Wednesday
Jun132007
Check this out..."and introducing Paul Potts"
Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 7:29PM This is from Britain's "Britain's Got Talent"...
Granted it's not perfect...but he's an everyday guy who works as a car phone salesman...and by that standard it's pretty damn great!
Thanks to "Millip" for bring it to my attention...
tagged Paul Potts
Paul Potts 
Reader Comments (2)
Well, he's no Aretha Franklin!
OperaNow podcasters - please discuss in more depth why the British public are going nuts over this guy while the rest of us opera singers (those who have actually set foot on an operatic stage) can scarcely pay the bills. Ironically, at the same time on a different channel, BBC3 were broadcasting Cardiff Singer of the World, whose winner fought off some of the most talented in the industry to win £2500, while Mr Potts walked away with a life changing sum. I blame the media and record companies of course, who refuse to get their hands dirty and find out about the talent in the opera industry, but simply wait for someone to stumble into the spotlight with a good "back story" because that's what they think the mass market will identify with.
Another thing, why is it that if you have a high B, with training or not, then you are eligible to sing this hackneyed aria and be an instant opera star? Whether you can sing the whole role or any other aria, with intelligible language, style, phrasing or chracter seems to be irrelevant. What would Simon Cowell have said if Mr Potts sang a remarkable version of "Di quella pira"?
On the X factor and American Idol, Simon constantly berates very talented pop singers for presenting "karaoke" quality performances (when I think most of the time they are pretty damn good) and yet for a mediocre performance of Nessun dorma he gives an instant recording contract? I say: put Paul Potts up against all of the other amateur and struggling professional opera singers in the country in an Opera X factor and test his mettle. Surely that's only fair?
Yes, I'm being a bit hard on the guy, but I can't believe that no one is putting their hand up to say that they don't think he should have won. Maybe it's for the same reason why I won't put my name to this rant!!