ABOUT

"I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and say 'Wake up, Paul, it's time for work - you're late again'. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster - a white knuckle ride into the unknown. And I don't want to get off!"

Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts has spent most of his life feeling 'insignificant'. Bullied at school for being 'different', he realised growing up that he had one true friend and that was his voice. Singing was his escape. He was able to lose himself in his own little world - the vicious words of his tormentors replaced by hauntingly beautiful lyrics and melodies that lifted his heart and spirit. It was a love, a passion, a lifeline that would follow Paul into adulthood and help him through many more periods of adversity. But it was also a gift that was destined to go largely undiscovered, due to a crushing lack of self-confidence that has dogged this hard working and humble man throughout his 36 years.

Born just outside Bristol on October 13, 1970, to bus driver Roland and his wife Yvonne, a supermarket cashier, Paul - who's one of four children
- was singing almost from the moment he could talk. "My mother recalls me listening to the theme from ET and conducting an imaginary orchestra with sticks," laughs Paul. By the time he reached 11, he was part of one of the best church choirs in Bristol. But it was when he hit 16 that his love of opera took hold. "I bought a cheap recording of Carreras," he recalls. "It was the first time I had heard Che Gelida Manina (Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen) and I was so moved by it. To this day La Boheme remains my favourite opera."

Although Paul has performed at amateur level, most notably with Bath Opera, his chronic lack of self esteem and fear of rejection always prevented him from trying to make it professionally. " As I saw it, if I never asked - never put myself out there - then I'd never get told "No",'says Paul. "It was safer that way."

So instead, he carried on with his day jobs - which have included stacking shelves in a supermarket and, most recently and famously, selling mobile phones, where he was told by one of his superiors that he was a 'natural salesman'. "But I knew I wasn't," says Paul. "When I was selling, I always felt like I was putting on an act. When I sang, that's when I felt I was myself - the real me."

In 2000, Paul used savings and a bit of money he'd won on a quiz show to attend a three-month summer school in Italy, where he learned the language and got to indulge his passion further. He even got to sing in a masterclass for his idol, Pavarotti. But he was about to be dealt a cruel blow.

In 2003, he suffered a burst appendix. While undergoing treatment for this, doctors discovered a benign tumour on his adrenal gland. It was successfully removed but while he was recovering, he was knocked off his bike and broke his collarbone. "Of all the health problems I'd been through, breaking my collar bone was the most painful and it took months to recover," says Paul. " I got very, very low and for once, singing was the last thing on my mind."

And he might have given up forever, had it not been for Britain's Got Talent - the talent show for today's generation, created by Simon Cowell and co-producved by his Entertainment company Syco TV, which last week was celebrating a double whammy. In a first for a reality TV format, the Got Talent shows on both sides of the Atlantic - Britain and America - were at number one, with more than 13 million viewers tuning in to see Paul win the final of the British version and the same figure welcoming back a second season of America’s Got Talent in the States. (The format has now been commissioned worldwide and will be shown in 40 countries by the end of the year!)

Though it's fair to say that when Paul strolled awkwardly - almost apologetically - onto the Cardiff stage for his first Britain’s Got Talent audition a week before that final, in his now infamous £35 Tesco suit, and announced to Simon and fellow judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan that he was going to sing opera, they never thought for one minute they were looking at their winner. Until he opened his mouth and started to sing.
It was, as Simon has said since, simply magical. "Incredible", agreed Piers. And Amanda, who was moved to tears, said his voice had left her covered in goosebumps. "We were not expecting that," admitted Simon.

"I was so nervous I was shaking like a jelly, but when I watch that audition back, i can see in my eyes that when I start to sing I go to a totally different place and the nerves just vanish," says Paul. "When I stopped singing, there were a few seconds when my heart was racing because I had absolutely no idea what the judges were going to say."

Since then, accolades have been posted on the Internet from as far afield as Australia and Taiwan, from fans who've seen Paul's performances on
YouTube. "A humble bloke who's not even aware of his amazing gift - Paul
Potts is a true star" wrote one.

"It has changed my whole life. I used to feel so small and insignificant.
But now I know I am someone - I am Paul Potts and this is what I do,"
smiles Paul.

But don't worry - there's no danger of him going all starry and getting above himself! "I am not going to change - although I might invest in some nicer suits! But whatever happens, I'm keeping that Tesco one. It's a reminder of where I was and where I attempt to remain - except in better clothes!"

Paul also hopes to get his teeth done. "I don't think I'd suit one of those dazzling Hollywood smiles, but I'd like to get the cap sorted as I'm very conscious about it when I sing." Other plans for the £100,000 prize money include taking proud wife Julie-Ann, 27, who he wed four years ago, on safari - and, fingers crossed, starting a family.

"It's something we couldn't afford to think about before," explains Paul, who lives with Julie-Ann in a modest two bedroomed house in Port Talbot, south Wales. "Now we can and that would complete things."

However, it might have to wait a little while. His feet have barely touched the ground since his victory last Sunday and he's got a host of engagements to prepare for. The Thursday after winning, Paul flew to New York to perform in the plaza for NBC's Today show - just days after Enrique Iglesias played the same venue and, the previous week, JonBon Jovi! Then he'll be back to the UK to start work on his first album.
And, of course, there's also the VIP performance for which he was competing in Britain's Got Talent - appearing in front of Her Majesty the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance in early December.

"All of this is like a fairy tale and I'm terrified I'm going to wake up soon and find I've dreamt it all," says Paul. "The support I've had has been incredible and I feel so touched and humbled by it. It has done so much for my confidence and I really can't thank people enough for giving me the chance to realise my dream. To be given an opportunity like this is more than I ever could have hoped for. Finally, I am going to be doing what I've always felt I was put here to do - something I love and that gives me so much joy

ECARD

COMING SOON












.

RELEASE

 

JOURNAL

Recording - 02/03/2009

It's all getting really exciting now as I have returned to Stockholm and Prague to finish the last few tracks on the album. My first day in Stockholm, I recorded one of my favorite arias of all time, E lucevan le Stelle from Puccini's Tosca. It is one of those arias that you have to give everything. I have to admit to feeling drained at the end of recording that one, but I loved every minute! It was great to be back in Stockholm again and walking around one evening, I noticed a stunning sunset forming over the Royal Palace not far away from where I was staying. I recorded some great tracks over the week, I tried to imagine that I was in a theatre performing them on stage.

