Paul Potts - Britain's Got Talent Winner 2007

Looks like Opera had been mushroomin' into music industry. Actually, Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work (called an opera) which combines a text (called a libretto) and a musical score.

• Paul Robert Potts
• born 13 October 1970
• British tenor who in 2007 became the winner of the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot.
• Potts had appeared in amateur opera productions from 1999 to 2003.
• Potts was born Bristol, England, and raised in Fishponds, Bristol, by his father Roland, a bus driver, and mother, Yvonne, a supermarket cashier.
• He has two brothers and one sister.
• Potts attended St. Mary Redcliffe school, where he developed his love of singing.
• In the interview that was broadcast before his performance in the semifinal, Potts said that he had been bullied in school, and that experience may have had an influence on his lack of self-confidence.
• He made a similar remark in 1999 — that his voice had always been a source of solace in the past when bullied.
• Potts was on a six-month sabbatical as manager at Carphone Warehouse in Bridgend, a mobile phone store some eight miles from his hometown. On 5 March, 2008, he resigned from his management position via email.
  
• He earned an Honours degree in 1993 from University College Plymouth St Mark & St John, majoring in Humanities, and was a Liberal Democrat councillor in Bristol from 1996 to 2003.
• Potts first sang opera in 1999 in a karaoke competition, dressed as Luciano Pavarotti.
• That same year he appeared in the Michael Barrymore talent 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 singers Pavarotti and Katia Ricciarelli.
• He did not however, as was claimed at the time by newspapers such as The Daily Mail and The Sun, receive tuition from Pavarotti.
• For the Bath Opera of Bath, Somerset, an amateur company, he performed leading roles on four occasions, after beginning in 1999 in the minor roles of The Prince of Persia and the Herald in Puccini's Turandot: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 tumor 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 or as an avocation.
  
• The mishap and financial difficulties that followed led him to enter Britain's Got Talent despite not having sung for four years.
• On 9 June 2007, Potts' audition for Simon Cowell's new search-for-a-star show Britain's Got Talent was televised on ITV1 in the UK.
• The audition was held at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 17 March 2007.
• Potts sang Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun Dorma," for which he received a standing ovation from the audience of 2,000 people.
• Contrary to popular belief, Potts did not sing a condensed version of the aria, but rather the full rendition.
• The editing process did not produce a "perfect" condensation, as one can see his lips getting ready to sing the next line after his second "...Nessun Dorma...", which starts with "Tu pure, o, Principessa...
• In the semi-final on 14 June 2007, Potts performed the main verses of Andrea Bocelli's "Con te partirò" ("Time to Say Goodbye").
• He progressed to the final after receiving the highest public vote in that show.
• He performed "Nessun Dorma" for his finale on 17 June 2007, as well as an encore after he won the competition.
• Potts defeated co-favourite with the bookmakers, Connie Talbot, and received the highest percentage of two million votes cast to win Britain's Got Talent, and the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance on 3 December 2007, in front of Queen Elizabeth II.
• Potts has been married since May 2003 to Julie-Ann (née Cooper), whom he met in an Internet chat room.
  
• They connected in person for the first time at the Swansea Railway Station in February, 2001.
• She had the upper hand at this "first meeting" as she had a photograph of Potts, but he had no idea what she looked like.
• Across the countries to date, One Chance has been at No 1 on the album chart for a total of 56 weeks.
• In Germany, Nessun Dorma by Paul Potts became the highest ever single available on download alone in the history of the German Chart. It was also the highest ever classical song on the German chart, Luciano Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma of 1990 having made no 61.

Neal E. Boyd - America's Got Talent Winner 2008

"Don't judge a book by its cover" really suits for this two people; Neal E.Boyd & Paul Potts.No matter how unfair they've been judge by their outlook appearance but because of their good inner side full with sincere talent...they have been recognized through this faboulous reality show that I think best of the best. Perhaps after Britain's Got Talent & America's Got Talent...there will be Malaysia's Got Talent? This is the real reality show on earth...they were judge based on their real TALENT...

