Paul Potts

Paul Robert Potts (born 13 October 1970) is a British tenor who won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2007, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Potts was a manager at Carphone Warehouse who also performed in amateur opera from 1999 to 2003. Potts was born in Kingswood, near Bristol, England and raised in Fishponds, Bristol, by his father Roland, a bus driver, and mother, Yvonne (née Higgins), a superm... more

Paul Robert Potts (born 13 October 1970) is a British tenor who won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent in 2007, singing an operatic aria, "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Potts was a manager at Carphone Warehouse who also performed in amateur opera from 1999 to 2003. Potts was born in Kingswood, near Bristol, England and raised in Fishponds, Bristol, by his father Roland, a bus driver, and mother, Yvonne (née Higgins), a supermarket cashier. He has two brothers and one sister. Potts attended St. Mary Redcliffe school, where he developed his love of singing. He also sang with the choir at Chester Park Junior School and with the choirs at several Bristol churches, including Christ Church. Potts said in interviews that he had been bullied in school, and that experience may have made him lack self-confidence. He has also said that his voice had always been a source of solace in the past when he was bullied. He earned an Honours degree in 1993 from University College... less