Adidas had put me up in the most amazing hotel, the Sunset Marquee, which is just off Sunset Strip. My fellow guests at the hotel included Slipknot and Lil Wayne, and it was by the rooftop pool that I met and made friends with Wayne’s manager, Cortez Bryant. Because it was the MTV VMAs weekend, there were the craziest parties every night and my feet barely touched the ground as I went from one glamorous party to the next.
One of the best was at a hotel called the Chateau Marmont. It’s a faux-French castle just off Sunset Boulevard that is notorious for its wild parties. Everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio to John Lennon has stayed there. The actor John Belushi died in one of the bungalows after a drug overdose. Jim Morrison from The Doors nearly broke his back after dangling from a drainpipe and falling onto a shed (as you do). Lindsay Lohan occasionally moves in and lives there for a few months, causing all kinds of havoc. It’s the most rock and roll hotel I’ve ever been to.
On this particular evening, Nellee Hooper was throwing a party. If you don’t know who Nellee is, well, he’s a legend. This is the guy who has produced hits for Soul II Soul, Massive Attack, Madonna, No Doubt, U2, Björk… the list goes on and on.
Nellee was hosting an event for a new company that he had just set up, called Talent House. It was basically about taking British talent out to America and introducing them to the right people.
This event was unreal: there were only fifty people in attendance and they were all Hollywood elite. You had everyone from Paris and Nicky Hilton, Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Russell Simmons, Bow Wow, Jermaine Dupri, T.I., Sacha Baron Cohen and his wife Isla Fisher. I had been invited along to entertain them with my magic.
One person I met there was Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. We just fell into conversation when I received a message on my phone from my sister. It was a picture of my brand-new niece, Ruby.
Anthony leaned over and smiled, ‘Ahh, who’s the kid?’ I told him she was my niece. ‘Oh, I love kids, you’ve got to see pictures of mine,’ he said, pulling out his phone. We spent the next twenty minutes looking at photos of his children and having this full-on conversation about our upbringings.
My friends will always ask me, ‘Oh, what was so-and-so famous person like?’ and it’s really hard to say. Most famous people you meet, you rock up, do some magic, they say ‘cool’ and off you go. It’s only the very few, like Ian Brown or De La Soul, that I make proper friends with. With most celebrities, they don’t have time to hold a conversation or you end up chatting about industry stuff. Whereas with Anthony Kiedis, we had an impromptu but genuine, natural conversation about life.
He was the coolest guy I’ve ever spoken to, ever. I’ve chatted with a lot of cool people, but he was something else.
The next day, I went to film the adidas advert. The concept was that of a ‘House Party’ and we shot it at the Warner Brothers studio in the Chevy Chase house from the National Lampoon films. It’s an iconic location and as a movie fan, it was great to get to see it in the flesh. The ad was jam-packed with stars, from David Beckham to Estelle, to the designer Jeremy Scott, Run DMC, Russell Simmons, Young Jeezy and Missy Elliott. The crew filmed as we danced, threw cake around, jumped on beanbags – but of course the real party happened when the cameras weren’t rolling.
My dressing room was next t
o Missy Elliott and Estelle and so we spent lots of time together, hanging out and listening to music. I ended up chilling with Russell Simmons outside the house, while Run from Run DMC chatted to Method Man and Redman, who were running around causing mayhem in their typical style!
I remember sitting with Missy on the fountain that can be seen in the opening titles of Friends, talking to her about the magic that I do and the music that she makes. It was so surreal.
Honestly, there are only certain times I can really say this, but ‘only in LA’. What a city.
I COULDN’T MENTION LA and not talk about my boys. I didn’t realise it when we started filming, but in some ways, Dynamo: Magician Impossible is like magic’s version of Entourage. Or Dynamo: Magician Impossible is like Entourage with magic.
The show is set in LA and features an actor and his best mates from Brooklyn having the time of their lives as they navigate their way through new-found fame and fortune.
Like the TV series’ main character, Vince, I roll everywhere with my boys. They have been there for me throughout everything – the ups and the downs, the highs and the lows. I couldn’t make a programme about me without showing the guys who make up such a huge part of my life. With the second series in particular, I think people really got to see another side of me through my friends’ presence in the show.
