De Burgh hits back at gig critic

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/8252095.stm

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Singer Chris de Burgh has attacked a critic, calling him "bitter and unfulfilled", after he wrote a negative review of a gig in Ireland.

De Burgh, 60, wrote to the letters page in The Irish Times after Peter Crawley criticised his performance at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre on 31 August.

Crawley said: "Certain toes will never uncurl after this experience."

De Burgh wrote: "You certainly arrived with the word 'prejudice' burned into your furrowed brow."

At the end of the letter, he said: "We were wondering by way of explanation and as you seem to portray yourself as a bitter and unfulfilled man, were you much teased by your school chums in the schoolyard and called 'Creepy Crawley'?"

The star, best known for hits such as Lady In Red and Spanish Train, took offence to the review, which said his name "summons a rush of associations, some of which carry a shudder".

Your churlish review is an insult to all those who enjoyed their night out Chris de Burgh

Describing the singer, as he walked on stage, Crawley said: "A small man appears in suit trousers and a white shirt, giving a little wave, like a businessman happy to have finished a long day of conference calls."

In the letter, which the newspaper published in full, de Burgh hit back and said: "Your churlish review is an insult to all those who enjoyed their night out, and in these days of collapsing newspaper sales and an entire new generation on the way who will get their information online, you may be looking for another job sooner rather than later.

"Your pals in the pub must have loved your review, but it seems that you are universally loathed in the theatre world. A leading impresario has described you as 'puffed up with his own self-importance', and a much-loved and successful actress refers to you as 'that loathsome little turd'. Great accolades, to be sure."

The star said he has "always had a very positive attitude towards life" and he has "sympathy" for Crawley as "it must be so poisonous to have to lurk in the shadows, riffling through the garbage bins of despair and avoiding those who think that you are an irrelevance, an irritation to be ignored and laughed about".

The star performed three nights at the theatre and said the tickets sold out for all of them.