Paul with the whole recording team and the conductor in Prague

I returned briefly to London briefly to do a live webchat for Amazon. It was great to chat to so many people, you all asked fantastic questions, there were so many, and I'm sorry if I didn't get to yours.

I have been alternating between Stockholm and Prague while recording this album, and because part of the recording fell on Valentine's Day I thought that it would be good to have Julz with me too. We had a lovely meal in an Italian restaurant in Prague where we had a double date with Yvie, my vocal coach and her husband and children who had come to join her for Valentine's Day.

Paul in Wenceslas Square, Prague


Stockholm at Sunset


Stockholm at Sunset

We also had a long walk around the city as Julz had not been there yet. We took a walk to the Castle and the Cathedral, we also walked to Wenceslas Square which is less of a square than a long boulevard. There were also lots of lovely shops with beautiful crystal glasses and chandeliers. Prague is a beautiful city and we fell in love with it's beautiful churches and squares. Here I recorded a few tracks with the orchestra. The orchestra were in great form as usual, and we had another free day in Prague before flying to Germany to do some interviews, and for the small matter of the Echo awards, the German equivalent of the Grammys or Brit Awards.

Paul and Julz with Yvie Burnett, Paul's vocal coach

Speak again soon!

Paul x

What A Year! - 30/01/2009

It’s incredible to look back on last year and see the places I have been to and the people I have met. I have to admit that when the tour started on January 17th 2008, I was feeling daunted by the size of the project ahead of me. I had never done anything like this before. I had performed in public before, but it had never been my show. I have seen places I have never been to before, even in the UK! It was fantastic to see so many places on the road, and return to places that have significance in my life like Portsmouth where I spent 15 summers in my youth, and Plymouth where I spent three years at University at Marjons.

I enjoyed returning to North America, and seeing how huge the country is, and just feeling over-awed by the fact that I was even touring there as an artist. The weather varied from hot in Florida to tempertures well below freezing in Canada. The welcome everywhere I went regardless of the weather outside was always warm, and it was great to meet so many of you after the show.

I then took a journey to the other side of the world, to the beautiful countries of New Zealand and Australia. There was so much variety of scenery and culture, that it became obvious to me that it is true that travel does indeed broaden the mind.

A stop in Asia on the way to Scandinavia brought me very appreciative and friendly audiences in South Korea, and although I had heard that South Korea is the home for a great deal of the electronics industry, I never realised that it was also filled with beautiful mountain scenery and also in Busan one of the prettiest pieces of coastline that I have seen.

Touring Scandinavia was an honour and a pleasure as I saw more of these wonderful countries, and what I thought was to be the end of the tour I spent the last few days in Amsterdam and two nights performing at the very famous Heineken Music Hall.

Little did I know what would happen in the Autumn. Thanks partly to a very well edited advert in Germany, I spent a lot of time in various cities in Germany performing at some of the biggest football games in Europe. I found my tour extending in the Autumn, with a show in Manila, The Philipines and three shows in Taiwan.

To my utter amazement what followed this was an arena tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. At the start of the year I could scarcely believe that I was touring at all, yet here I was touring Germany in venues of over 10,000 people seated. It all started in the beautiful city of Hamburg, where I was blown away by the reaction of 10,000 people at the Colorline Arena. This feeling was carried throughout the whole of this part of the tour. How big this was really hit me in Cologne where I walked out onto the stage in front of nearly 12,000 people. The seats seemed to go on forever! I’ve always enjoyed walking around cities that I am in, and Germany was no different. I truly enjoyed myself meandering around the streets of Cologne with its stunning Gothic Cathedral, Stuttgart with a stunning townhall square which was a great place to sit and drink coffee, Nurnberg (Nuremberg) with its stunning old Bavarian buildings, and rather steep walk up to the castle, and walking around its famous markets. We had lots of long, fun journeys on the tour bus, especially on the road from Nurnberg to Vienna and then from Vienna to Zurich. I clearly recall getting out of my bunk bleary eyed as we arrived in Zurich the morning after the second Vienna show, as I had finally reached the end of the road for the tour this year.

I wasn’t quite finished for the year, though. We had a stop on the way back home in Dusseldorf for me to perform at the ErfolgsKongress. There I had the great honour of hearing former President Bill Clinton speak, and got to meet him after he had given his speech. It was a great honour to meet someone who I had only seen on TV before, and was a fitting end to my touring for the year. What had started as a 55 date tour had turned into a year with over 100 full concert appearances, and I was staggered when I was told how many people had watched me perform this year: over a quater of a million people had paid to see me perform this year.

I’d like to thank each and every one of you for all your support and for all your messages of support. I’d also like to thank everyone that came to my live shows, it was great meeting you and I hope to meet you again when I start back on the road later on this year in the Autumn.

Finally I would like to thank my guest artists this year who have performed brilliantly and added sparkle to the show: Natasha Marsh in the UK, Scandinavia and Holland, Sarah, Joy and Kelly, otherwise known as The Three Graces in North America, Elizabeth Marvelly in New Zealand, Australia and Germany, Illumina in Japan, Kim in South Korea, Linda Lampenius Brava in the outdoor shows in Sweden, and also Rachelle Gerodias in Manila and Taiwan. Thank you all for your friendliness and ability, it was an honour performing with you.

There is also the small detail of a new album to record, but more about that very soon! Thank you all again for your support and friendship Julz and I would like to wish you all well for 2009.

Paul x

Back to the Far East - 12/11/2008

After a short break in our new house getting a bit of rest, we headed out to The Far East, and to the Philippines for the first time. We arrived after 17 hours of flying into the very busy city of Manila. We were staying in the business district, and the first thing we found was how hot and humid it was here. It was also very evident how friendly the people were. After a press conference, we had a meal in a local restaurant. The people of the Philippines have a history of really appreciating music. I had a show at the Plenary hall at the Philippine International Convention Centre, and really enjoyed it. There was a very warm reception from the 3,000 strong crowd, it was a truly enjoyable evening for me.

The next day, I went to the local shopping centre for a signing. It is always great to meet the people who make it possible for me to do what I have always dreamed of doing. Some people had travelled unbelievable distances, in fact there was a couple at the signing who had come all the way from Mexico to come to the concert: To that couple, Thank you very much!

