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Today we bring you the second part of our exclusive interview of British tenor Russell Watson by Louisa Lee. ## Russell Watson's first classical performance won him an immense cheer from the crowd at the working men's club, and from that moment on, Watson knew what he was destined to do. He also claimed the name as "people's tenor". And how did that name come about? "I'm from a working class background myself, but I thought how is this going to be received? People kind of associate classical music with as an elite form of music, but I discovered that actually classical music had a much broader scope, and if it was presented in a correct fashion to people in a correct way, then they would love it as much as anybody else, and it worked. I worked that out. When I went to Universal in 1999, my idea, I had no manager, no representation, but my idea was clear and that was I know that this music can work on a wide scale on a grand scale for everybody, because I have been singing it in backstreet clubs to people and they're going crazy for it. So we present this in a kind of, almost from a to z, dot to dot format, so it's easy for people to look at, and they see me, I'm one of them from the working class background, they look at it and they go, he is one of us, he's alright. Actually you know what, good, I like it. I like some of the stuff. That's how I went about it. I went to the label originally with this concept, and said if you want Hamilton from Royal College of Music, who is not interested in anybody but himself, then I am not your man, but if you want somebody that knows he can connect with the public and has an affinity with the working class people, because thats where I am from, then I am your man. And they bought in to that, and the record went straight to number one, and stayed there for 52 weeks". "That was your first album, right?" "Yes" "This was in 2000?" "We made the record in 1999, and we released it in 2000." "How was that for you, number one on the first ablum?" "It was just amazing. First and foremost, I kind of felt this sense of I knew, I knew it, I knew this market was waking up and I knew that there was a market waiting. And this whole genre of classical crossover opened up. And all of a sudden people were listening to classical music, and now in the UK, there is a new batch of younger artist coming through, there's new stuff coming through all the time. And classical crossover now in the UK is massive, its a big part of the market, its a big percentage share of the market. And it also travels well too, it travels internationally, because for some reason its not, it doesn't seem to have cultural barriers, it seems to be universal type of music, it seems to be a type of music where you can go to Sweden, then you can go to Japan, then you can go to South America, and you will get the same response, where there is certain types of music that don't travel well, they are very much, sort of national, regionalized. And that is a great thing about classical music, its an internationally music medium". "You would consider yourself as a classical crossover musician?" "I don't know. Not really, the word crossover was something that was invented because nobody knew what to say I was. Because I wasn't a classical singer, but I wasn't a pop singer, so what is he? He's not pop, and he's not classical, crossover, that's good. He's crossover." Watson may seem full of optimism, but his life wasn't always so smooth sailing. The singer experienced a great adversity during the highest peak in his career, challenging him with a condition that may change his voice forever. "This kind of, this is a good precursor to mention in the last four or five years. I've had a lot of major health problems. I have suffered with, first of all, I had lumps on my vocal chords, which I had to have it removed surgically, and that time, it was bad enough, because it was a career threatening thing." "When was that?" "That was 2003, at that time, that was really the worst thing that ever happened to me, I never had anything, I think the worst thing that I have ever done was grazed my hand or something, I have never done anything bad to myself. I have never hurt myself or been in hospital. I was very scared at that point, because I thought I was going to lose my voice. I thought my career was under threat. Little did I know that at that point, only a couple of years down the line from that, that my life was going to be under threat. It was just a complete different sensibility to your career. My career is important to me, but not as important as being alive. So I when I got that news, that catastrophic news, I was in Los Angeles in 2006, and I was recording a record called That's Life, poignantly enough, and I was told that I had this great big lump growing in my head, it was for me at that time, it was catastrophic news. Not only was I thousands of miles away from everybody that I knew, I was on my own, but also I was on the verge of making a record as well, and on top of that I was compounded by the fact that I felt dreadful. I had terrible headaches, my vision, I could hardly see at that point, it was like looking through a little penny. It was a very very scary, and very upsetting period of time. Further to that, I had an operation for that, which I thought was successful, turned out it wasn't. And I got struck by