Paul Potts Articles

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Arts organizations are always talking about how to cultivate new audiences. A tried-and-true one has been the Theory of Exposure: Get the art in front of people, especially youngsters, and they will acquire a taste for the art.

That kind of thinking has been around at least since The Muppet Show first aired in the late 1970s. Opera advocates rejoiced when Beverly Sills starred on the variety show. They predicted a new generation of opera lovers (and, more importantly, opera patrons) who would be inspired by Sills’ powerful performance and magnetic personality.

The same went for the other art forms: jazz (when Dizzy Gillespie and Lena Horne were each guests), musical theater (Liza Minnelli, Zero Mostel), ballet (Rudolf Nureyev), and classical music (Liberace).

Well, maybe not Liberace (too many sequins, too much lowbrow appeal, some might say), but you get the point.

Anyway, for those concerned about high art’s losing cultural authority to the increasing dominance of popular entertainment, the thinking was: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Now comes Paul Potts.

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ICWales.co.uk , Nov 1, 2007

PAUL Potts’s rise to international stardom continued last week, when he filmed an appearance on America’s highest-rated talk show, the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Paul filmed his performance last week but it will not be broadcast until next month.

He will be seen singing Nessun Dorma after his talk with the multiple-Emmy Award winning host.

Speaking about appearance, Paul said: “I never believed I would end up doing things like that for a living.

“I wasn’t sure whether I really had it because I always felt that to get anywhere in this business I would need to have proper formal training and I couldn’t afford that.”

Here are two more short articles on Paul Potts trying to have a baby(s).

1. Potts Of Tv Cash To Pay For Ivf
2. Paul Potts' wife to begin IVF

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One Chance reviewed by sydneyanglicans.net

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From humble beginnings has sprung a bright new opera star – Paul Potts. And, if his first album is anything to go by, this star will be burning brightly for a long time. For an ex-mobile phone salesman, Potts is doing surprisingly well for himself.

Potts has released his debut album, One Chance, on the back of his Britain’s Got Talent success. And what a good album it is.

He has tackled some of the standards of classical opera, however his interpretation of them is original. He has given them a fresh new sound, without sacrificing any of the class and sophistication of the original versions.

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Oct 28, 07 - ICWales.co.uk 
Click here for a complete article - Singing star Potts’ IVF joy

THE family of singing sensation Paul Potts has spoken of their joy that his wife is due to undergo IVF treatment in their bid to have children.

The Britain’s Got Talent winner, whose debut album went to number one in 12 countries, has been trying to start a family with wife Julie-Ann for four years.

And her mum, Maureen Cooper, has revealed her daughter’s secret ambition – she wants QUADS.

After failing to conceive naturally, and with the huge cost of fertility treatment way beyond their means, the couple had given up hope of ever having a baby of their own.

Potts enjoys wild ride from penury to opera star 

Article from Reuters

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Just five months ago, amateur opera singer Paul Potts was mired in debt and selling cell phones in Britain. Now he has a hit album and is due to tour the world.

Potts, a stocky 37-year-old Englishman with crooked teeth, entered and won the "Britain's Got Talent" television show in June in front of more than 13 million viewers and then signed a recording deal reportedly worth $2 million.

His debut album, "One Chance," has topped charts around the world including Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

"I have done more things in the last four months than I would ever have expected to do in my whole lifetime," Potts told Reuters in an interview. "It's mind-boggling."

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Digital Spy covered this October 21, 207

It's a very short article that you really don't need to click the link but..
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Paul Potts' wife starts IVF treatment to have baby.
They have always wanted baby.
They say twins run on their family

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His No. 1 debut on Amazon.ca may have been usurped by Robert Plant and Alison Kraus's Raising Sand, but you know that Potts' CD will still be Top 10 many months after that release is forgotten.

Another triumph for Simon Cowell's Syco Music, and the pop-era genre it pushes, the 10-song album gives you the signature tune "Nessun Dorma" and mega followup "Time to Say Goodbye," as well as an Italian-ized version of R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts (Ognuno Sofere)" and the obligatory Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber number "Music of the Night."

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It was bloody brilliant.

The segment on last summer's latest reality rip-off Britain's Got Talent showed Paul Potts, the cellphone salesman with a chipped tooth from South Wales. Backstage, he looked as ill at ease as anyone could be. Speaking on camera as if he had a mouthful of marbles, he described his chronic lack of self-confidence.