After the signing we went for drinks with the British Council and the British Ambassador to the Philippines and his wife. It was a great honour to meet them, and the members of the British Council.

The next day we left for Taiwan. We arrived late morning and headed to our hotel after being greeted by some fans at the airport. It was great to see them. Taiwan is the 26th country I have performed in, and after a few hours rest I went to a local dim sum restaurant with Chris my musical director, Jake my tour manager and Rob Willis my new conductor. Our first show was up in the North of the island, in Taischung, and we had a very warm reception there.

The next day was my birthday, and my first duty for the day was a press conference. After taking questions, and giving a few interviews, the staff of the hotel very kindly presented me with a birthday cake. It turned out to be a cheesecake, which went down fine with Julz as she loves cheesecake!

Our next concert was in Taipei itself, in Taipei Arena. There we had the highest audience of the tour so far. More than 8,000 people came to the show, and we certainly knew they were there! They were very noisy in their appreciation and we all enjoyed the show hugely. Rachelle Gerodias, my special guest on this part of the show went down well with the audiences also, and I really enjoyed my duet with her, Brindisi from Verdi’s La Traviata.

Our last show in Taiwan was in the town on Tainan. Here we hosted the Mayor of Tainan. It was here that I received one of the greatest honours of my life. The Mayor presented me with the key to the city of Tainan, and the Freedom of the City whenever I wished to return. I have really enjoyed this mini tour of South-East Asia, and I’d like to thank everybody for the incredible support that they have given me.

On our way home, we had an unscheduled visit to China. I had been booked by Volkswagen China to perform at the launch of a new car model in Beijing. This was my first visit to China (so my 27th country!) and the performance was to take place at the Olympic Cycling Velodrome.

While at the hotel, I made Julz’s day. I’ve always been quite clumsy. I had walked out of the bathroom on the approach to the bathroom was a full length mirror. I discovered how clean this was as I turned right straight intoit thinking I was walking into the room! Julz found this quite funny, and after I had got over the embarrassment, I laughed at myself. Really quite typical for me!

The next day, we decided to make the most of the day, and we took a trip to the Great Wall. It was quite a long journey to the wall. It was one of the most astonishing sights of my life. I had seen pictures of it in books and on T.V., but nothing prepares you for seeing the real thing. Julz found the journey up a little unsettling as she doesn’t like heights. We had about an hour and a half to spend on and around the wall before we had to return to make our way to the airport to make our long journey back home.

We took a walk down the wall, downhill in any direction from where we started, which unfortunately meant that it was uphill all the way back! It must have been a monumental job to build this. The scenery here is also incredibly stunning, and the buildings on the wall are very imposing but incredible.

We slowly made our way to the airport via Tiannamen Square, and the first leg of our 20 hour journey home had started.

Next Stop? An arena tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland....

Our New House! - 20/10/2008

Something that Julz and I have been working on as and when we get as day or two aside is to find a new home. We have been keeping an eye out for houses that have a bit of character, that are in the area in which we live in or around Port Talbot. We wanted somewhere local because we both love the area, and Julz has her family close by.

We found somewhere eventually that fitted the bill exactly, a 1930’s art-deco house with bags of character and lots of original features. It was quite a challenge getting everything finalised as I had to sign the contract while I was in Zurich and then send it on to Julz to send to our solicitor.

In a gap between my show in Barcelona and a TV show in Germany, we managed to get all the details finalised, and we have the keys to our lovely new house! We have some work to do to get it to its former glory, but it’s ours and will be home for us.

We can truly see ourselves living the remainder of our days here, from the roof garden, towards the end of the day I watched the sun set over Mumbles and Swansea Bay, it truly was a sight to behold, and most of all, after a very full 15 months, it was ours. Julz and I hugged each other in disbelief at our good fortune.

The view from the back of the garden and from the roof is a stunning one, but the one thing that has made us stay in Port Talbot are the people. I have always found the people of Port Talbot warm and friendly, and in the 7 years that I have lived here I have always felt at home, and welcomed. It is the people of Port Talbot that make it home, and I am proud to live among such fantastic people.

San Francisco and Barcelona - 14/10/2008

One of the cities on the western coast that I had not managed to see so far was the very famous city of San Francisco. I had been invited to the US to perform at Google’s Zeitgeist conference, which was to be hosted not far away from San Francisco, so here was my chance!

I arrived on a very sunny day and we arrived in the town of Palo Alto on a very sunny warm day. Our hotel had a lot of character, and it was a good base for our next few days. Jake, my tour manager who is with me a considerable amount of time now, is a driver, so we organised a hire car so that we could see some of the sights.

We had a few trips into San Francisco, and on the first trip we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and saw the wonderful view across it. Having driven across it, we decided to get underneath it too, and took a boat trip underneath. It was quite windy along this strait of water, but the views were awesome.

We also found our way, almost by accident to the mot crooked street in the world on our way down to the docks. It was quite some sight! We also made a point of taking a trip on one of the cable cars, which has to be one of the must do’s when you are in San Francisco. It’s quite incredible how they managed to get the cables underneath the steep streets of the city.

I had a performance on the next day, so I had my hair cut by a local barber just around the corner from our hotel, and we made our way down to the huge Google Campus just further down US route 101. Performing for delegates can be very different from other performances but the google delegates were very welcoming and I enjoyed my two song performance. We later went to a meet and greet dinner where I met many people from all around the world, including will.i.am from one of Julz’s favourite groups, The Black Eyed Peas. Julz was quite chuffed when I had told her that I had met him, but less than chuffed when I hadn’t got her his autograph!

We had a last morning in the area, so Jake and I took a short road trip along one of the oldest routes in the US, route 1, The Pacific Coastal Highway. The scenery was simply stunning along here, and some of the best that I have seen in the US. All too soon, our time was up here on the very edge of the west coast of the US. This is somewhere Julz and I MUST return to when it’s possible, I know that Julz will love it here!

We flew later that day from one place that has to go down as one of my favourites to another one of my old favourites, Barcelona. I first flew to Barcelona on a very quiet flight on New Year’s Day 2000. I spent some time in the city and enjoyed the sights. In the time I was there, I got to know the city very well.

