Russell Watson
The story of Russell Watson is inspirational. It is the meteoric rise of the factory worker from Salford who in a short time frame was catapulted into international singing stardom, sold millions of records and sung for The Pope, presidents, prime ministers, the Beckham's pre world cup charity event and for Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess Of Cornwall.

Russell was born in the Industrial North-West of England in Salford, the son of a factory worker. After becoming a factory worker himself, Russell pursued his passion for singing on the pub and club circuit in his spare time, and the extraordinary qualities of his voice began to emerge without any formal training. A hint of what was to come became apparent when he entered a local radio talent competition and beat 400 hopefuls to first place.

A lifelong Manchester United football club fan, Russell's big break came in May 1999 when he was invited to Old Trafford to sing before United's Premiership-winning match. His performance of the World Cup anthem "Nessun Dorma" received a standing ovation. This was followed by a string of sports-related performances and that summer he was invited to appear as guest artist with Sir Cliff Richard in Hyde Park.

The Decca Music Group quickly signed Watson to a five-album deal and in September 2000 his debut recording The Voice was released to huge critical and public acclaim. This mix of repertoire along with Russell’s majestic vocal performance delivered an immediate impact.

By October, it had climbed to No.5 in the UK pop charts and reached No.1 in the classical chart for a year. It also broke worldwide records as it quickly reached the No. 1 spot in the US, making Watson the first British male to simultaneously occupy the top of both the UK and the American classical charts. This 1.5 million-seller went on to win two Classical Brit awards for Best Classical Album (voted for by the British public) and Best Classical Debut album and was only knocked off the No. 1 spot by his follow-up album Encore a year later.

Encore followed Russell's innovative trademark mixture of popular Italian arias with pop classics (including songs recorded for the Hollywood blockbuster Captain Corelli's Mandolin and the theme to the Star Trek TV series Enterprise). It went double Platinum in the UK (where it was at No. 1 in the classical charts for 30 weeks), double platinum in New Zealand, Platinum in Ireland and Gold in Singapore with over 1.7 million albums sold. Russell won a further two Classical Brit Awards for Best Classical Album and Male Artist of the Year.

Watson's third album Reprise was released in 2002, went Platinum in the UK within two weeks, reaching No. 13 in the pop charts and No. 1 in the classical charts.

Dubbed "The People's Tenor", Watson's has seen his albums take opera and classical music to a new audience; "To give classical music back to the people, or rather, to give it to people for the first time," he explains. "Whether I'm singing in front of five or 100,000 people, I just love to entertain. Everywhere I go, people ask me to belt them a note because there is nothing like hearing the power of a big voice hitting the top note - it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up."

Russell did have a life changing experience after the third album - he was having problems with his voice. "It was probably one of the single worst days of my life when I went to see the specialist. I told him I was having problems with my falsetto. I could sing chest notes, but I knew I was bypassing the problem. He stuck a pipe up my nose and down my throat and said you’ve got a lump on your vocal chord and that they were going to have to surgically remove it. He was totally honest with me and said that I could lose some of my top register, he couldn't give me any guarantees. I walked out of the place in tears."

The experience of nearly losing everything made Russell revalue what he had. "I changed everything in my life. Everything. I changed my attitude to myself and my work. Before I'd been like a giddy puppy taking everything for granted, excited, but on a runaway rollercoaster, directionless. Now I take nothing for granted. "I take vocal coaching very seriously. I understand that the voice needs a lot of care and a lot of work."

The resulting album Amore Musica was extraordinarily beautiful. With lyrics by Dianne Warren, Gary Barlow and Elliot Kennedy, Russell felt the alum truly reflected the core of him "All the songs are about love, music, peace, happiness and hope. That reflects the way I feel right now. It’s a record to hold hands to. I want this record to be something that people think about affectionately. I've never generated as much passion in my lyrics. It’s a different sound. It’s not about Russell Watson and the way he sings it, it’s about Russell Watson singing from the heart and I don’t think I’ve ever done that before."

Now after travelling the world doing live concerts and meeting some extraordinary people, Russell is back in the UK in 2006 with a new album being released on 20th March - Russell Watson: The Ultimate Collection: The Voice, an upcoming stage show and many more exciting projects. A new phase of the Voice is just about to start.