Encore
The Voice is the fastest-selling classical recording in UK history
Lulu & Russell Watson - The Prayer
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The Voice is the fastest-selling classical recording in UK history.
Following is an interview with Russell Watson from his CD cover titled: The Voice.
It is just about possible you have not heard about Russell Watson, the operatic tenor from Salford, North West England, but then it is unlikely that you will be reading this anyway... But for those of you who have chanced upon a copy of this his second album, Encore, you should know that Watson was the YTS kid changed with putting nuts and bolts in a machine in a factory before he was lifted from a life of drudgery and repetition by virtue of his voice and a determination to let the rest of the world hear it.
To date, at least one and a half million people across the globe have bought The Voice. Hook line and sinker. It is a voice so powerful and versatile that his voice coach, William Hayward, does not hesitate to call it "unique and with no qualifying adjectives". It is a voice which has been at number one in the UK Classical Artist chart since it was released (and is still there at the time of writing) whilst also gracing the top spot in several other countries.
Is it really twelve months since I saw him break down and cry as he listened to the final edit of the genre-defining and inspirational duet with Shaun Ryder of Barcelona, the single that announced the arrival of The Voice? "This year has gone so fast", he reflects, lying on a sofa in his rented London flat, casual in off-duty fatigues of New York Yankees baseball cap, sweatshirt and tennis shorts. "It doesn't seem like five minutes since the release of the first album and to be honest my feet haven't touched the floor. I have been whisked all around the world." He has also, it seems churlish to ignore, performed on the same stage as his idol, Pavarotti, and in front of the forty-third President of the United States of America.
"We were in the States for threee months, recording the album you are now holding in
your hands, and made a lot of friends over there. To begin with, leaving home for that amount of time was quite daunting; I missed my family, but even so it was nothing like singing in Italy, essentially the home of opera. I did a lot of TV there and the first show was the equivalent of the National Lottery in the UK except for the fact that there were about 500 people sitting in an amphitheatre. I felt like Spartacus going into the arena."
"Anyway, I was singing 'Nessum dorma' and was thinking, I hope I get the words right,
but at the first high section the audience started clapping and cheering. I finished the piece and the whole place was on their feet. I felt like I had conquered Italy." Veni, vidi, vici. Well almost. That might have to wait for the success of this album to outstrip the first and, when you consider that The Voice is the fastest-selling classical recording in UK history, that is asking for a lot. But if you don't ask, you don't get. You learn that as you put nuts and bolts into a machine on the shop floor in a factory.
"I have matured as an artist", he explains. "I am more confident as an entertainer, move around the stage more and communicate better with my audience. It is all experience... I started out in the clubs in front of 200 people and it is a bit of a culture shock to work with a 70 or 80 piece orchestra and perform in front of thousands. The very first time I worked with the Royal Philharmonic it was..." he lets his bottom lip tremble. And then burst out laughing. "I sort of had this feeling that all these guys are at the top of their trade and I kept thinking, here's little old me fresh from clubland... yeah, it was daunting and I have to say that, at first, they possibly didn't take me particularly seriously, as a result of where I am from, but I have worked with them several times now and feel at least the feet taller. Now I am introduced as Russell Watson and they cheer and that makes you feel good because it's like I have been recognized by real musicians. It makes you feel like you are part of a team. You aren't given respect, you have to earn it."
Presumably that is why, combining his trademark mix of pop classics and operatic arias, he has worked on this album with songwriters of the calibre of Lionel Richie and Diane Warren, and dueted with the former at his insistence and also with Lulu. Pop classics which come in for the Watson treatment include the Joe Cocker standard "You Are So Beautiful" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"; Lulu appears on "The Prayer", while the rest of the album continues in the vein he established on The Voice - that of bringing opera to the masses, smiling with sweet innocence at the established order as he does so. Consequently, you are also about to be blown away by "Ava Maria", Puccini's "Che gelida manina" and Verdi's "Celeste Aida" alongside "Where My Heart Will Take Me" (the title track of the new Star Trek series - and the first one to feature a vocalist.) Did I mention "Volare"? Prepare yourself.
But before you put you feet up and float away or if you're in the mood to shake the plaster off the next door neighbor's walls, please, if you will, observe a minute's silence for the Sunday newspaper critic who said that Russell Watson would never be successful until he received formal and classical musical training. That notice appeared the same day the first album went double platinum in the UK. Well, as the nameless critic is doubtless aware, you can't put a premium on timing. -- Bill Burrows
CD version
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Source;
http://bit.ly/Russell_Watson
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