Then onstage he came, still just as awkward and looking like bait for bullying, something he admitted had indeed been the case. The ubiquitous Simon Cowell and the other two judges gave their condescending go-ahead. It was then that, unlike like the other pop-oriented acts on the show, Potts starts singing Puccini's Nessun Dorma. Like Pavarotti himself. The camera shows a granny in the audience, bless her, wiping away a tear. Potts hits the high notes. The audience rises to its feet.

A few days later, he wins the contest.

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A toss of a 10-pence piece. Fifty-fifty odds of it not landing heads up. But it did.

Paul Potts' entire life had changed forever.

That toss determined whether the gap-toothed Car Phone Warehouse sales manager would audition for Britain's Got Talent. There, in a clip that's become a worldwide hit on YouTube, the soft-spoken fella with a dream to be an opera singer nailed Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" and won over not only legendary scowler judge Simon Cowell, but also everyone who tuned in.

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Complete article
http://www.thestar.com/article/267983

Oct 18, 2007,  thestar.com

If you've ever seen Paul Potts, you won't be surprised to hear that his road to fame and fortune started with the toss of a coin.

The Welsh-born tenor, who turned 37 last Saturday, was the manager of a cellphone store just a few months ago. On a whim, he filled out the online application for the television talent show Britain's Got Talent.

"I thought it would be great to have a chance to sing at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff," he says during a Toronto media stop yesterday afternoon.

"Then I got to the bottom of the form and I thought, do I apply or not?" he remembers. "I wasn't sure if I thought I had enough talent, or if I was too old, or if I was what they were looking for.

"So, in the end, I took a 10-pence piece out of my pocket and decided to toss it. Heads and I would send the application in," he recalls.

Complete Article
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2007/10/17/paul-potts.html

October 17, 2007, http://www.cbc.ca/ 

British tenor Paul Potts has travelled from cellphone salesman to hit recording artist in a matter of months, and the journey has left him nothing short of astonished.

Potts was the winner of the first Britain's Got Talent this summer and has since issued an album that hit No. 1 in the U.K.

He was an unlikely choice for a reality TV star, singing opera amid a field of pop wannabes, but he seems to have hit a chord with viewers in the U.S. and the U.K.

"To be honest, even finding myself recording an album was astonishing for me," said Potts. "To find myself going to so many different places and meeting so many friendly people is astounding."

Oct 17, 07: Paul Potts - Opera's Very Own Cinderfella -
Blogcritics magazine

The lore and legend of opera thrives on the fact that every once in a dozen blue moons a star can be born, rising from nowhere. There are stories about the prima donna who, in a fit of temperament refuses to sing, only to be replaced by the shy young understudy who rockets to stardom. I attended a performance of Simone Boccanegra at the Metropolitan Opera where the soprano, whose name I now forget, but of star quality, was ill, only to be replaced by Aprile Millo, who blew away the critics with her exquisite performance of Amelia. My mother still tells the story of the evening she finally made it to the Met to see her favorite Robert Merrill only to discover he was being replaced by a young baritone no one had heard of, Sherrill Milnes. Such a moment occurred a few weeks ago when a very shy, insecure Welsh tenor appeared out of nowhere and has set the opera world, and perhaps the pop music world on fire.

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Paul Potts gets a brief blurb in this article. 

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Below is an excerpt
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Atop the crossover chart for the third consecutive week is One Chance by tenor Paul Potts, first prize winner on the U.K. television program Britain's Got Talent. Groban's Awake, at the upper end of the chart for nearly a year, rose one notch to no. 2; Wolfgang's Big Night Out, the classical pops collection by rock guitarist Brian Setzer and his orchestra that debuted last week at no. 2, slipped to no. 3.
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September 15, 2007

An opera purist speaks out

On Wednesday Aidan Lang sat in his office and listened to Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma. This is the aria from Turandot which Pavarotti, who died last week, made famous as the Italian soccer anthem. It is also the aria Paul Potts sang on Britain's Got Talent, which made him, sort of, famous.

Lang is the general director of the NBR New Zealand Opera, whose production of Turandot opens on Thursday. It seemed a good week to go to see him. He agreed that it was, down to the unlikely idea of the opera man listening to Paul Potts sing the aria in his office.

He said he would, and he did. He would not, you could guess, usually be listening to a CD made by a bloke who got famous on a naff telly show, but I gave him the Potts album as a present.

