Rickie Haywood Williams
When Rickie Haywood Williams isn’t being compared to Usher in the looks department, he’s jetting across the globe to speak to the stars. So naturally, Female First had to catch up with the very sexy face of MTV news to find out about his celeb best mates and if he ever gets star-struckYou studied at the Brit School which is well known for training musicians, did you initially want to be a singer?
Nope, I have always wanted to be a presenter and that was probably the best place to do it at that point in time because it had the best facilities like a really good radio and TV studio and was a really cool place to get exposed to what it was like in the industry because a lot of the teacher there had at some point worked in the media industry so it was like being taught by real professionals who knew what they were doing.
How did you end up working for MTV?
Basically, in a really summarised version; I left the Brit School, went to university, did virtually the same course but just at a degree level, left there and went on loads of work placements loads of different work placement at different radio stations such as the BBC and ITV and then once all my money ran out, I decided it was time to start earning money in order to pay my bills!
I got a call back from radio one extra who I had been freelancing for over the past three years and whilst I was there I got entered into a competition to present a mini radio show for fun but a couple of the guys who were hosting and judging the competition were directors of a talent company and they asked myself and my best friend Melvin if we’d like to sign with them because they thought we had potential.
Then after about two years we got signed to our radio show and about a year after that I got signed to MTV. That’s the shortest version ever…about eight years crammed into a minute!
Who do you think is the best musician around at the moment?
Santogold; I think she is the future, for me she is very eclectic and I think a lot of music at the moment is all over the place and people like a cross-section of music and I think she encompasses that with her style, she goes from dub music and left-field to Shoreditch-y sounding stuff, she’s all over the place but precise at the same time; I just think she’s really cool and forward-thinking.
You obviously get to rub shoulders with a whole host of stars, who has been your favourite interviewee?
It’s between Denzel Washington and Will Smith. But I think Denzel just get it, he is absolutely amazing and a really cool guy! He was very personal and it was like chatting to my uncle rather than interviewing him.
Will Smith is really cool too, with him you feel that he gives everyone that same level of love if that makes sense? With Denzel I feel like we had a connection and really got on.
And what about the worst?
Probably Timberland but Pharell comes a close second. They both don’t like talking, especially if you’re a guy! Apparently they open up more to females but when I interviewed Timberland he just mumbled the whole way through and gave one word answers and it wasn’t until we got near the end of the interview that he started to chirped up a little bit more and speak in coherent English! But I still think he’s cool and a really good producer nevertheless!
Who would you love to interview given the chance?
Oprah Winfrey, I think she is an absolute legend, because she’s done so much and she’s massive and one of the biggest people on TV. She’s very successful and would have a really good story to tell.
Do you ever get star-struck?
Yeah, it’s weird because some people that you expect you might feel strange about interviewing because you really really like them, you often don’t get too star-struck.
Kanye was a particularly difficult interview for me because I had been at MTV for about two months and it was the first interview I had done away from the office, it was in a hotel room with an independent film crew rather than my regular news team, so to begin with I didn’t have that comfort around me, but to make it worse, he left us waiting for about two and a half hours!
I got there on time, if not a bit early and his people said to me, “Just wait here, he won’t be long.” so I was sat in a chair with a crew of people I didn’t know, two months into being at MTV, panicking that I was going to forget my questions and everything. It was really nerve-racking and by the time he got there it was a bit of a washout, but still fun!
You’re set to present Big Brother’s Big Mouth with your friend Melvin, how did that come about?
It was just the boring way really, I got a call from my agent who told me they were looking people to get involved with it and they thought we would be quite cool if we went in and ‘ represented!’ We went down and did an audition which involved a mock up version of the show.
Are you a big fan of the show?
Myself and Melvin love big brother, and have always watched it. I’ve watched every single one that’s been on! Some year I think “I am not going to watch it this year because it takes up too much of my time, but I think once you start to get to know all the characters’ names you’re hooked! You can be reading the paper and figure out who’s who and before you know it you’re sucked in.
Who is your favourite housemate?
Darnell; I like him just because he’s really nice and quite funny just because he’s American and a bit of an oddball but he can’t communicate that well so when there’s an argument I think he finds it really difficult to express himself without throwing his hands all over the place, so he’s my favourite.
