\u2018Trauma-bonding\u2019 with his future wife on Big Brother, selling their wedding pics to OK!, walking off Buzzcocks, writing hits for stars like Kylie and Olly Murs \u2026 as the singer returns, he looks back at a tumultuous career<\/p>\n
\u2018I hated being famous,\u201d Samuel Preston says. \u201cI hated, hated, hated it.\u201d Twenty years ago, Preston, who presented himself by his surname to emulate Morrissey, was experiencing a very intense type of notoriety. He had been NME-famous with Worthing band the Ordinary Boys, whose socially conscious ska-influenced indie-punk had a strong cult following known as the Ordinary Army, thanks to hits such as Boys Will Be Boys. But his stint in the 2006 edition of Celebrity Big Brother, and the national interest in his will-they-won\u2019t-they relationship with fellow contestant Chantelle Houghton \u2013 the fake \u201ccelebrity\u201d sent in to dupe the B-listers \u2013 was what sent his profile through the roof.<\/p>\n
After leaving the show, he says, \u201cI was on loads of Prozac. I was in a weird space.\u201d Now, after years living on-off in the US, becoming a successful songwriter for hire (to the likes of Kylie Minogue, Cher, Olly Murs, Liam Payne and Jessie Ware), and surviving a near-death experience and OxyContin addiction, Preston is making a comeback with the Ordinary Boys. The band\u2019s new single Peer Pressure is their first music since 2015 (not counting a Christmas single with Olly Murs).<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b16934ce69fb959bb8bc3053cf007595f4530702\/354_1458_2239_1791\/master\/2239.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=dba86b47c2f7368fec0b08c19897d903\" "\\"\u2018Fame")
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