Since that time I have had many trips back. It is still one of my favourite cities, and is justifiably one of the great cities of the world. On the first day I was tour guide, taking Jake, via the excellent Metro system to Lesseps, and then the 3 mile uphill round trip on foot to the very famous Parc Guell, created by modernist architect, Antoni Gaudi. I had a bit of time here to explore, and so the next day, I walked down La Ramblas down to the sea, and then I took the time to walk down to La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished church started by Antoni Gaudi before he died, having been run down by a tram in June 1926. On my first visit here, I walked up two of the towers, and there are wonderful views from the top of these. I got here in the evening, and there wasn’t time to do this, alas.

The next day, I had a performance for the Gala dinner of the Equestrian Super League on behalf of the sponsors, Samsung. I sold quite a few of their phones as a salesman, so it was quite interesting working for them again. They had sponsored the Super league for over 10 years which is a very long period of time. The performance was in a lovely old house, and I enjoyed the performance immensely.

This trip including San Francisco has been one of my favourites, and it was a pleasure seeing so many fantastic sights.

Italy to Germany - 15/9/2008

It's been some time since I have been to Italy, the last time being when Julz and I went to Rimini and Rome on holiday back in 2004. Italy is a country we have liked a great deal, since we have been there together 3 times, including our honeymoon in Sorrento in 2003. Imagine my delight when I was told I would be performing at a wedding in Tuscany! I had been to Tuscany before, but only to the beautiful city of Florence (Firenze to the Italians).

We flew into Rome, and got in quite late. We had quite a long drive to where we were to stay, a lovely hotel and vineyard, close to the town of Grossetto. Being Tuscany, there were lots of vineyards making wines for the many Tuscan and Super Tuscan wines. This area was the main area for one of my favourites: Morrelino di Scansano. Some of my time at Tesco was as a wine advisor, so I remember tasting some of the wines in my training.

We woke to a wonderful hot sunny morning. We couldn't eat breakfast in the restaurant, as the bride wasn't aware that we were there and it was a surprise, so we had breakfast in our room. We ate our breakfast outside facing a golf course adjacent to the vines.

We left for the church about midday, and it immediately struck us how stunning this area is. The church was on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. The village was a small one, with only about 100 people living there. It felt like they were all there to watch proceedings. The Carabinieri were struggling a bit to organise the traffic. It was a beautiful small church, dating from the 1600's. It was a lovely service in a wonderful venue. We returned to the hotel, as I was to perform later on in the reception. I performed not long before midnight, performing Nessun Dorma with fireworks going off all the way through it.

We had a few drinks with the wedding party afterwards, and found that although a lot of the family were from Norway, about half of them were from around Sheffield! Julz and I would like to thank the families for making us a part of their celebrations and for making us feel at home.

We left Tuscany the following day, disappointed that we couldn't spend more time here. There are so many places we would like to return to, and this one definitely is another one to go on the list.

We got back to the UK, where Julz left me for a few days to relax for a while at home. I was soon off again, however, this time to Germany. My appearance on Britain's Got Talent is being used on a home and mobile phone advert in Germany, and to my great shock, as a result, One Chance has ended up at No1 in the main chart. Not only that, Nessun Dorma which was only available on download had made it to no 3 in the singles chart, apparently the highest ever position for a single only available online in Germany.

I arrived in the wonderful city of Cologne, and I did a whistle stop tour of Germany, including Berlin where I performed on a show aimed at teenagers. It was the first time that I had performed for a show that had a target age of 11 - 17. Our next stop was Munich where I had been invited to perform at the opening of the Bundesliga, the German football league. Performing In front of 70,000 people is a slightly nerve-wracking experience, and the crowd were quite noisy so it took a little bit of concentration to make sure that I could hear both myself and the music. It was an incredible event to be involved with, and it was an amazing atmosphere. I will have the same experience again soon when I am due to return again to the same stadium for a performance at the last game of Oliver Kahn.

Before we left for the airport, I went to a signing, and about 1,000 people arrived. It's always a pleasure for me to meet people as I know that I only get to do what I love doing because of people buying my record and tour tickets.

Back From the World Tour - 3/8/2008

Since returning from my mammoth trip around the world in 4 days, I had some outdoor concerts. The first was not far away from Portsmouth where I went for many years as a child. It was a very full programme, including some of my favourite arias and neopolitan songs. It was also a Last Night of the Proms tribute (despite that fact that The Proms themselves only began the night before at the Royal Albert Hall). I really enjoyed myself, singing my favourite things and having the honour of leading the singing of the traditional last night favourites.

From sunny Portsmouth we went back to Scandinavia, and Julz and I spent the day in Copenhagen. We took a walk down to Tivoli Gardens, and walked around the gardens. It is always pretty there, and I have been in there quite a few times on previous trips.

From Copenhagen we travelled to Malmo, for a couple of days in order to be able to rehearse with the orchestra. The orchestra sounded fantastic when I arrived for the rehearsal. It was great to have a big orchestra behind me, I also decided to add some new arias and neopolitan songs to the programme.

The day between rehearsal and performance was Julz's birthday so we had the day together in Malmo after I brought her breakfast in bed. We enjoyed a quiet day together wandering around Malmo.

The next day, we made our way down to the first venue in Helsingborg. It was a stunning venue and I would have the castle behind me while I was singing. Sofiero Slott is very close to Denmark as you can see a Danish castle just across the sea. Apparently, a long time ago, a Swedish King spied on a Danish Queen in her castle with a telescope from the castle at Helsingborg.

The weather for the Swedish shows was glorious but very hot indeed! The first show had my biggest crowd ever for a paid concert: 8,000 people and there were people as far as I could see from the stage. It was fantastic to see so mny people there, and to have a greart orchestra behind me.

From Sofiero Slott, we went to Sundbyholms Slott in Eskiltuna, which was another fantastic Swedish castle. We travelled there overnight in the tour bus, arriving just in time for breakfast in the Castle's cellar (or is that dungeons?!). I'd initially thought that we were by the sea again, but what we were by was actually a very large lake. It was another very hot day, and we met some of the people attending the concert, in the hotel. They were from Oxford, and had seen me perform there. They were there to see me perform, but also because it was their son's wedding at the same venue. As their wedding was to take place exactly where the stage was, I told them we would try and make sure that the stage was down in time! I had another very enjoyable concert in front of a very large, very appreciative audience, and we had a drink with the wedding party before we went to bed.

