Paul Potts is an opera singer who won the first series of Britain's Got Talent.
Before his audition, Potts stated that he was a phone salesman, and that his dream was to 'Spend the rest of my life doing what I feel I was born to do'.
In his audition, Potts performed 'Nessun Dorma' by Luciano Pavarotti, after which Simon remarked 'This is a complete breath of fresh air', with Piers adding 'If you keep singing like that, you are going to be one of the favourites to win this whole competition'.
In the Semi-Final, Potts performed 'Time to Say Goodbye' by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli. Simon remarked 'Every time you come on I want you to do well, and you just did well; it was magic', with Amanda adding 'My granddad passed away last week and he would have voted for you, so I vote for you'. Potts won the Public vote in his Semi-Final, advancing directly through to the Final.
In the Final, Potts once again performed 'Nessun Dorma' by Luciano Pavarotti. Piers remarked 'We've seen some incredible acts tonight, but after seeing you perform I still think you're the winner of [BGT]', with Amanda adding 'You'll be on a contract from Monday'. He won the public vote, becoming the first winner of Britain's Got Talent.
After BGT[]
In December 2007, Potts performed at the Royal Variety Performance singing 'Nella Fantasia' by Sarah Brightman and 'Nessun Dorma' by Luciano Pavarotti whilst accompanied by a female backing choir.
Potts has performed at a number of shows around the world since his Britain's Got Talent performances. His debut album, ‘One Chance’, reached #1 in the Official Singles Chart and went Double Platinum, with his cover of Nessun Dorma charting at #100.
He released his second album, ‘Passione’, in 2009, which reached #5 in the UK Charts. Additionally in 2009, he performed live in the studio on the Final of the 3rd season of ‘Australia's Got Talent’ as a guest performer.
In November 2010, he appeared as a special guest performer during the Final of the 3rd season of ‘Norway's Got Talent’.
Potts performed at the Royal Variety Performance 2012 for the 2nd time, however this time performed alongside Diversity, Stavros Flatley and Spelbound.
In 2013, a biopic film of Potts' life, starring James Corden and Julie Walters, was released, taking over £7 million at the box office. In the same year he released his third album, ‘The Greatest Hits’, which reached #21 on the Official Chart.
In 2018, Potts competed on South Korea’s ‘King of Mask Singer’ as Justice Bao.
In early 2019, Potts participated in ‘America’s Got Talent: The Champions’. He reached the Final however failed to recieve enough votes to enter the Top 5, eliminating him from the competition along with Angelica Hale instead of Preacher Lawson.[1]
In late 2019, Potts appeared on The Champions (Series 1) and performed The Godfather theme entitled 'Parla Più Piano' originally by Gianni Morandi, whilst accompanied by several classical musicians. Amanda remarked 'You've had a massive massive story of success and nothing about you has changed', with Simon adding 'You hit the big note when it mattered'. He did not reach the top three of the live studio audience super fan vote, thus being sent home by default.
Additionally in 2019, Potts provided the opera singing voice for the character of Axe portrayed by Tyler Mane in the movie ‘Playing with Fire’.
In 2022, he participated in the 6th season of the German version of ‘The Masked Singer’, where he finished in 8th place as the Koala.
In April 2023, he appeared on an episode of 'James Martin's Saturday Morning'.
Trivia[]
- Potts' audition was televised in the same episode as fellow finalist Damon Scott's audition.
- He is the first winner of Britain's Got Talent.
- He's the first male winner of the show.
- He is the first ever act to receive 3 standing ovations in a Semi-Final.