PAUL POTTS & Piano - The Greatest Hits
As if it were a fairy tale by Christian Andersen: Everyone sees an ugly duckling and hears a proud, beautiful swan. Such was the summer of 2007, a mobile phone seller, 37 years old, steps before the jury of the British talent show Britain’s Got Talent, his melting forms held together by off-the-shelf clothes, he stands there on the big stage as if the broadcast had ended hours ago, vaguely opens his mouth and breathes out, a backdrop of curves and craters unfolds, then he sings. Giacomo Puccini, “Nessun dorma” from “Turandot”, within seconds all mouths are open, those in the jury, in the studio, in the TV chairs at home. A voice, proud, beautiful, and sovereign, a mobile phone seller like you and me.
The story is no fairy tale, not least because it is more like a fairy tale than anything Christian Andersen ever wrote, while Paul Potts, the Welsh voice miracle, has never forgotten where he came from: from Fishponds, a suburb of Bristol, his father a bus driver, his mother a cashier, Paul sings in church choirs, then he studies - - philosophy. Just that alone would have sufficed for a fairy tale not long ago, but Potts continues to work on his voice, he has an idea of what he wants; at Britain’s Got Talent, he wins the hearts of millions. And a record deal worth 1 million pounds. With “One Chance”, his first album, he becomes a kind of world wonder, his story is filmed by Hollywood, he tours the globe and sings what he has to say: that beauty is not what others see in you, but what you let them see and hear.
Of course, there were some who, hardly had Potts become successful, immediately heard that he is no Caruso and that there are many voices that can do what he can. Exactly that has been said about punk ever since there has been punk, it was said about working-class literature when it still existed, about abstract painting, and the amateur theater groups and choirs, in which Paul Potts - it was church choirs - learned to sing. And certainly it is true, of course, others can also do what Paul Potts can, but that exactly is the point: that what Paul Potts has given back to classical music, what he gifts it and us, is overlooked, his passion. The ability to mature into a great voice with nothing in hand - no piano at home, no parents investing in violin lessons, no grant application forms, no scholarships, no networks, no patrons, no friendly dentist who would have straightened his teeth for little money, no bohemian cliques, no ChiChi, just a cheap suit for 35 pounds - that one can indeed grow into a great voice with nothing but one's solitary passion. One that does not care whether it is as great as that of this or that person, it is as great as that of Paul Potts.
In the Ruhr area, this is understood. Look without show, glamor without glamour, Potts in the pot. The wordplay is hard to ignore here, it fits. And it fits for another reason: The Christuskirche Bochum brews its own beer, a Pilsner style of its own recipe, tuned and bottled at? Pott's.
Hallo, ich bin Maya.