a second tumor a couple of years later, so the last few years for me have been a huge battle against illness, and the point is though, out of that has come a human being that has a renewed zest for life, and also a renewed zest for what I do. And my love for what I do, and the music, and what I'm involved in is immense. And that is the result of the turbulence that Ive been through. Somebody asked me the other day they said, if you could change what happened to you, those 4 or 5 years ago, if you could change the brain tumor and the illness, would you? I thought about it for a minute, no, I wouldnt. If I had a choice in 2005, somebody come up to me and said do you want a brain tumor? I would have said, no, thanks, Ill give it miss. But if somebody says it to me now, would you change what happened to you, no I wouldnt change what happened to me, because I believed that was my life path, I believe that life sets out hurdles, and every hurdle that you clear, it makes you a wiser, more competent human being. And a stronger person. Not just strong like, check me out, but stronger as in here and in here." "Your latest ablum, it was recorded after all this happened?" "I had to wait to make the record, I have been ill for such a long time." "But you were making records in between?" "But lighter material, I did like a Frank Sinatra type of record, called That's life which was a collection of Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, that type of material. Completely different to what I normally do. The reason is quite simple, I couldn't hit the big notes at that point. It was making me feel very very ill to even attempt to sing classical repertoire. And when I try to hit the top notes, I just got dizzy. So it didn't work out for me. Getting to the point where I ended up making this new record, it was just fantastic, it was a dream come true. I was in the position, after having been what I've been through, to make another record of this type, it was an amazing feeling". "Did it change your voice in anyway after the surgery? Can you tell us about that?" "Yes, my voice has changed. If you were to listen to my earlier recordings, and you were to listen to the new recording La Voce, you can hear very distinct change in the tone of quality of my voice. The original noise that I made was a lot thinner, it was probably, in no offense, it was probably more of a commercial sound as well. It was probably more commercially viable than the noise I make now, which is very much a big operatic, classical noise. And the main reason for that, is the tumor, it was growing down to my nasal cavity, so when I had the operation, they removed most of the stuff in my nasal cavity, and as a result, the voice just opened up, and its deeper and thicker and more resonant. And I think part of that is down to age, because voices mature a bit like wine. A nice bottle of wine, if its stored properly, it will mature, it will thicken up, it will get richer, and it becomes more accomplished with a better finish. And that's kind of in many respects, what happens with voices, if you look after them. I think that's what happened with mine. And also, the fact that I had this blockage removed as well, cause the voices are all about cavities, palates, and passages. And one of the very useful one was blocked, so when that was opened up, whoosh." "Speaking of that, how do you take care of your voice? Do you have any tips?" "Voices are funny things, and they are a bit annoying sometimes. If I was a guitarist, you see, I could just play my guitar, and when I finish, give it a quick rub down with the cloth, and I put it in my case, and I go out and have a drink, and cigarette and I dont have to worry about anything. When youre a singer, you cant do that. Because this is my instrument." "I am very careful about what I eat as well. So I won't eat dairy products or creamy things, because they got a coating on the vocal chords or anything that causes a blockage is bad." "So no spicy food?" "Spicy food is probably not good either, not before a concert, although I do like spicy food but I wouldn't eat spicy food on the day of the concert." "No, I am not really that antsy, but I am careful. Certain things that I do, certain things I eat. Fruit is great for the palate, it's great for the throat. It's good for the clearing as well. Its good, I like pineapple, and strawberries and things like that, apples are also good for clearing. Pavarotti is a huge fan of apples, and before his concert, he would have a pile of sliced apples and just eat them, because the acidity of the apples clears the voice out, thats really good, thats another good tip. Shouting, don't do it. If you want a career in singing, do not shout. Don't go to the football match and start shouting. Because you wont be singing on Saturday if you do." "So no cheering for your favorite sports team?" "This is funny, because this is true. I found this out the hard way. So I used to go to watch Manchester United, and something would happen, What is matter with you and I get home, and it'll be ..ooo.. I better stop going to watch the football. I can't sit there and say nothing. The referee would give a bad decision..and you can't say anything." "So you kind of have to change your lifestyle a bit?" "Yeah. Don't go to football games." && ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
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