There are quite a few people who make up my ‘entourage’. I couldn’t possibly namecheck everyone in this book, so apologies to those not mentioned here.
Firstly, there are my boys from Bradford. There are the guys who I grew up with and who are my friends for life. Without their help, support and encouragement, I’d never have made the move to London and pursued my career. These guys are my core group of friends who have been with me pretty much every step of the way.
Marcus and I go way, way back. I was friends with his little brother, who I knew from the MAPA youth club on Delph Hill. I didn’t hang out with Marcus too much, but one time I was in town and his brother had to go to work, so we ended up chilling out for the day.
It was someone’s birthday and Marcus asked, ‘Do you want to go to the party and do some magic?’ I said, ‘Yeah, cool.’ We were already in the town centre and because I lived in Delph Hill, which was ages away on the bus, he just said, ‘We’ll go to mine across the street first and you can borrow some of my clothes.’ So, we went to his house and partied that night and then we literally saw each other every day after that for three months straight. Although he still lives in Bradford and we can’t meet up daily now, he’s my best friend. Marcus is one of those guys who never had a lot, he’s never had it easy, but he always sees the positive side of things. He’s always smiling and never unhappy. He’s a really positive influence on me because if I do get down, I think of Marcus and get myself together.
Alex’s real name in Aloizy – but Alex is a lot easier to say. He used to drive around in a Citroën Saxo and was always there for me if I needed him. He’s always up for a laugh. He has a wife and kids now and is working as a joiner in Bradford.
Johnny was the kid who was a bit richer than the rest of us. He lived in an amazing house next to my school, Wyke Manor. Everyone always used to go, ‘Whose house is that?’ He didn’t attend our school, but the first time I met Johnny he walked through the school with a couple of his friends and one of them had a fight with some guy. His mate just rolled in, decked the guy, and walked back out again. Everyone was like, ‘Who was that guy?’ He and his friends were skateboarders, so when I went to a skate park I ended up skateboarding with them. We just started to hang out from there. Johnny now works as a mentor at a school for kids who have been expelled from other schools.
Bolaji was always the quiet one of the group and also one of the most hardworking. He’s always gone out of his way to stay in touch. He’s studying to be a pilot. If I ever get to the stage where I can have a private jet – Belaji, you’ve got to be my pilot!
Dennis is from the neighbouring town of Huddersfield. It was Dennis who taught me to dance at MAPA. Without him I might not have found my signature shuffle. He also did the choreography for Concrete Playground and my stage show. He continues to work with me today.
Obviously, since I’ve moved to London I’ve met a lot of people in my personal and professional life. They’ve been so supportive and made the transition from Bradford to London so much easier. Asif, Titanya, Stef, Chris, Luti, Alfie, Gilera, Sean, Tony, Gary, Darren, Maria, Paula, Hattie, Daisy… are just a few. Not forgetting my production and camera crew. Don’t worry, guys, I consider you friends as well as colleagues!
There’s one other person from London who has become one of my best friends and biggest supporter – my manager Dan.
Behind every successful entertainer is a strong team. You can’t achieve much if you don’t have people around you who you can trust. Other than Gramps, I owe a lot of my success to Dan, who has been my manager since 2003. That’s a long time in anyone’s book, but it’s even longer when you consider that we’ve only really been properly successful for the last two years. Before that we were doing all right, but it’s been a long, hard struggle to reach the point I’m at now. And Dan has been with me for most of that journey.
Without good management, then you can be lost as an artist. You need someone who you can trust to help you navigate your way through not only the pitfalls of business, but also things like arranging to pick you up at 3 a.m., covering for you when you’re sick and making sure you get a break and something to eat when you’ve been working for twelve hours solid. It’s the same in real life as it is in business. You need to have a solid team of supportive people, who care about you and will be there through your bad times as well as your successes. Without good friends, you’re nothing.
