The most moving/touching "talent show" performance ever?

This performance moved me...TO A BIGGER HOUSE.

Oh man, I said the quiet part loud and the loud part quiet. Ugghgh.

 

Simon got big doing stuff like Jock Rock and Teletubbies - he is all pop music. What does he know of Opera? Opera has nothing to do with "the music industry". What makes my comments better? Nothing for you. For me I will rely on my own knowledge of the genre.

 

Whatever. I'll just enjoy what is enjoyable...

 

Of course you will. I simply can't find that enjoyable. It is a curse, I tell ya.

 

Elitist snob .

 

My favorite music is folk music, so obviously I'm not concerned at all with technical proficiency. I bet you can't stand Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs or Bob Dylan...

 

Actually, I like them all (Seeger least) - different animal. Opera requires a completely different skillset and standard. What that guy sang was "stereotype opera" which just means loud and reasonably on-key with vibrato. That was my problem.

I also like 70's punk and that really has nothing to do with musical talent...so, again, it is all about context.

 

maybe you just have terrible computer speakers. did you ever think of that?!

 

Okay I finally watched this video... and as someone who can't abide reality tv, Britian's Got Talent with that guy.

OMG!

It also helped that I love, love, love that song. For a rank amateur he did a great job. I'm not going to call him a "replacement" Tenor, but with some training I could see him recording. He's got a very nice voice.

Oh and whoever said something about the teeth, I agree. Please get him to a dentist, quickly. I can't understand why those things aren't fixed in childhood more often.

Edit: Here's my boy singing the song. Thought I would let you hear what a professional sounds like singing Puccini

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0Sx5lbVlQA&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/O0Sx5lbVlQA&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

But that's just it: he's not a rank amateur. He's had training. Lots of it. By some of the best teachers in the opera world. And he's still just a guy with a "nice" voice who sold phones for a living. There's a reason he wasn't a star in opera.

There are a very select few singers in the world who make their living singing principle roles in professional opera companies. The (very) vast majority of the people who try never make it. Why? Because there is a noticeable difference between good singers and great singers, and Potts is just a good singer. To even begin to compare him to someone of Pavarotti's stature (who, love him or hate him, had an amazing voice, especially in his youth) is a bit of an insult to the opera world. It's like watching Kenny "Sky" Walker win the dunk competition in 1989 and then saying he's as good as Michael Jordan.

Great Tenors: Jussi Björling, Enrico Caruso, Tito Schipa, Luciano Pavarotti
Good Tenors: Ramon Vargas, Juan Diego Florez (both current), Franco Corelli
Pretend Tenors: Paul Potts, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban (HA!)

 

It would be interesting to hear basso's take on the guy (isn't basso an opera singer?).

 

Hey - I think you are right. I need more speakers....yeah, that's it. I am going to tell my wife and see what she says.

Thank you, heyp. I am sure that after I drop a few thousand on a couple of speakers this guy will sound like a genius. Awe-to-the-some.

 

Pavarotti was a pro. He practiced every day. Anyone here who sings can tell you that it's something that you have to keep up, you have to keep the muscles strong, or it goes away.

And a guy selling cell phones in Cardiff, I'm not entirely convinced he can practice full bore more than once a week. Maybe.

 

If he's had training then yes, I agree he's just average. I was under the assumption (and that's what I get for assuming) that he was just a guy who liked to listen to and sing along to opera (sort of like me )

 

Are you trying to tell me that Pavrotti sounds as good on your computer speakers as an affected opero afionado's Aerial Accoustics system.

Answer that!

 

That's just what they wanted you to think. They knew his extensive training and performing background before he sang on the show, and yet they acted like he was some poor schlub who never sang opera before he walked on the X-Factor stage. I wouldn't even be surprised if they told him to act shy and unassuming to play up the sympathy bit. The deception, rather than the quality of the performance, is what's most bothersome to me.

I will say that the one good thing that could come out of his performance is a renewed interest in the world of opera. I think if more people gave it a chance, and tried to educate themselves about the music, they would find it as enjoyable as we do.