Tenor Paul Potts trades cell phones for opera celebrity

Click for complete Paul Potts Article from sptimes.com

Paul Potts made the right call on a coin flip to decide whether to give Britain's version of American Idol a go, a move that transformed the cell phone salesman into an opera star.

When Paul Potts strode onto a TV soundstage last year, you could almost see the sarcasm dripping from talent show king Simon Cowell. The pudgy cell phone salesman, appearing on Cowell's British version of American Idol, announced he was going to sing opera, and the crowd cringed.

But then Potts opened his mouth, and out poured Puccini's aria Nessun Dorma. Instantly, he launched an Internet sensation and a musical career.

Now the Welsh tenor is living the great American and British dream, having been vaulted from obscurity into sudden celebrity after he won Britain's Got Talent over the favorite, a 6-year-old girl who sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

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