It hasn’t always been easy. This crazy journey I’ve been on has tested our friendship at times, but we’re family now. He’s like my mouth and ears. I’m not really that great when it comes to discussing the ins and outs of business. I like to go in, wow people and then let Dan get us the best deal possible. He understands me and my magical mind better than anyone and he understands what I’m trying to achieve.
He’s been a mentor, a brother, a friend and a manager. In some ways, some of the biggest tests we’ve had have been over the last two years and together we’ve both adjusted to the increasing pressure. There’s a lot more riding on everything now and we both have to ensure that we don’t make mistakes.
I want to sustain my career. I want to show people that I’m not a one-trick pony. I want to keep the magic alive. I want to leave a legacy and that’s what I’m working towards. If I thought I could do all that on my own, I’d be a fool. But thankfully I have Dan.
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CHAPTER 13
* * *
FLYING HIGH IN THE FAVELAS
THE TAXI DRIVER didn’t speak much English. ‘Corcovado,’ he muttered, a few minutes after pulling out of Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, nodding towards the imposing statue of Christ the Redeemer that silently watches over the city. ‘Samba,’ he continued as we passed a school of music housing students of one of Brazil’s most enduring musical creations. ‘Favela,’ came last, but certainly not least, as he gestured towards the hillside slums that contain around 20 per cent of Rio’s six-million-strong populace. That’s around 1.2 million people. Rio’s thousand-odd favelas have become as synonymous with the country as Pelé, palm trees, waxing and Barry Manilow’s ‘Copacabana’.
He may have been a man of few words, but my cabbie had a point: religion, music and poverty could, to the casual observer, pretty much sum up Rio de Janeiro. Yet to reduce the South American city to a mere three words does a huge disservice to this utterly magical place. The city’s extraordinary situation between sparkling sea and densely forested mountains, its vibrancy and its outstanding natural beauty, led UNESCO to declare Rio a World Heritage Site.
It’s a twelve-hour flight from the UK to Brazil and getting there is pretty exhausting. I left London at night-tim
e and landed a day later as dawn broke over Rio. Viewing the city for the first time, soaked in an incredible red mist, my jet lag instantly disappeared.
Rio is such a visual experience – it’s a total assault on your senses. You have the beaches, the ocean, Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Tijuca Forest that surrounds the imposing statue of Christ the Redeemer – and the city itself, which is a sprawling mass of churches, skyscrapers, graffiti, winding streets, motorbikes, cars, rollerbladers and food stalls selling aromatic street food. It’s noisy, hot and beautiful. With its palm trees, hot, white sands and buff bodies squeezed into the smallest of swimsuits, the beaches are postcard perfect. And the women… Well, let’s say I’ve never seen so many gorgeous people in one city in my whole life.
It was the perfect place to film for my second series we wanted everything to be bigger and better than what we’d done so far. Rio gave me all the inspiration I needed to create some of the most ‘magical’ moments in my career.
I’d been looking forward to going to Rio so much, not only because I’d never been there before, but also because it was not long after Gramps had sadly passed away on 29 February 2012. I needed something to reignite me; something to distract me from my heartache. I fell out of love with magic for a while. When Gramps died, the magic seemed to die with him. I just couldn’t be bothered and I had no motivation to do anything. Things got so overwhelming that I wanted to make myself disappear – but this time forever. I hoped that by going to Rio, where no one knew me, no one had heard of me, and no one knew what I did, I would rediscover my love of magic.
I wasn’t disappointed. Rio was everything I had hoped it would be, and more.
You can watch City of God as many times as you like before you arrive in Rio, but as powerful a film as it may be, 38mm of celluloid doesn’t do justice to the contradictions of poverty, wealth, corruption and opportunity that exist within the mountain-framed metropolis. The city is rich in music, food, art and theatre. Sadly, until recently, the biggest talking point about Rio was its endemic violence. Poor policing, exacerbated by low wages, ingrained state corruption, entrenched racism and a proliferation of drugs and firearms made Rio one of the most violent cities in the world. There are, on average, 1.9 murders per 100,000 people in London each year, compared to 37 murders per 100,000 people in Rio. There are three times as many people killed, on average, by the police in Rio each year, than are killed by police annually in the whole of the United States.