The next day, we drove down in the tour bus down to Gothenberg for the last of the three outdoor concerts, which was in one of the stadiums in the city. It was so hot that it was affecting the instruments, so we had to delay the start of the show to allow the sun to disappear behind the trees. I really enjoyed the experience of having a large orchestra behind me, and Gothenberg was another large appreciative audience.

So that was the last of my live concerts until I leave for South-East Asia in October. It has been fantastic meeting so many people and working with so many fantastic people. I would like to thank everyone involved, especially Jake, my tour manager, Mark Agnor, the conductor, Chris Taylor the musical director and Mark Littlewood who ensures that everything sounds great! Most of all, I'd like to thank everyone that has come to see me perform: It is only because of you that I get to do what I love, and I'd like to thank you form the bottom of my heart.

Paul x

End of Tour Recap - 2/7/2008

Hi everyone,

After the Far Eastern journey, it was time to start the Scandinavian leg of my world tour. I started off in Denmark with the first five of ten concerts in the country. I was astounded when I was told that my album had actually been the highest selling album of the whole year in Denmark. For that, I'd like to thank everyone in Denmark for supporting me. We started off in Copenhagen, of which I had fond memories of my first visit. In September last year, I was told that in a 2 song live performance, I should expect a crowd of around 1,000 people. I was flabbergasted when I walked out on stage in front of about 20,000 people! The police said that they had the biggest crowd since Denmark won the European Championship in 1992!

I took quite a few walks through Copenhagen in stunning weather. The areas close to the castle and palaces are truly stunning. I found the audiences in Denmark incredibly supportive and appreciative. At the start of the tour in North Wales, I was dreading the talking part of the show as I thought I would be stuck and nervous as to what to say, especially in places outside the UK. English is spoken very very well in Scandinavia and this was proved to be true. Quite a few of the concerts were outdoors, and one or two of them were pretty chilly. I had the pleasure of welcoming Natasha Marsh back on the road with me, we had great fun working together again in Scandinavia, especially as we had some very long journies on the tour bus from place to place. We saw some wonderful cities and had glorious weather. Stockholm I have always loved, plenty of nice streets to walk in. Malmo, Gothenberg, and Oslo were all fantastic places to visit.

Part way through the Scandivian tour, I performed on the final of Holland's Got Talent in Amsterdam. It brought back to me the time last year when I was waiting to go on stage to perform in the final of Britain's Got Talent.

Although I was feeling quite nervous because of the sense of de ja vu, but then I just really enjoyed my perfomance.

Before too long I was back in Amsterdam performing at the Music Hall, for my final two concerts of this part of the tour. I got another reminder of the past though, waking up in agony as my left shoulder, which had been injured in the accident on my bicyle 5 years ago had completely frozen up. Although it hurt even to breathe (and it hurt a lot!) I had made it through 77 concerts in 145 days without a cancellation and I was determined to finish the tour with a 100% attendance. The Dutch audience, as ever were very friendly and appreciative, even though on the 9th I was keeping them away from watching their home team beat Italy 3 - 0 in the European Championship!

I have really enjoyed the tour and it has been fantastic performing music that I love in front of over 200,000 people on this tour alone. It's been fantastic having 200,000 friends supporting me in person. I'd also like to thank everyone that has left messages of support here on the website and elsewhere. I do read them, and really appreciate it! Thank you! Thank you also to a few more fantastic people without whom this tour would have been impossible. Thank you to my wife, Julz (of course!), Jake and my management team, my conductor, Mark Agnor, Musical Director and my Pianist, Chris Taylor (and voiceover artist extraordinaire!) and of course everyone who came to the show. THANK YOU!!!

Now I have a few days rest, and then I am off to LA to record my next album....

See you all soon!

Korea - 24/5/2008

After a few warm sunny days in Japan, we left on a morning flight to goto Seoul, South Korea.  Julz and I arrived at the airport and were met by a huge crowd at the airport including two very cute young children in national dress.  After a brief chat with members of a fan club (it feels absoloutely strange that anyone should want to have a fan club for me, my thanks go to Hans and all the other members of the Korean Fan Club for their support) we left for a press confernce.  I was expecting a similar press conference to the one in Tokyo a few days before.

What I got, shook me!  I walked in to the room to find a large room filled with more than 200 journalists in the room.  Then the cameras started.  There were so many cameras pointed at me, that I could feel the heat of the camera flashes!  As part of the press conference I agreed to be a patron for a charity combatting TB in North Korea.  I was presented with a plaque and a national dress.

After the press conference, I had a performnace on a show called W.  The last time I had worked with that programme we had been running down a corridor in Stockholm to make the stage in time at a Breast Cancer Charity Ball! 

I had 3 performances in Seoul, and I enjoyed them all immensely.  The reaction I received at all three performances were the loudest on the whole tour so far.  I couldn't even hear the 60 piece orchestra behind me for the cheers!  The concerts were some of the most enjoyable whole tour so far.  I've always been very keen to see as many people as possible after a show.  There were over 200 people at the back door after the show! 

After 4 days in Seoul, we flew down to Busan which is a lovely seaside city next to the sea.  The scenery was stunning along the sea front, and we really enjoyed our time in Busan.  It was very warm here and both Julz and I got a nice tan while we walked along the beach.  It was another fantastic reaction at the concert in Busan.  I also discovered that my recording of Nessun Dorma was used for a couple of adverts for skyscapers in Busan.  It's really cool, but still quite suprising that people want to use my singing as a backdop for selling a product.

We really enjoyed our time in Korea, and although Julz was originally a little apprehensive about this part of the tour, she really enjoyed it, and we would both really like to return here again.  Busan was particularly beautiful.  I would like to thank the people of Korea for all their support and for being such an enthusiastic audience!

Japan - 12/5/2008

We arrived on an overnight flight from Perth to the very busy city of Tokyo. This was our first visit to Tokyo and indeed to Japan. When I arrived, I had a press conference. I always find these quite nerve-wracking as you never know what people are going to ask you. I think it went pretty well, and from the room I could see Shibuya station, Tokyo's busiest railway station. I have never seen so many people cross a road at one time. Once I had finished at the press conference, I had the rest of the day free, so I took a walk around the city for a while, and crossed that very street.

