Paul Potts Got Talent

Paul Robert Potts (born 13 October 1970) is a British pop opera tenor who won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2007, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Potts was a manager at The Carphone Warehouse who also performed in amateur opera from 1999 to 2003.

Potts was born in Kingswood, near Bristol, England and raised in Fishponds, Bristol, by his father Roland, a bus driver, and mother, Yvonne (née Higgins), a supermarket cashier.[2] He has two brothers and one sister. Potts attended St. Mary Redcliffe school, where he developed his love of singing.[3] He also sang with the choir at Chester Park Junior School and with the choirs at several Bristol churches, including Christ Church. Potts said in interviews that he had been bullied in school, and that experience may have made him lack self-confidence. He has also said that his voice had always been a source of solace in the past when he was bullied.

He earned an Honours degree in 1993 from University College Plymouth St Mark & St John, majoring in Humanities.[5] In 1996, Potts was elected the youngest member of Bristol City Council; a Liberal Democrat, he served until 2003. Potts was a manager at mobile phone store Carphone Warehouse in Bridgend.



Potts first sang opera in 1999 in a karaoke competition, dressed as Luciano Pavarotti. That same year, he appeared in the Michael Barrymore musical quiz show My Kind of Music. Although he did not take first place, he won £8,000 — enough to help pay for vocal lessons in Italy, during which he was selected to perform in front of Pavarotti and Katia Ricciarelli.

Potts began in the minor roles of The Prince of Persia and the Herald in Puccini's Turandot for the Bath Opera, an amateur company, in 1999. He then performed leading roles on four occasions: Don Basilio in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 2000; Don Carlos in Verdi's Don Carlos in 2001; Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni in 2003; and Radames in Verdi's Aida in 2003. He also performed the role of the Chevalier des Grieux in Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the Southgate Opera Company in London, an amateur company, in May 2003. Additionally, he sang with a small ensemble from the Royal Philharmonic in front of an audience of 15,000 and toured northern Italy as a soloist as part of his music classes there.

In several interviews, Potts revealed that he performed Aida despite doctors' wishes to remove an adrenal tumour they had discovered during his illness from a burst appendix, and performed Manon Lescaut shortly after the surgery to remove it. Potts broke his collarbone and suffered whiplash in a bicycle accident in 2003, which prevented him from pursuing opera as a career. The mishap and financial difficulties that followed led him to enter Britain's Got Talent despite not having sung in years

Music Inspiration -The Corrs

Music to please the sole; Music to rest the mind; Music to dream by; and Music to live by. Music warms us. Music moves us. -WMW

Best Worldwide Undiscovered Artist

~ Mark Johnson, founder, Playing for Change

The act of playing music with people of different cultures, religions, economics and politics is a powerful statement. It shows that we can find ways of working together and sharing our experiences with one another in a positive way. Music has the power to break down the walls between cultures, to raise the level of human understanding.

As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. We dont need more trouble, what we need is love. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.









For those who want their own CD/DVD you may order the CD/DVD Playing For Change Songs Around The World" now at amazon.com!
http://tinyurl.com/c6mhgd

The Playing For Change "Songs Around The World" CD/DVD is also available at your neighborhood Starbucks and everywhere music is sold.

Order the "War/No More Trouble," "Stand By Me," "Don't Worry," and "One Love" videos and the new Songs Around The World album now at itunes!
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Young Guitar God Protégé

I just stumbled accross this young inspirational music man in South Korea.

His name is Sungha Jung. Happy to see this gifted young man accomplish so much in his spare time, instead of playing hours of Xbox 360. This young man is already an inspiration to over 4 million video viewers, on this video alone!

Here are the young mans own words from his website:

Hi, I'm Sungha Jung from South Korea. My dream is to become a professional acoustic fingerstyle guitarist.

I had been watching my dad play the guitar for awhile before I finally jumped on it myself three years ago. I turned twelve in September, 2008.

Currently, I am taking drum lessons and teaching myself fingerstyle guitar.



I'm very grateful to those prominent guitarists who have had a great influence on my guitar playing. I'll continue to study them and learn more about interpretation of music and various playing techniques.

My daily practice routine lasts for one to two hours when school is open, but I play up to three hours a day during the school breaks.

Last, but certainly not least, I can't thank Ulli Bögershausen enough for being my musical inspiration.



Here is this young music guitar gods website:
www.sunghajung.com

Let's here some inspiration from one of Sungha Jung's favorite guitar artist, Eric Clapton.

Patrick Henry Hughes - Inspirational Story

This is an amazing inspirational story. The most unlikely story of a Music Man. This video proves it's possible to be born with talent which you can choose to develop or leave behind. This is also a fantastic father and son story of love and commitment.