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Click here for complete article - Stuff.co.nz 
September 11, 2007

Paul Potts, America...the world, writes Rotorua Review Editor Phil Campbell.

Rotorua has scored yet another two big time acts within the next seven-eight months with bookings from the Welsh singer Paul Potts and the fabled 1970s pop group America, with at least two original members.

Of the two, the nostalgic will fondly recall America, through the Horse with No Name, Ventura Highway, I Need You, Tin Man and Sister Golden Hair Surprise.

Potts, unashamedly shy but intelligent as he is university trained, is the innovative choice for Rotorua - a singer on the verge of greater fame.

The man with ill formed tombstone teeth that seem to have suffered a form of desecration remains "just me, that's who I am."

Now he is coming to Rotorua.

Click here for complete article - Stuff.co.nz 
September 11, 2007

paul potts fanclub new zealand

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September 10, 2007 

Tickets for two international music acts set to perform in Rotorua are selling fast - and organisers expect sell-out crowds.

America, a 70s soft rock band and Grammy Award winners who have been making music for 35 years, will perform at the Energy Events Centre on December 14 as part of their Live in Concert tour.

TV's Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts is also headed for Rotorua. He's scheduled to perform at the Energy Events Centre on April 11.

The former cellphone salesman became an international star after winning the talent competition.

The video of his audition has become one of the most watched clips on video sharing website YouTube.

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Click Here for a full article news.com.au
September 08, 2007

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Q & A with Paul Potts
Herald Sun

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September 06, 2007

Q: YOU went from mobile-phone salesman in Wales to winner of Britain's Got Talent and a No.1 album of opera songs. Are you tired of answering the same questions about that yet?

A: Not at all. It's very much like my life as a phone salesman. If I were to get cheesed off with people asking me the same questions about their mobile phones, I'd never sell any.

You dabbled in classical singing before illness and a broken collarbone from a bicycle accident sent you back to retail. Did you jump at the chance to audition for the TV show?

I saw the ad and applied for it, but I almost didn't send in the application.  Click here for complete article

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Tales From Planet Rock: Rick Rubin cries watching TV talent show
Source: nme.com

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04.Sep.07

Rick Rubin really hearts 'Britain's Got Talent' winner Paul Potts
Music guru producer Rick Rubin has confessed his love for 'Britain's Got Talent' winner Paul Potts.

This is the man who discovered the Beastie Boys, turned Red Hot Chili Peppers into super stars and revived Johnny Cash's career.

The big hearted producer has watched clips from the show and told the New York Times no less that he's into it.  Click for a Full Article

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Rubin goes Potty over Paul
September 03, 2007

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Article contains a unique picture of Paul Potts

RICK RUBIN, the heavily-bearded rock legend who discovered BEASTIE BOYS, has vowed to turn PAUL POTTS into a stateside superstar.

The heavyweight music mogul was moved to tears after stumbling over the former mobile phone salesman's skills on YouTube.

And he's vowed to use all his clout, as the newly installed president of Columbia records, to break the portly talent show champ in America.

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 After a life of being down-and-out, Paul Potts finally gets his chance to shine. 
Sep 03 2007, star-ecentral.com

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(article contains one image)

Paul Potts is overwhelmed by all the attention he has been getting from everyone of late. And why wouldn’t he be? Here is a guy who, just months ago, was selling phones at a store called Carphone Warehouse in Britain. Today, he’s living his dream and travelling across continents to promote his debut album, One Chance. 

Paul Potts: "It’s unbelievable, though overwhelming, all this attention."
“It’s unbelievable, though overwhelming, all this attention,” says Potts in an exclusive interview with The Star in Hong Kong recently. Potts was there with his wife, Julie-Ann, for the Asian leg of his worldwide promo tour. 

“It’s amazing! One day I’m waking up in Port Talbot (in Wales), and then the next day, I’m talking to reporters from Asia in Hong Kong!” he adds.

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PaulPottsFanClub.com - Fan site for welsh opera singer uk idol Paul Potts

Opera star Potts wows Australian fans
Sep 1 2007

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The winner of a British TV talent quest, overnight opera sensation Paul Potts, has wowed hundreds of fans at his only Australian performance.

Fans lined up for more than two hours on Saturday at a shopping centre in Castle Hill, in Sydney's north-west, to hear the Britain's Got Talent winner and former mobile phone salesman sing three songs from his debut album One Chance.