What do you do in your free time?
I go out to a lot of parties and I get to go to a lot of gigs and concerts, I am really lucky that I get to do so much cool stuff. I also go to a lot of charity stuff and I do quite a lot with kids at the Brit School. I’m actually going back to do the yearly radio show which is called Brit FM and every year they get a restricted radio licence and broadcast throughout out surrounding areas. I haven’t been back for a few years but this time I’m going to go back and help out for a few days.
We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview....and Angela Griffin wants to know; “If you were to subscribe to a magazine, what would it be?”
Probably something like GQ.
And what would you like to ask my next interviewee?
Have you ever licked the top of a square battery and how old were you?
Find out whether Eileen Rose has ever had the pleasure of licking a battery here.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
When Rickie Haywood Williams isn’t being compared to Usher in the looks department, he’s jetting across the globe to speak to the stars. So naturally, Female First had to catch up with the very sexy face of MTV news to find out about his celeb best mates and if he ever gets star-struckYou studied at the Brit School which is well known for training musicians, did you initially want to be a singer?Nope, I have always wanted to be a presenter and that was probably the best place to do it at that point in time because it had the best facilities like a really good radio and TV studio and was a really cool place to get exposed to what it was like in the industry because a lot of the teacher there had at some point worked in the media industry so it was like being taught by real professionals who knew what they were doing.
How did you end up working for MTV?
Basically, in a really summarised version; I left the Brit School, went to university, did virtually the same course but just at a degree level, left there and went on loads of work placements loads of different work placement at different radio stations such as the BBC and ITV and then once all my money ran out, I decided it was time to start earning money in order to pay my bills!
I got a call back from radio one extra who I had been freelancing for over the past three years and whilst I was there I got entered into a competition to present a mini radio show for fun but a couple of the guys who were hosting and judging the competition were directors of a talent company and they asked myself and my best friend Melvin if we’d like to sign with them because they thought we had potential.
Then after about two years we got signed to our radio show and about a year after that I got signed to MTV. That’s the shortest version ever…about eight years crammed into a minute!
Who do you think is the best musician around at the moment?
Santogold; I think she is the future, for me she is very eclectic and I think a lot of music at the moment is all over the place and people like a cross-section of music and I think she encompasses that with her style, she goes from dub music and left-field to Shoreditch-y sounding stuff, she’s all over the place but precise at the same time; I just think she’s really cool and forward-thinking.
You obviously get to rub shoulders with a whole host of stars, who has been your favourite interviewee?
It’s between Denzel Washington and Will Smith. But I think Denzel just get it, he is absolutely amazing and a really cool guy! He was very personal and it was like chatting to my uncle rather than interviewing him.
Will Smith is really cool too, with him you feel that he gives everyone that same level of love if that makes sense? With Denzel I feel like we had a connection and really got on.
And what about the worst?
Probably Timberland but Pharell comes a close second. They both don’t like talking, especially if you’re a guy! Apparently they open up more to females but when I interviewed Timberland he just mumbled the whole way through and gave one word answers and it wasn’t until we got near the end of the interview that he started to chirped up a little bit more and speak in coherent English! But I still think he’s cool and a really good producer nevertheless!
Who would you love to interview given the chance?
Oprah Winfrey, I think she is an absolute legend, because she’s done so much and she’s massive and one of the biggest people on TV. She’s very successful and would have a really good story to tell.
Do you ever get star-struck?
Yeah, it’s weird because some people that you expect you might feel strange about interviewing because you really really like them, you often don’t get too star-struck.
Kanye was a particularly difficult interview for me because I had been at MTV for about two months and it was the first interview I had done away from the office, it was in a hotel room with an independent film crew rather than my regular news team, so to begin with I didn’t have that comfort around me, but to make it worse, he left us waiting for about two and a half hours!
I got there on time, if not a bit early and his people said to me, “Just wait here, he won’t be long.” so I was sat in a chair with a crew of people I didn’t know, two months into being at MTV, panicking that I was going to forget my questions and everything. It was really nerve-racking and by the time he got there it was a bit of a washout, but still fun!