There were electrical shops all over the place, and having a fascination for mobile phones Julz would say that I was in my element! There would have been little point buying one, however as they wouldn't work in Europe, but it was nice to have a look around.

Later in the evening we went to a traditional sushi bar for dinner. Julz was very apprehensive about this part as she was concerned that she wouldn't like it. Julz was very brave, and will try anything at least once, it's just that she can't disguise her face when she doesn't like something! She enjoyed the tuna, and tried as much as she could. I enjoyed my sushi and shaashimi, particularly the tuna, and the raw white fish with rice and wasabi. I quite like horseradish and wasabi tastes quite similar (in that if you eat a little too much, it makes your eyes water!).

The first performance in Tokyo, was something of a learning experience as I was working with an interpreter. She was very good and picked up what I was saying very quickly. The audiences were again very responsive. Ater the show, we went around to a tipenyake restaurant where the chef cooks on the table in front of you. I had been to one of these in Ottawa some years before with my Canadian friends, and there was here a huge range of different foods. Eating in Japan is very social and Julz and I really enjoyed ourselves.

The next morning I took a walk around the city and walked arounf the main park in the city centre of Tokyo: Yoyogi Park. It was very warm outside, and it was wonderful to find such a lovely park in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city. Tokyo has left me the impression of a city that has many contrasts. You have the very busy centre around Shibuya station, yet less than 2 miles away, there is the peace and quiet of a park.Julz and I would dearly like to return to Japan again and see more.

Vancouver - 29/3/2008

Hello!

Well we arrived safe and sound in Vancouver. We had a good walk around it and it's a wonderful city! You can see the Pacific Mountain range between the buildings. If only we had more time here to explore! The next day we made our way over to Victoria. On the trip across the sea, we spotted a distant Mount Baker, a dormant volcano totally covered in Snow, a beautiful looking mountain that dominates the US city of Seattle. The Macpherson Theatre was another wonderful intimate theatre. At the end of the concert I threw the roses into the crowd and managed to reach the balcony with one of them!

Julz is slowly but surely becoming addicted to French Toast, especially the banana variety! Not being a particular fan of bananas, I stuck to the plain variety. Yum! My last Canadian concert was in Calgary. The audience laughed out loud when I recounted the story that I had watched Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards on the TV at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. I was very relieved to find that the cold that I had been suffering from had completely gone, and not only that, the trapped nerve was no longer giving me problems. The Jack Singer Hall was a lovely place to perform in and I enjoyed my performance.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in Canada for giving me such a wonderful welcome and reception. I hope to see you all again soon!

Canada - 21/3/2008

Hi Guys, I've made it to Canada!

We're here right in the middle of March and the snow is on the ground, much to Julz's delight. We landed in Toronto, one of our favourite cities, and we headed for our favourite steak house that is not a nightmare on Elm Street! Barberiens is our regular haunt in Toronto.

This part of the tour is a real road trip, from Hamilton we headed to Montreal in a tour bus so we got to sleep on the way. This is the first time I have ever slept on the road in a tour bus, so it was quite an experience!

In the meantime, I had managed to catch a cold while in New York, and Julz describes me as a typical man when it comes to having a cold: When I have a cold, I'm dying! Getting a cold is certainly not ideal, but they are difficult to avoid, even though I take plenty of vitamin supplements and drink plenty of orange juice, and eat plenty of fruit. I tried to stay positive and just perform as well as I could.

There were some absolutely stunning places to perform in: Places des Artes in Montreal and the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto were both packed to the rafters and wonderful places to perform in. The Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa was a more intimate affair.

I am quite familiar with Ottawa. My family has friends relatively close to Ottawa and I have spent quite a bit of time there. 7 years ago I managed to get time off to go to Canada, and I fibbed saying that I was going there to sing. Little did I know that lie would turn out to come true 7 years later.

We then flew out to Edmonton. It was actually quite a lot warmer than Ottawa, although it had been -30 degrees C only a few days before. I managed to pick up some leg pain, and I spent the evening limping around the stage like anything. It turned out that I had a trapped nerve that had been there some time, probably as long ago as the accident where I fractured my collarbone. It was very painful and the treatment for it where the therapist put my joints back in line was even more painful. I think I probably looked very funny on stage hobbling around!

From edmonton, straight after the show we got onto another tour bus for the 13 hour drive to Vancouver. On the way we got caught up in a blizzard and the driver had to stop to wait it out.

I am really enjoying my time in Canada, the audiences have been very welcoming, and it has been good to see more of a country that I love.

Westbury, New York

Hi guys,

Well, to my utter disbelief, I've started my North American tour! It's really difficult to believe that a year ago I was still selling phones in Port Talbot, and yet here I am treading the boards in some wonderful venues in the US.

When we arrived, we went to Las Vegas for a mini holiday and saw some amazing sights, including flying over the Grand Canyon and landing above the Colorado river and then flying over the Las Vegas strip. We watched Spamalot at one of the Casino Theatres which we loved (we have always loved Monty Python movies).

A few days later and the tour started, and I have to say that I've been blown away by the reaction! I'm getting to see parts of the US that I have never seen before. The theatre in Tampa was a truly stunning building, and was very intimate - I could really feel people willing me on!

Before the concert in Washington DC we drove past the White House from a distance, and got stuck in traffic, so I took the opportunity to take some photos. Washington is one place I'd love to return to to see more of, as unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time there.

One thing that has struck me is how in some places, it is possible to build a city within a building. In Vegas there was a building with a sky with rainstorms and the inside of Foxwoods Casino near Ledyard, CT was like a whole city inside - just amazing!

Thank you to everyone that has come to my concerts so far and to everyone for their messages of support. I really do appreciate it!

Paul x

Amsterdam, Holland

My first impression of Holland was how lovely the narrow streets and canals are. I stayed in a hotel right by the canals and had a few walks around the streets getting my bearings. On the first day I performed on a very zany show, Mooi Weer de leeuw. I was told that the comedian who hosts the show was a bit eccentric but that his show was the highest rating show in Holland. I loved performing Caruso with live piano and strings; it is already one of my favourites, but even more so with the alternative arrangement.

