Like Panic at the Disco and our very own Arnel Pineda and Charice, Paul Potts is a YouTube baby. Formerly with the local band Zoo, Arnel was discovered as the new lead vocalist of Journey via YouTube, the same medium by which Charice got the attention first of Ellen DeGeneres and then Oprah Winfrey and Paul O’Grady. More than anybody else, Arnel and Charice have their fans to thank for uploading clips of their “live” performances on the YouTube.
Same with Paul whose performance of Puccini’s masterpiece Nessun Dorma during the audition for the talent search Britain’s Got Talent which he topped last year.
“It was a make-or-break thing for me,” admitted Paul during a 10-minute interview by phone with Funfare.
Paul was deemed “the most unlikely” guy to acquit himself in such a demanding piece with flying colors.
Take note of how a British newspaper described Paul’s feat:
At first glance, one would not fancy a guess that this man could sing opera the way the Three Tenors did. His tiny suit was wrinkled, his posture was peculiar and he looked like he was about to cry any second — until he started to sing. The first words of Nessun Dorma came out beautifully, with such precision that only a seasoned musician can pull off, instantly jolting the hairs of 2,000 lucky audience members witnessing his performance for the first time. It was a grand discovery and a renewed source of hope for Potts who took the stage with the least amount of confidence and left with the most amount of respect.
The judges were said to be so stunned that one of them gasped, predicting, “It’s a case of a little lump of coal about to turn into a diamond.”
To make a long story short, Paul’s jaw-dropping rendition was uploaded on the YouTube which has to date generated more than 30 million hits, moving people with his inspiring story and thereby drawing sympathy for Paul who eventually emerged the champion.
“It’s slowly starting to sink in now,” said Paul who used to earn his keep stacking shelves in a supermarket and then selling mobile phones. “Although I’m exhausted, I’m loving it. The first few days were a blur. I was on a completely different planet with the shock of it all. But this is something I’ve dreamed of all my life, singing professionally, and to have been given the opportunity to make that dream real and to know that people are enjoying my music. It’s more than I ever dared hope for.”
Filipino music buffs, especially those who go for opera, will have a chance to watch Paul sing “live” during his one-night-only engagement at the PICC on Oct. 8.
“Yes,” assured Paul, “I will sing Nessun Dorma for my Filipino fans.”
If you check out Paul’s background, you will say that it’s “most unlikely” for Paul to become a singer. Born on Oct. 13, 1970 near Bristol, Paul said that his father, Roland, is a bus driver and his mother, Yvonne, a supermarket cashier.
“But I really love to sing,” added Paul, one of four children. “My mother said that as a kid, I would listen to the theme of E.T. and conducting an imaginary orchestra with sticks. When I was 11, I joined one of the best church choirs in Bristol. I was 16 when I fell in love with opera. I was hooked. I bought a cheap recording of Jose Carreras. The first time I heard Che Gelida Manina (Your Tiny Hand is Frozen), I was moved to tears. Up to now, Le Boheme is my favorite opera.”
Born with a fear of rejection, Paul said that, although he was performing at amateur level, he was never able to muster enough guts to sing professionally, pretending to be contented with stacking shelves at a supermarket and selling phones.
“I was afraid of being given a ‘No’,” he admitted, “so I played safe. I was selling a lot of mobile phones and my boss told me I was a born salesman but I knew deep in my heart that I wasn’t; I was a born singer. When selling, I knew I was putting on an act. When singing, I was myself, I was being the real me.”
I learned from his bio-data that Paul saved the money he won on a quiz show and spent it on a three-month summer school in Italy where he got to sing in a master class for Luciano Pavarotti, his other idol.
Did he see Pavarotti in person or hear him sing “live”?
“Unfortunately, I didn’t. But I knew that he loved what he was doing and that was enough inspiration and encouragement for me.”
Is it true that he almost quit singing?
“I almost did and that was due to health problems. I felt so depressed and singing was the last thing I wanted to do.”
Until the chance to compete in Britain’s Got Talent came.
The rest is, you know, history.
“Britain’s Got Talent marked a turning point in my life,” said Paul.
At his PICC concert, Paul’s repertoire will also include other selections from One Chance, the debut album he recorded only weeks after his victory last year and which has sold more than two million copies by the end of 2007, and continues to be a best-seller up to now — Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro), a Spanish version of My Way and an Italian version of REM’s Everybody Hurts (Oguno Soffre), to name a few.
(Note: Paul Potts Live in Manila is produced by Concertus Productions and presented by McDonald’s, etc, 2nd Avenue, Jack and C/S. Ticket prices are P4,000, P3,500, P2,500, P1,200 and P750. Call TicketWorld at 891-9999; or, for other details, 813-2612 or 813-2617.)
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@phil-star.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)