Salford-born singer Russell Watson’s debut album The Voice held the number one spot in the UK charts for a whopping 52 weeks.
Six years later, in 2007, he put everything on hold because of a pituitary tumour that was bleeding into his brain.
He spoke about his ordeal during his stint down under for I’m A Celebrity…, leaving viewers in tears.
And it all started back home in Salford, when his mum landed him his first gig. It went well enough, but there were one or two strange things about that night…
Russell Watson’s first gig sullied by bizarre stunt after mum’s logistical legwork
Not all heroes wear capes.
Russell Watson – on Katie Piper’s Weekend Escape this Sunday (May 25) – owed his first gig to his stay-at-home mum. He and his friends had started playing the guitar, and between them they had enough Beatles covers to make a set.
So she went down to one of the clubs nearby and told them: “My son and his friends play guitars. Would you be interested in having them on?”
They agreed, Russell told The Guardian earlier this year. He also spoke about the gig while reflecting on a quarter of a century as a professional singer during a televised interview on Lorraine. Find the clip below.
“And off we toddled for a set of Beatles covers,” he said. So far, so regular. But it didn’t end there.
“That night, there was a chap at the back of the room who began pleasuring himself. One of the staff went over to him and said: ‘Oh, Stan, put it away. For God’s sake.’ We got paid in custard creams and a few cups of tea. It was a surreal introduction to life as a jobbing musician.”
It sounds like it!
From Wigan working men’s clubs to collaborating with Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder
Russell Watson cut his teeth in working men’s clubs, first in his hometown of Salford, then further afield.
Mostly, his audiences consisted of “blokes” asking who on earth he was. People who were too preoccupied with playing bingo and discussing the latest episode of Coronation Street than listening to the “People’s Tenor”.
Still, he got up there and sang his heart out. He would perform for 20 minutes and leave with £60 in his pocket. Not bad for bolt-cutter from Salford.
In 1990, he won a Search for a Star contest organised by Piccadilly Radio, in Manchester. He got his big break in 1999, singing the national anthem at the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
Two years later, he released The Voice. Once the “media machine” got behind him, there was “nothing like it”.
He explored the crossover potential of the classical and pop genres more deeply than anyone before him, covering Ultravox’s Vienna and Giacomo Puccini’s famous aria Nessun Dorma on the same album.
He even collaborated with Shaun Ryder for the song Barcelona (Friends Until The End): “riotous,” he says, “but brilliant”.
Catch Russell on Katie Piper’s Weekend Escape on Sunday (May 25) at 8.25am on ITV1.
Read more: Roman Kemp steps in as Russell Watson breaks down in tears live on The One Show
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