I was a bit startled by the host when he returned in a different guise, but was told that this is normal for his shows. After the show I visited the Anne Frank House and Museum. I'm still amazed that Anne, her family and friends managed to stay in these quarters for more than 2 years undiscovered, and how cruel the timing was that had she lived another month she would have been liberated. I also recorded at the classical music venue in Amsterdam, Concertgebouw. The interviewer there was far different to Paul de Leeuw and the interview passed with no suprises! I enjoyed performing in the concert hall. The acoustics were superb.

Lisbon, Portugal

It's my birthday!!!! But no rest for the wicked!!! I arrived in Lisbon shortly after midnight on my birthday, 13th October. I woke reasonably early and after breakfast took an hour to walk around. It was already pretty warm, but the architecture in Lisbon is beautiful. The hotel I am staying in is gorgeous. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to see so many places.

The performance I did in Lisbon is for a show called Operacio Triunfo, the Portuguese version of a show that aired in the UK a few years ago called Fame Academy. I went to the rehearsal, and felt very relaxed. When I arrived at the venue for the actual performance, I was again shown the joy of live tv. My performance had been brought forward by 45 minutes! It was a bit of a rush, but the crowd really welcomed me, and I enjoyed my performance. The crowd sang happy birthday to me, there were so many of them there!

I lost count of the number of birthday cakes I have been given! I can't eat them all, and cannot possibly take them all with me! Having said that one I had a couple of pieces from at the hotel was absolutely gorgeous!!!!

Pictures

 

Summary of the week:

What a week! Three countries I have never been to before and three very different places! Helsinki was pretty chilly but with lovely Russian influenced buildings especially the domed church. Holland was a mixed bag, there was the very different experience on Dutch TV, but then the very subdued atmosphere of the Anne Frank House.

Portugal was very hot and very beautiful. The crew and contestants of the TV show made me feel very welcome, and there are far worse places to be on your birthday than in sunny Portugal!

Next stop is Toronto. I've been here a couple of times before, the last time in deepest winter with -25 degree C with Julz. I have a feeling that I will be pretty busy!

On the road diary – Finland 10/10/2007…..

My first ever visit to Finland.

I arrived here in Helsinki very late/early Monday/Tuesday whichever way you look at it! I had a chance to have a wander around Helsinki first thing in the morning, and my first impression of the city is that it is much colder here than where I have been recently.  In Chicago it was 30 degrees whereas here it was about 8! I don’t really feel the cold, so I’m fine with that! I had an interview with one of the major newspapers in Finland ‘Ilta-Sanomat’, and then we made our way to the TV studios for Channel 4 where I performed for their equivalent to Britain’s Got Talent, ‘Talent Suomi’ which is Finnish for ‘Finland’s got Talent’.

The studio was a bit smaller than the one I used in the British version but it was very welcoming as were the hosts. I also met one of the judges who is a choreographer for the Finnish National Opera.  I couldn’t tell whether they had an equivalent of Simon on the show, but there’s only one Simon Cowell! I did hear some of the rehearsals and the standard was very high.  I was still pretty nervous about performing, and yet I wasn’t even being scrutinised by the judges!!  I enjoyed my performance, and I hope that the people in Finland did also. My performance on this show is broadcast on the 11th November.  
 
On the way back we drove round the long way and saw some wonderful architecture that was heavily influenced by the period when Finland was controlled by Russia until liberation in 1917.  The domed church was stunning as were all the other buildings in the square.
 
My album is due out in Finland on 24th October, and I look forward to returning to Helsinki next year when I will be performing live in concert on June 6th. It will be great to see more of the city.  
 
I am now on my way to my next destination:  another place I have never been to before, Amsterdam. It’s wonderful to be able to see so many places and meet so many friendly people!
 
Thank you once again to all those I met and made me welcome whilst in Helsinki.

TORONTO, CANADA- 15/10/07

After about 20 hours back in the UK, I've flown to one of my favourite cities, Toronto. Julz is travelling with me, and the last time we were here was about 3 years ago when we came here for a Valentine's week treat. It was a bit warmer this time, bearing in mind last time that it was -30!!! We arrived late afternoon, and we took a walk down to the area that we stayed in last time. We found our way to Yonge Street, the longest street in the world at 1896km (1185miles) long. Yonge Street is the main shopping street in Toronto, and we stopped for a coffee. Typically for me, I had a clumsy moment in the coffee shop and knocked my coffee over, a good deal of it ending up over Julz (sorry again, babe!!!!).

In the evening, we went back to our favourite steakhouse, Barberiens on Elm Street (no, it wasn't a nightmare!!!!). The Filet Mignon was every bit as good as we remembered it! Barberiens is quite an old fashioned place, and there was a local link for us as well as in 1964, Richard Burton (who came from Pontryhdyfen, 3 miles away from where we live in Wales) proposed to Elizabeth Taylor here in this restaurant.

16/10/07

Up bright and early this morning for my first performance in Canada, on Canada A.M. early performances are always a bit tough, but I was pretty happy with my performance this morning. I also performed live for a radio station this morning not long after the breakfast show.

Later in the day, I recorded an interview for a Canadian chat show, The Hour, and I quite enjoyed this interview, the host was good fun, and I ended the interview by retelling the story about how I managed to have my mobile phone with me on the night of the first live show on Britain's Got Talent.

The host is a great fan of the great British drama, Life on Mars, and the ringtone that would have gone off just as Simon Cowell began to speak that night was "Oi! Fatty!! Eat another pie and shut it!!" Thankfully my phone was on silent mode!!

After recording the show, we met up with the record company's canadian MD, Shane, and the manager for one of Canada's favourite stores, Roots, to have a look around the store and do a little shopping. Apparently, Paris Hilton was just leaving the store as I went in. Being my usual observant self, I managed to miss it!

We went to a private club for a fantastic meal, and then went back to the hotel.

17/10/07

In our families, all our birthdays seem to follow each other. Saturday was mine, today is my mum's birthday. I attempted to call her several times so that I would catch her before it became too late in UK time. I did manage to catch her just before she left to go to our favourite restaurant in the Lake District, a restaurant called Lucy's on a Plate, in Ambleside.