His final number, Puccini's Nessun Dorma - which won him the talent show - earned him a standing ovation.

Potts' wife Julie-Ann was in the crowd of fans, some of whom had travelled from as far away as Tweed Heads and Taree, in northern NSW.

PaulPottsFanClub.com: Fanclub site for UK idol winner Potts, Paul

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Brit singer brings opera to the people

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August 31, 207

Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts has already sung for Luciano Pavarotti - and now he is bringing opera to the people. The 36-year-old from Port Talbot in south Wales was transformed from mobile phone salesman to opera sensation when he won the English TV talent show in June. His performance of Giacomo Puccini's Nessun Dorma in the grand final brought the house down, and landed Potts Stg100,000 ($A248,000) in prize money and a record deal. It has since become one of the all-time most watched clips on YouTube, with over 10 million viewings in nine days. Now the shy classical music lover is in Australia for a promotional visit ahead of a national tour next April. Potts says his life has changed immeasurably since he rocketed to fame.

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Old rockers and reality TV star to perform

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August 29, 2007

Seventies soft rock band America and overnight opera sensation Paul Potts are to perform in Rotorua. In a coup for Rotorua, Grammy Award winners America, who have been making music for 35 years, will perform at the Energy Events Centre on December 14 as part of their Live in Concert tour. The band will also perform in Wellington and Christchurch in December and Rotorua beat Auckland to host a concert on the back of the success of the Glen Campbell concert in March. America, then consisting of Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek, found fame in 1972 with the song A Horse With No Name.

From salesman to superstar in 7 days

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In seven days, 36-year-old British man Potts went from selling mobile phones to winning Britain's Got Talent and signing a one million pound ($2.4 million) record deal. His debut rendition of Puccini's famous "Nessun Dorma" was not quite Pavarotti, yet there was something about the portly man from South Wales with his crooked teeth and hard luck story that made him an instant sensation. Within hours of his performance, millions of internet users had started clicking on to see him on YouTube. Potts is in Australia this week as part of a world tour to promote his first album, which has already hit the number one spot in Britain and across much of Europe.

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Share the dream with Paul Potts

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Aug 29 2007

IT’S been a very eventful few months for Paul Potts. One minute he was an unknown with bad teeth and the next he was the nation’s classical music darling, cwtching up to Katherine Jenkins and being flown across the world to wow them Stateside. On June 17 two million votes were cast by the British public, crowning the Welshman as winner of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent competition. It was the moment the tenor’s future was made and his dreams came true. Since then he has become a household name. In an exclusive ITV Wales documentary, the cameras have been following the tenor on his journey, tracking his rise to the top and mapping how completely life has changed for the former salesman from Port Talbot.

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09:00 - 28 August 2007

Bullies who targeted chart star Paul Potts have apologised to the Britain's Got Talent winner. The Port Talbot singer has revealed his former tormentors have been getting in touch to apologise for picking on him at school. The singer was bullied by other pupils because of his love of opera, the same passion that has now made him a chart success. Paul said: "I've turned my negatives into positives. "I've had one or two people who I knew from back then call and congratulate me. "In fact one who used to bully me sent me a message on one of my websites and apologised. "As far as I'm concerned, though, what's in the past stays in the past. "It's done and you can't change it." Paul is currently in Australia promoting his debut album, One Chance.

The ‘One Chance’ that was enough

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August 28, 2007



HONG KONG, China—Paul Potts’ voice sounded raspy and almost faltered near the end of “Time to Say Goodbye” (“Con Te Partiro”), the first of three numbers he sang for the media during his promotional appearance here recently.



He would later explain that he had a nasty case of laryngitis and was getting over a heavy cold.



“Opera can be very challenging,” he said, laughing, “especially when you’re running out of breath.”



Born in Bristol, England and currently a resident of South Wales, Potts, 37, is the overnight celebrity who won the maiden edition of “Britain’s Got Talent” (“BTG”), the UK version of the widely popular search-for-a-singing star TV show “American Idol.”
Bowled over


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Paul Potts is in Sydney Australia right now.
News articles and video clips are popping up everywhere.



I will organize them (hopefully) after work.
For now, you can find the links from below pages.



Paul Potts articles & media
http://www.paulpottsfanclub.com/paul-potts-links



Bulletin board under "Paul Potts News"
http://www.paulpottsfanclub.com/paul-potts-fan-forum