Paul Potts Bio - Biography

Name Paul Potts
Height
Naionality American
Date of Birth 13-Oct-1970
Place of Birth America
Famous for
Sad Songs Say So Much. Paul Potts could certainly agree with Elton John’s sentiment.

Born in Bristol in 1971 to parents Roland, a bus driver, and Yvonne, a supermarket cashier, Paul says in the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine,

“I find sad arias easier to sing than happy ones, because I can always find an unhappy memory from somewhere.”

Paul has plenty of those. Hideously bullied at school, there was no real escape at home with two warring parents together with his three siblings, of which he says simply,

“Sometimes, if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time I’d get caught up in the fighting.”

Under his hair, he still bears seven scars from this time. Paul used to blame himself and he used to pray that God would make him a vicar, so that he’d be able to sing everyday. Even then, music was Paul’s solace. He used to retreat to the music room at lunchtimes to escape the school bullies in Port Talbot, South Wales, where his family moved to.






Happiness finally came to Paul Potts in 2003, in the shape of his now wife, Julie-Anne, whom he met in an internet chat-room. Julie Potts was ecstatic with his achievements and has been by his side supporting his performances

No-one really knew about Paul’s singing talent – certainly not his colleagues at Bridgend’s Carphone warehouse where he had been promoted to manager – and where he had yet to resign from a week after winning Britain’s Got Talent.

You see – Paul can’t quite believe it’s happened to him yet, niether can Julie Potts!

Just when he thought he might have been getting somewhere after winning Michael Barrymore’s My Kind of People (1999), his health was hit by a series of problems. He had met his now wife, Julie Potts in an internet chat room (which he found easier than face to face conversation) and was saving for his wedding when his appendix burst. Complications followed and a tumour was discovered. Paul pushed thoughts of the tumour aside to perform in Aida with the Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society and only then did he have the operation to remove the tumour, thinking

“If I don’t grab the opportunity to perform, I might never get to do it again,” Paul told Weekend magazine.

But Lady Luck wasn’t done playing with Paul – four days after his honeymoon he and his pushbike were hit by a car, fracturing Paul’s collarbone. He was off work for nine months and it’s the spiraling debts built up then that prompted Paul to apply for Britain’s Got Talent.

He filled out the application form on the internet, and then lost confidence yet again.

‘I got a ten pence piece out of my pocket and thought, “Right, if it lands on heads I’m going to submit it, if it lands on tails I’m going to delete it.”

Luckily for Paul – and for us – that coin landed on heads – and now the world knows who Paul Potts is; perhaps his luck is turning. With the top selling Paul Pots Album, things could not get any better.

Paul Potts Biography - Ten Years to Be an Overnight Success

Step aside Russell Watson - Paul Potts is the new classical singing sensation. Winning ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent (2007) show gave Paul a slot on this year’s Royal Variety Performance and a contract to record a CD. Paul’s amazing talent should by all that’s fair secure him a successful career and a life of financial security.

But it took a while. A week previously, no-one outside his small and very private life had heard of Paul Potts. But he’d been there, grafting away to try to make his singing dream come true – for ten years at least.

He began singing at school because choir practice kept him safely in the music room at lunchtimes, away from the bullies that haunted his schooldays. That’s where he fell in love with opera and the love affair blossomed like no other aspect of Paul Potts’ life (Until Paul Potts wife came into the picture - Julie Potts).






After school he carried on singing. The only way he could enter a karaoke competition to sing a Pavarotti song was to stuff pillows in his shirt and wear a Pavarotti wig. Paul Potts just didn’t think he was good enough – even after he won – to play it straight.

Paul Potts entered Michael Barrymore’s My Kind of People in 1999. He didn’t win the show outright, but he won ₤8,000 – exactly what he needed to take him on a singing course in Italy. He was so good he was invited to sing – unpaid – in front of Pavarotti.

Performances at Bath Operatic and Dramatic Society followed, where Paul’s talent was recognized but still it wasn’t hitting the big-time he dreamed of. That had to wait a while.

Paul Potts is his own worst critic of his early auditions on Britain’s Got Talent, but thankfully the judges saw something in him. Finally he went before the celebrity judges at Wales Millennium Centre on 17 March (it was broadcast on 9 June) and wowed Cowell, Holden and Morgan with his rendition of Puccini's aria from Turandot, which earned him a standing ovation from the audience.

He went on to perform Con te Partirò (Time To Say Goodbye) in the semi-final on 14 June, and eventually won the final three days later. In the meantime his recordings on YouTube attracted millions of viewers and is one of the most watched in YouTube history!. Go Paul Potts Youtube!

As overall winner of the show, Paul Potts was given a record deal from Simon Cowell, and a place on the bill of the Royal Variety Performance.

Paul Potts Photos