Today was another busy day with an early breakfast show, plus a live broadcast performance for the main classical radio station in Canada. I enjoyed the performance again, and we then went to Sony's headquarters in Toronto, where we spent some time in the Elvis room.

We left for Toronto's City Centre airport, for our flight to Montreal. When we arrived there we had to take a short ferry ride to the airport which is on an island on Lake Ontario the only Great lake that is Canadian. We had just checked in when we were told that our flight had been cancelled due to technical problems. This meant that we had a 2 hour wait for the next flight, so we took the opportunity to go back into the city.

We wanted to go up the CN tower to have a drink from the observation cafe, but unfortunately there was a private function there so we went to different place and had a quick drink while whiling away the time.

MONTREAL, CANADA - 18/10/07

We have just one day in the French part of Canada, Quebec. I did another breakfast radio show. I actually quite enjoy doing the breakfast show on radio. They always seem to have a good vibe, and I tend to have a bit of humour in the morning's, can't think why!!!

I made sure that I had a good breakfast as I wanted to use our time at luchtime to see a little of the city as it would be the only opportunity that I would get. I always try to see something of a city when I can, as otherwise all you see is hotels, airports and studios. Montreal is a very cosmopolitan city with a great feel to it with a real mix of european and North American.

We left later for the airport for our flight to New York, which was delayed due to visibility problems in the New York area causing a knock on delay throughout the day. We arrived at the La Guardi Airport on one of the islands,and we had a great view of Manhattan skyline as we approached the airport. I made a point of not telling Julz how close we were to the water on the approach, as she always hates take off and landing. We could see the Empire State and Chrysler building very clearly.

NEW YORK, USA - 19/10/07

Today is Julz's mum's birthday and we had better luck getting hold of her than my mum two days earlier! This was my third trip to New York and Julz's first trip to New York. The weather was very murky and would get worse as the day went along. The first part of the day was spent doing satellite radio interviews from a studio in places as far apart as Seattle and Kansas. It's when you do things like this that you realise just how massive the US is!

I had quite a large interview to do for a major programme on the ABC network in the Sony building on Madison Avenue and the weather really set in so we had to curtail some of the filming that had been planned. I felt very comfortable in the interview though. I often feel very nervous in interviews as I never get used to it and always treat each interview as if it were my first.

In the evening, the weather cleared up a bit although the clouds stayed pretty low. Julz and I went for a wander down Broadway down to Times Square and we had dinner close to Rockefeller Plaza. We noticed that the Observation Deck was still open for the Top of the Rock experience, but the clouds were too low for that so we decided to wait and see what the weather is like tomorrow for that. We strolled back to our hotel a much shorter way than the way I had taken Julz, who asked me why I didn't take that route on the way up!

NEW YORK, NY 20/10/07

We woke to cloudless skies, and went down for breakfast to decide what to do. We had a lovely breakfast sat out in the warm sunshine, and decided to take a walk through New York to try and find something for our nephews, Connor (9) and Lewis (7) who love motor cross racing.

On the way, we returned to Rockefeller Plaza (the shorter route this time!!) to take a trip up to the top of the GE building, so called the Top Of The Rock. It was a very warm day with temperatures in the 70's. It's meant to be autumn!!! I'm glad I brought some summer clothes!

The view from the top of the Rock was sensational, although it did give Julz a bit of Vertigo so we didn't stay right up the top for too long. It was the perfect weather for this though, and we enjoyed our time at the top with such wonderful views of the city. Julz was struck by how big the city is, especially Central Park.

We decided to walk down to the part of the city where concierge had told us the shop was, at Union square. It hit us how long Broadway is as a street, and how it dissects the downtown part of the city. When we did get to Union Square no one had heard of the store that the concierge had told us about. At least we had seen something of the city anyway!!! We took a ride in a yellow cab back to Times Square and had a meal directly on Times Square and headed back to the Hotel.

Check out Paul's pictures from New York
       

21/10/07 - NEW YORK, NY

Another warm and sunny day here in New York on what would be our last day in 'The Big Apple' on this trip. We had big aims for today, we were aiming to do the 'Duck tour' where the tour bus actually goes into the water in the Hudson River, and we were also aiming to see the Statue of Liberty.

The first part we managed. We got on the bus come boat just after 1pm, and set off on our trip around the city. We entered the water with a bit of a splash, but I managed to not get too wet. The views of the city from the water were outstanding, especially the Empire State building and the Time Warner building on 58th/Columbus circle. The trip was quite informative and entertaining and we both enjoyed it.

When w got back on to dry land we decided to see if w could do the Statue of Liberty. The quickest way would have been to use the Subway, but as Julz gets a bit claustrophobic, we decided to take a cab down to Battery Park. We passed the site of the World Trade Centre and were struck by the size of the hole that has been made in the skyline of this part of Manhattan.

When we got to Battery Park, we were struck by how many people were queuing for tickets and to actually get on to the boats. Just after we got there was an announcement that the boats were all sold out, so we didn't manage to see the Statue of Liberty close up.

We got a yellow cab back to Times Square, and then made our way back to the hotel to get ready for the next part of our trip, Mexico. Before we left, we went up to the Penthouse Bar at the hotel and had a quick drink with a wonderful view of Times Square and Broadway behind us.

MEXICO - 22nd October 2007

We flew out very early so that we could arrive in time to see some of Mexico as we knew that the schedule in Mexico was going to be quite tight. We arrived at 05.45am, greeted by a TV crew from Hechos. To my shock, it was a live transmission from the airport, so it was just as well I had changed out of my knee length shorts and t shirt!

We had a few hours sleep after breakfast, and then set off for the Aztec Pyramids. We stopped off at a Cooperative where I bought something for the house made out of local stone and also bought Julz a necklace, with local crystals and quartz. We also tasted some tequila, which after having some salt and lime wasn't as shocking to the system as I thought.

We then left for the pyramids, and I was struck by how big they were. I decided that I would climb the larger of the two. I got up there in about 15 minutes, so that was my gym workout for the day! What a sensational view from the top! Surrounded by a fantastic panorama of mountain ranges it was a great place to be.

In the air I could feel the rain coming and we had been warned that it would rain. And boy, did it rain! We drove down to the centre of Mexico City and the Presidential Palace and the Cathedral looked stunning it was just a pity that there was a raging storm around us so we couldn't have a closer look.
 
Paul Potts