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International singing sensation Russell Watson returns to concert stage in Taiwan tomorrow evening at the Taipei Arena. Today on CTS, let's have our Louisa Lee carry on the exclusive interview with the star.## Russell Watson mentioned earlier in the interview that he's a fan of Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti, and Mario Lanza, but how about the ones that he actually had the chance to work with? "I've been very fortunate to work with some amazing people. Lionel Richie was a really really nice man, I enjoy working with him. And we did a duet on my second album. Lulu, we worked with her on the second album as well. It was fantastic. Luciano Pavarotti. Interesting character. Exactly what you expected to be. Larger than life, and an ego that was even bigger. But the voice of a god, just an amazing noise that he generated. Paul McCartney. When I was growing up, I used to sit in my bedroom with my little guitar with my best friend, and we used to play old Beatles songs. And I did a gig with him, it was the Nobel Peace Prize Awards ceremony. At the end of the evening, I sang "Let it Be" with Paul McCartney at the show. I remember thinking at the time, oh my god, you know, as a kid I used to sit in my bedroom strumming your tunes, and now here I am, singing on stage with one of the Beatles. How cool is that? The biggest band in the world ever, so that was a pretty amazing moment. Meatloaf, I worked with Meatloaf in New York. We actually did a gig together, and he is insane. He is absolutely mental. I can't repeat what he was saying to me before I went on the because it was a lot of profanity but he was utterly mad, mad as a March Hare, but fun. It has been so many, I've been very lucky. Do you know Cliff Richard? I worked with Cliff, I did a lot of stuff with him. I did a full concert all with Cliff, I enjoyed working with him because he's a real professional and you picked a lot of stuff up from someone like that. That was a lot of fun. I did some stuff with Gary Barlow, from 'Take That,' we did a song together, in my fifth studio album, that was a nice experience." "Who do you want to work with next? Do you have someone in mind?" I don't really have any aspirations or ambitions to specifically work with anybody at this moment in time. There's nobody I'm looking at the moment, and thinking, wow, they're great. Music at the moment, doesn't really excite me as much. Feels like it's gone a bit sanitized now, Everything has gone too studio; it's too clinical, it's overproduced; it's putting into computers, and it's made to sound." Music has to be...I feel like it has to be a process, a creation; it has to be a story. It doesn't seem to have stories anymore. You know, The Beatles, days like that when The Beatles came back from the backstreet, they used to play football together, the got together, they put a band together, and they became the biggest band in the world. The romanticism of the industry seems to be gone". "Is there any kind of music that just touches your heart? Would you say it's classical music?" "Classical music. Soul, definitely there's certain soul singers I love listening to a lot. Luther Vandross, Freddie Jackson, those kind of artist. Whitney, in her heyday, in the early days, maybe the first two or three records, just fantastic. Just beautiful pieces of music. An amazing soulful voice, Nat King Cole...listen to some of the Nat King Cole tracks, good old Nat. Frank Sinatra, I love that. But I like a bit of rock as well. I'm not adverse to listening to a little bit of Oasis, and stuff like that. I put Oasis on, I always want to go up and hit my punch bag. That's what's great about music though. It invokes different kinds of...it invokes things like nothing else can. Music can completely change your mood. It's an amazing medium for processing emotions and different senses from you. When you're feeling a bit down, what would you do? What would you normally do? If you feel a little bit down, what would you consider doing? Would you put on a rock album? No, you probably wouldn't, You would probably put something a bit somber, a bit reflective. And you sit there, and you think. But, you might be feeling a bit down, and think, You know what, I'm going to put some Oasis in, I'm not in a right mood today. You put a bit of Oasis in, and Ooo, I feel a little bit better now." "And that's kind of what music can do. And also, you can use it, it helps you transport away so, a lot of people say to me, when do you listen to Russell Watson record? So mom, when do you listen to my record? I listen to your record when I'm doing my ironing. She doing her ironing and she forgets all about it. She's ironing away and listening to my music. Or cleaning the house, hopefully not when she's doing the vacuuming". "She probably wouldn't tell you". "It never sounded so good". Speaking of his music, Watson had to turn on his learning gear and brush up on his Italian to get a feel of the songs. He did that while he was still recovering. "It's taking a long time. But I feel my Italian has come on a lot, in the last 4 and 5 years. Again, relate back to my illness, what the illness did, was it gave me time to work on certain aspects of my career. Things that I maybe before hadn't had as much time to work on." "What is your favorite song from this album?" "I haven't got a favorite song. They're all like my babies. 