Russell Watson  never  imagined  he  would  someday  be  hailed  as  one  of  the world’ s  greatest  classical  singers.  Since  being  described  by  the  New  York Times  as  a  performer “who  sings  like  Pavarotti  and  entertains  the  audience like Sinatra” he subsequently released ten studio albums, each one receiving more  critical  acclaim  than  the  last.  His  debut  album ‘ The  Voice’   shot  up  the UK charts where he held the number one spot for a world record 52 weeks. At the same time, Russell held the number one spot in the USA, making him the first British male to hold the accolade of a simultaneous transatlantic number one.  His  second  studio  album ‘ Encore’   soon  followed.  It  became  an  even greater  success  selling  almost  two  million  copies  worldwide.  During  this period  Russell  was  rewarded  with  various  awards  including,  four  Classical Brits.  His amazing road to success was not a stereotypical one. Russell left school at the age of sixteen with no qualifications and spent the first eight years of his working  life  in  a  factory  making  nuts  and  bolts.  His  desire  to  escape  the monotony  of  the  shop  floor  led  him  to  enter  a  local  radio  talent  competition where  he  beat  four  hundred  other  contestants.  This  was  the  precursor  to  a career that  has spanned fifteen years and seen him perform for some of the world’ s  greatest  figures.  These  include;  The  Queen,  The  Duke  of  Edinburgh (he is an ambassador for the Dukes Fellowship Charity), Prince Charles (he is an  ambassador  of  the  Prince’ s  Trust),  the  late  Pope  John  Paul  II  who requested   a   private   audience   with   Russell   at   the   Vatican,   former   US presidents  Bill  Clinton  and  George  W  Bush,  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  various European Prime Ministers, the King of Malaysia and Middle Eastern Sultans.  He  has  sung  at  many  prestigious  events  and  to  quote  respected  sporting journalist,  Paul  Hince,  present  at  one  performance  where  Russell  sang “Nessun  Dorma”: “You  know  when  you  have  witnessed  something  special when  even  the  cynical  hacks  in  the  press  box  rise  to  their  feet  and join  the ovation.  I  swear,  even  the  pigeons  on  the  roof  of  the  stands  flapped  their wings”. This triggered a series of sports-related performances. He was invited to perform so often that one journalist was quoted as saying “there is only one person  to  have  appeared  more  times  at  Wembley  this  year  than  DavidBeckham, and that is Russell Watson!”Among  other  appearances  was  a  performance  at  the  opening  ceremony  of the Commonwealth Games in 2002, where he sang to a worldwide audience of  one  billion,  Buckingham  Palace  for  the  Queen’ s  Coronation  Gala  Festival 2013, BBC  Proms in the Park 2015, National Memorial Day Concert, Capitol Hill, 2015 the opening ceremony of the World Games, the Rugby Union World Cup  and  at  the  Nou  Camp  Stadium  for  the  1999  Champion’ s  League  Final with Montserrat Caballé. 
Other  collaborations  include  Meatloaf,  Lionel  Richie,  Sir  Paul  McCartney, Lulu, Alexandra Burke, Sean Ryder and the late, great Luciano Pavarotti. In  2015  Russell  achieved  over  100,000  ticket  sales  performing in  over  90 concerts  on  his  highly  successful Up  Close  and  Personal  Tour.  He  also celebrated 25 years in the music industry and 15 years as a recording artist. This was swiftly followed by his Songs From the Heart Tour in Spring 2016. His performances in stage shows have also earned him great critical acclaim. He  played  Parson  Nathaniel  in  Jeff  Wayne’ s War  of  the  Worlds tour  and played  the  lead  role  of  Karl  Oscar  in  Benny  and  Björn’ s ‘ Kristina’   where  the New  York  Times  said “Watson’ s ‘ Puccini  ready  voice  was  crystal  clear”.  His collaboration  with  Alain  Boublil  and  Claude-Michel  Schonberg  meant  he fulfilled  a  lifetime  ambition  to  work  alongside  the  writers of  the  world’ s  most successful musical ever, Les Miserables. On top of all this and unbeknown to most, Russell is the voice behind the iconic Star Trek series Enterprise soundtrack, demonstrating the versatility of his gift once again. His voice was used more recently in December 2014 to wake up The New Horizons Pluto Probe. November 2016 saw the release of Russell’ s eleventh studio album features him recording live in Ennio Morricone’ s Forum Music Village Studios in Rome with the 75 piece Orchestra Italiana Del Cinema, the orchestra Morricone uses for all of his movie scores. The recording line up is completed by Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison, Portishead’ s Clive Deamer on drums, guitarist Dani Robinson (The Jimi Hendrix Foundation) on guitar, singer/songwriter and FOD label-mate Gregory, on piano and Mikey Crowe (Oasis, High Flying Birds) on keyboards. The songs for the new record were chosen and produced by legendary record producer Bob Rose (George Harrison, Roy Orbison) and include If I Loved You from Carousel, the Mario Lanza number With A Song In My Heart, the superbly reimagined Richard Marx tune Now and Forever, Patty Smyth’ s Sometimes Love Just Ain’ t Enough and Frank Sinatra’ s In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning.