NUA Entertainment founders Neil and Nicky Utley offered me the post of Chairman of NUA.
Neil is one of the UK's most successful businessmen, but always wanted to be involved with music and I have for some time been thinking of getting involved in the business side of the industry, so I accepted. One of the first things we did was to launch a talent competition in conjunction with UTV Media, the third largest radio group in the UK.
My friend Steve Betts has great contacts in the media and together we took the idea to Terry Underhill, group program director at UTV, who loved the idea, so NUA and UTV joined forces.
I have been in the music biz for over 30 years now during which time I have gained a lot of experience, especially as I worked with Simon Fuller, who was my manager for 15 of those years. I'm sure you know that Simon named his management company after my number one record '19'.
The competition has so far been a great success as we have had over 1000 entries. However, this is not just another X-Factor. Apart from the fact that this has never been done before on UK radio, the main difference in what we are doing compared to programs like X-Factor and The Voice is that I, along with other industry experts, will be choosing the winner.
And I can tell you this for certain, it will be pure talent that eventually wins the £100,000 recording contract that is on offer.
I am fortunate in my role to have a founder who is willing to back me in my decisions and we have a great team of people involved, including Gary Boorman who has a wealth of experience in the music industry.
I have to say that it's really interesting working on the other side of the business with the label. However, I think our artists will benefit from my experience as an artist, as I can see things from different angles and can be sympathetic over issues that other record company bosses might not understand.
We are not genre specific and are not trying to be uber cool. We are just looking for great talent that will endure; otherwise I don't see the point of being involved.
The first release on NUA will be Charlie Simpson, the former front man of Busted. He has moved away from the pop side of things and has really concentrated on the songwriting for his new album 'Long Road Home'.
We also have some other exciting projects including a young female singer Chesca Miles, who has a fantastic voice and is also one of the country's top stunt riders! Plus, obviously, the winner of The Next Big Thing, which is the name of our talent competition. Incidentally the final is being held at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool,
So all in all things are looking great for NUA entertainment.
At the time of writing Paul's new album, 'Jazzmasters 7', has entered the Billboard Jazz chart in the USA at number 1, giving NUA their first number 1 Album.
Anyone can enter The Next Big Thing here - http://www.nuaentertainment.com/win-recording-contract-worth-100000/