'E Sara Cosi' is one of my favorite pieces of music anyway, it's the Rachmaninov piece, its a beautiful piece of music. So I love that because of the music. But I think out of the tracks on there, I think my favorite is Intermezzo, that is dedicated to my gran." "What can the fans expect from this album?" "What do you think that's different?" "They're going to hear a different noise from the start. The vocal sound is completely different. I think there's a sense of continuity on this record as well. The record flows, there's a fluidity to it. So from start to finish you feel like you're listening from the same single. It's a journey. More importantly I hope they'll make a connection with the music, and the passion, and the sentiment thats behind the performances. I think for me that's the key, that's crucial. That they'll get a real sense of the way I've connected to the orchestra, and with the music. I think that's what is reflected." "Obviously, we know that singing is your passion, how long do you think you want to do this for? Do you look at yourself, and you think, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life? Or do you have other stuff you want to do?" "I could give you the flower answer, and say I want to do it forever darling, I love it, its magnificent, but the truth is, I don't know. The music industry is such a diverse industry. It has these amazing highs, and catastrophic lows that follow, and it's kind of like the Manchester weather. One day it's sunny and the next day it's raining down with rain. And the question is how many times are you willing to ride the storms? That's what makes this industry difficult. I've said this quite a few times, that achieving the success is relatively easy, but maintaining it is incredibly hard, it's really really hard work, and I just wonder whether or not some point I would get to the stage where I say, you know what, I just feel like I want to have a break from this now, and I push push push push push all the time. Maybe I just want to step back from it all, and have a little break. Maybe not at this moment in time, but maybe at some point, but it's hard break. Anybody that's entering into the music industry should know this is the toughest industry to maintain a career. I've been around for 10 years, and I've seen myself through a couple of brain tumors and a throat operation in the meantime, and I'm still here. I'm very very proud of that, but there is a cost, and there is a price to pay. And it's incredibly hard work, it takes a huge amount of dedication. Going on stage and singing is a tiny part of what goes on around the scenes. And it's tough, when it's great, there's nothing like it, there's no better feeling, when it's not, not so good." As for his future days, Watson is expressing his desire to share his love for music with other parts of the world. "The sun is coming out, yeah baby, that's what I'm talking about. I go back to the UK and I start 23-day UK tour. Sold out, which I'm very pleased about." "How many places?" "22 actually, because I'm doing two in Birmingham, I'm doing the symphony hall twice." "It's all sold out?" "Completely, So I'm very pleased about that. Also last year you know, it was a big year for me in the UK. I did 400, 000 records in the UK last year, which in any climate is good, but in this climate, it's amazing, it's tough out there at the moment, it's very tough out there to sell product of any type, let alone classical music. So I'm very pleased with the result of last year and I want to build on that. My ambition predominantly, my sort of plan for the next 4 or 5 years is to work hard, and to push my career internationally. My ambition is to open up international territories. I haven't been able to travel because of my illness for such a long time and now I'm fit and strong again, and I'm able to travel, the prospect of doing that, and going to all these different places again, that's incredibly exciting. So I'm hoping in the next 4 or 5 years, it's basically going to encapsulate me in the huge amount of traveling. Getting back on the international circuit again." Fans, get this straight, we will be seeing and hearing from this chart-topping classical singer that we love in a few days. "You're coming to Taiwan on June 6th, what can we expect from you?" "It's going to be a collection of the material I've recorded in the past 10 years, and of course, quite a bit of material from the new album. And again, I'll probably do a couple of bits, I found that the Asian areas like a bit of Jazz, the swinging stuff, so I might do a bit of Frank, a bit of Tony Bennett that kind of stuff, just throw a few different numbers in there, just to give the show a little bit of variety, more than anything." He did reveal that he may be working with a duet partner for the Taipei concert, so be there to see it for yourself. "What's going on?" "What will follow after the concert in Taiwan? "What will follow that. I think I'm going to Japan actually. I got a couple of concerts thats in Japan, in Tokyo. But I got plans for Australia, New Zealand, South Africa." "So you'll be touring alot". "South America, United States, all over the place." "Is there anything you want to say to our Taiwanese fans? "To Taiwanese fans, you know what, Taiwan, I'm looking forward to seeing you in a few months time, in June, I'm very excited. It's been a few years since my last visited, and I remember the last visit very very well, because I had such an amazing time. I was looked after so so well at the concert that I did, the people that I met over there were just amazing. I had a fabulous time, this is one I won't forget. I remember coming out to the, I remember when I popped into the audience to give you a few handshakes, I got absolutely mobbed, so there will probably be more of that this time, so looking forward to seeing you in Taiwan in June, very very excited, God bless and I look forward to it. Mon plaisir." "I can't wait to have you in Taiwan." ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞：
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