Russell Watson - factory hand to world stage

Manchester lad Russell Watson went from apprentice lathe operator to opera-singing sensation in just three years. GREG DIXON talks to the latest star of classical crossover.

Russell Watson. It's hardly the sort of name that suggests its owner might be a bit handy with an opera aria. More likely useful with a football at his feet or a spanner in his hand.

Nor is it a handle that recommends what tradition demands of opera singers: that they be short, fat, ageing and Italian.

But then Russell Watson - a tall, good-looking young Englishman with an accent as working class as a fry-up and a tenor voice as big as Wembley Stadium - doesn't seem to be a typical anything. More like freakish.

In three short years, the lad from Salford, greater Manchester, has gone from apprentice lathe operator earning £90 ($NZ304) a week and belting it out in working men's clubs at nights, to a six-figure record deal, more than 1.6 million in sales and belting it out for the likes of President George W. Bush and the Pope. The 28-year-old's first album, The Voice, which mixes pop with opera, has also gone gold in New Zealand.

"I could never dream that it was going to happen like this," says the matey lad himself, on the blower from Manchester. "I almost got on the proverbial roller coaster and it's still not stopped. And every day I think, oh it's going to peak, and lo and behold my manager comes in and something else is happening. We've just been discussing with Mel Gibson about doing the soundtrack for his next movie. It's, you know, Mel Gibson's company's just been on the phone, and you have to pinch yourself."

Watson's second album, Encore, which was released here last week, spent 10 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of Britain's pop charts. And, in the run-up to Christmas, the cheeky chap from Salford was revealed to be the fourth most popular British male artist (behind Robbie Williams, David Gray and Shaggy) and has apparently out-sold the likes of Madonna and U2.

And all this grew from a casual comment from a punter in Northern England. Watson, who grew up listening to his mum's classical records and his dad's pop LPs, had spent nearly half a decade singing West End hits and Meatloaf covers for cash at cabarets and clubs - until one night in Wigan.

"This chap from the Working Men's Club came up to me and said, 'I know what'd suit thy voice, that song, that Nesty Doormats by t'Pavarooty.'

"So I went off and learned Nessum Dorma [probably best known to many as the theme song for the 1990 soccer World Cup final in Italy] parrot fashion. I suppose it was dreadful at the time - looking back, it must have been - but I got a standing ovation the first time I performed it. I thought, I've got something here."

Singing the "doormat" led to other, bigger gigs. Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards, after hearing Watson at a hotel performance, invited the life-long United fan to sing in front of 92,000 spectators before Man U played Bayern Munich in the 1999 European Cup final in Barcelona.

Not long after that Watson scored a five-album deal with the world's most prestigious opera label, Decca-Universal, when he walked in off the street and gave them an impromptu taste of what is now known as The Voice.

The rest has been you know what. But he reckons he's at pains to keep it real all the same. He's no fan of kissy-huggy celeb parties, preferring his PlayStation or spending time with mates, wife Helen and their young daughter, Rebecca. That, or belting the hell out of something in the boxing training he does to keep fit.

He'll no doubt be able to do all of the above on his trip to Auckland, part of which will be aboard the cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II, which docks in the city on Waitangi Day.

Watson has stitched up a deal with PBS, the American public broadcaster, to do a free concert in Auckland's Domain on Wednesday night which will be filmed for television broadcast.

The cruise will also be filmed for a sort of Upstairs, Downstairs thing at sea, he says.

Joining Watson on stage here will be Faye Tozer, from British pop group Steps, and our own Hayley Westenra, who is apparently scheduled to join him for a duet.

The Voice will also be there though the usually garrulous Watson is a little cautious about that moniker. Someone once told him it was a very bold statement indeed, that it was a little too "Hey I'm The Voice, look at me". But he swears it's got nothing to do with inflated ego, more an alter ego.

"When we were recording the first album we were staying in a flat with my manager. The first person I'd tend to see in the morning, because he was always first up, was my manager. I'd go out of my room and he'd say 'morning mate, er, how's the voice?' And I'd go 'yes, The Voice is fine.'

"Sir William Hayward [his voice coach and mentor] would come along and say 'good morning Russell, how's the voice?' And I'd go 'The Voice is all right.' We'd get to the studio and [producer] Nick Patrick would say 'morning mate, how's the voice?' 'Yes, The Voice is superb,' I'd say, 'but when is someone going ask how I am?'

"Sir William did say to me one night when we were having a drink, 'Oh Russell, you do realise you're merely a life support machine for The Voice?' Talk about keeping your feet on the ground. Anyway, when it came to the album it was let's put this other person on it and then we're all involved."

So is his alter ego, The Voice, short, fat and Italian? "Ten foot and stringy," he hoots.

* Russell Watson and friends, Auckland Domain, Waitangi Day, from 8.30 pm.