Paul Potts

For Paul Potts, no matter what was happening in his life, his refuge always was music. Growing up in the rough neighborhoods of Bristol, England was never easy. His family struggled financially and his parents' frustration was sometimes expressed in anger. School was no better, as he freely admitted later in life that he was bullied by his classmates for being a loner who just didn't fit in. But music remained his solace and when he heard the beautiful soaring notes of "La Bohème" at the age of 16, he knew that he wanted to sing opera. By the time he left school in 1998, he was ready to sing in various amateur opera groups. He would sing with Bath Opera and the Southgate Opera Company among others from 1999 until 2003. Tragedy stuck with a bicycle accident that left him unable to perform for several years. With money tight, he heard of a new television show looking for performers called ″Britain's Got Talent″ (ITV, 2007 - ) and auditioned. His performance of Pucci's ″Nessun Dorma″ left judges spellbound and he went on to win with a standing ovation from the audience. With his winnings, he bought a home for himself and his wife and went to Italy for voice lessons. He was booked for his first world tour, which began with a plan for 50 stops but expanded to over 100 by the end of the tour due to increased demand. His first album, ″One Chance,″ went platinum in every country where it was sold and he was invited to perform as part of the Royal Variety Performance for Queen Elizabeth II at the end of 2007. The next few years were filled with numerous tours, at an average of 100 dates a year, as well as television appearances including Britain's morning show ″This Morning″ (ITV, 1988 - ), ″Today″ (NBC, 1952 - ) and ″The Ellen DeGeneres Show″ (WB, 2003 - ). His second album ″Passione″ in 2009 also went platinum, and the following year he released his third album, ″Cinema Paradiso,″ his homage to film music. The touring and television appearances continued and in 2013 he released a Greatest Hits collection. Around the same time, in 2013, The Weinstein Company approached Potts about doing a biopic of his life. The film, titled ″One Chance″ (2014), starred British comedian and actor James Corden as Potts. Around the end of 2013, he began to think about the different genres of music and his long time love of pop music as well as opera. He decided to explore the idea of covering well known rock songs as opera, and from this idea his next album, ″Home,″ was released in 2014.