Potts has a nice voice and a wonderful story, but he is not a first rate singer. (Disclosure - I am a classical musician)
His voice, even with the microphones, is small. His notes are shaky. And on the final vincero - his voice cracks on the high B.
Alas, singing standards (and musical tastes) have devolved so much in the past 50 years that ordinary people think the singers on these karaoke shows are good singers. Believe it or not, back in the 30s and 40s, each week more than 10 million people would tune in to the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.
To hear the gulf between Potts and the top rung of opera singers, check out Jussi Bjorling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEG914GATk
Good Point - I missed the crack on high B - will listen again - nice stuff tho.
When I lived in Northern Alaska in the 60’s and 70’s we used to receive one station only out of the Northwest Territories of Canada.
Every night for an hour or so we would listen to opera sponsored by Texaco.
I am not equipped to fight or argue classical music with any, but I do know what I like whether anyone else likes it or not.
I like the way this guy sings just because he seems to have a pleasant voice.
Now, do you feel better about yourself?
Thank you. I was thinking a more apt comparison would be Gigli. They both look kind of alike. I think if they didn’t have the taped orchestration, the voice would be better isolated and these shortcomings would be more evident.
You know you’re hanging with the wrong crowd when the audience is overwhelmed by the likes of Andrea Bocelli.
For 40 years, my father and I have argued over who had the better voice, Caruso or Bjoerling. I was a Bjoerling fan but my father always said I was swayed by the better recording techniques that Bjoerling enjoyed...
This reminds me of something:
Being a life-long avid reader I often came across ( from a very young age and on)references to “The Great Caruso”(SP?). My parents listened to opera so I had a passing familiarity with the style (though I’d never heard Caruso). As far as I was concerned “all them guys with the deep voices” sounded the same.
One day, in my teens I heard an old recording of a young Caruso. It was, if I recall, a wax cylinder-not even a 78, but the pure (for lack of a better term) silvery speed and trueness of pitch I could hear DESPITE the crackly, tinny source absolutely floored me.
After that I wasn’t so quick to dismiss “them guys” as all the same.
Thanks for the reality check...
He’s a strong tenor for an amateur. Not close to the same league with the Big Three, or Andrea Bocelli. At 36, already with some formal training, it’s unlikely he’ll get that much better — I don’t see an opera career in his future except as a novelty act based on his TV fame.
All that said, his range and pitch are in the 99th percentile of pop singers. If he switches from arias to ballads (and even the Three Tenors and Bocelli record a lot of ballads), he could make a fortune. I might buy his Cole Porter album.