• Born November 18, 1975
• African-American opera singer who is the 2008 winner of America's Got Talent
• For the $1-million prize and a headline show in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Boyd's operatic talent and potential were celebrated by both Il Divo (a European operatic pop quartet created by Simon Cowell) and Boyd's idol, world-renowned tenor Placido Domingo, who, in a video response after Boyd's win, proclaimed, "Congratulations, Neal. By participating in America's Got Talent, you have brought to America's ears, opera. So be proud of it. And I'm sure from today on that you are starting a brilliant career. All my best. Congratulations. All the best, Neal."
• A 33 year-old Aflac insurance salesman, he grew up in Sikeston, Missouri, where October 2008 was declared "Neal E. Boyd Month.
• He discovered operatic music in junior high school when his older brother Michael was forced to do a school project involving classical music and brought home a CD of the Three Tenors.
• His brother had little appreciation for the music, but Neal was so enamored by the passion and skill of the famous trio that he started practicing how to sing in Luciano Pavarotti's and Placido Domingo's operatic styles.
• A creative seed was planted, and Neal went on to study speech communications, political science, and music at Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia, graduating from both universities in May 2001.
• He was the winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Vocal Collegiate Championship in 2000 while in the voice studio of Professor Ann Harrell of UM-Columbia.
• This national win led to his solo debut at New York City's famed Carnegie Hall in March 2001.
• After teaching music for a year in his hometown of Sikeston, MO, he later attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA to study opera—which led to a lead role, the slave "York" in Michael Ching's World Premier Opera "Corps of Discovery, A Musical Journey," commissioned by UM-Columbia.
• Neal has hopes of finally realizing his dream of becoming an international opera star and inspiring the younger generations the way he was inspired.
• Boyd was his high school's student body president in 1993–94 and the president of the Student Senate at Southeast Missouri State University, where he was also a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.
• He has a bachelor's degree in speech communications from Southeast Missouri State University, a bachelor's degree in music from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a master’s degree in management from the University of Phoenix.[4] In 2001, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall.
• He had planned to attend Yale University, but his plans changed when he decided to study with Professor Mark St. Laurent of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
• In 2000, he sang at the memorial service for former Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan.
• In 2005, he sang the National Anthem at the inauguration of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt.
• While in college, Boyd interned at the capitol in Jefferson City, Missouri.
• Various Missouri state and local officials nicknamed Boyd "The Voice of Missouri" due to his appearances at many prominent statewide events.

Sweetey - Connie Talbot

This adorable little girl, Connie Talbot has melt the heart of Simon Cowell and all people ’round the world includin’me…she’s born to be a singer….naturally and her voice, wow….marvelous!!! Thanks to God & Connie’s mom and dad for upbringing her well into this world…She’s got a bright future waitin’ for her…I adore her very much!! Best of luck,Connie!!Don’t change of who u are forever!!!

Connie Talbot (born 20 November 2000) is an English child singer from Streetly, Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the television talent show Britain’s Got Talent, where she lost to Paul Potts. Talbot was supposed to sign with Sony BMG but the label pulled out of the deal due to her age.

Talbot signed with Rainbow Recording Company and released her debut album Over the Rainbow in the UK on 26 November 2007. The album was re-released 18 June 2008 with a new track listing, and the first single from the album, “Three Little Birds”, was released on 10 June 2008. Songs from the album are to feature in an upcoming video game about Talbot.

Despite its negative critical reception, Over theRainbow has sold over 250,000 copies worldwide and reached number one in three countries. Since the initial album release, Talbot has performed publicly and on television in Europe, the U.S. and across Asia, where her music had gained recognition through YouTube. Her second album, Connie Talbot’s Christmas Album, was released on 24 November. On top of her musical career, Talbot continues to attend primary school and lives in Streetly with her family.

Christmas Album

In November 2008, it was announced that Talbot had produced a series of new songs for an album over Summer. Recorded in her bedroom studio, Connie Talbot’s Christmas Album was released on 24 November. It is a Christmas themed album, featuring, according to Talbot’s official website, “a mix of classics and modern Christmas tunes”. News was also released of a one-off Christmas special to be shown on ITV1 in the days leading up to Christmas, featuring footage of Talbot’s journey to America and a “secret concert” at her primary school. Talbot appeared at Walsall’s HMV branch shortly after the release of her Christmas Album to sign copies and meet fans. Reviewing the album for Female First magazine, Ruth Harrison gave the album 4/5, saying that Talbot has “a great voice when it comes to swing, but lets us down in parts”.

Personal life

Talbot lives in Streetly, in the West Midlands, and currently attends a state primary school. She lives with her mother, Sharon, her father Gavin, a self-employed property maintenance engineer, her brother Josh, and her sister, Mollie. Talbot sang “Over the Rainbow”, her signature song, at her grandmother’s funeral, because she and her grandmother had enjoyed watching The Wizard of Oz together. Talbot drew confidence in Britain’s Got Talent from the belief that her grandmother was watching, and vowed to win the show in her memory. Despite Talbot speaking positively of the effects of her fame, her parents spoke of a darker side, including having to change their phone number and hire a bodyguard for their daughter.