Paul Potts的故事--小人物的大故事（转）

在下一直认为，选秀应该用来成就普通人的梦想，而不是用来秀皮囊。看看这段视频吧，这种歌手在中国也许都轮不到出场，却成为了全英国选秀的冠军。
一开始朋友发给我这段视频的时候本来不是很在意，因为他说是个选秀片断，我看到半截的时候却莫名的起了一身鸡皮疙瘩。
请用心聆听这让人泪流满面的声音吧，因为有一种精神值得我们为之感动。

Paul Potts，一个貌不惊人的卖手机的胖子，竟然还是个豁牙，感觉好像还有点痴呆似的，唱歌时候手脚不知道怎么搁，当全场起立鼓掌的时候，这位仁兄的表现却还是傻傻的冷静和呲牙傻笑着....

除了长的其貌不扬外，他的人生也可说是相当倒霉。因为这个长相，他小的时候在学校经常被流氓欺负，唯一能够安慰他的是至少自己的声音还不错。但大家看了他的长相也知道，不管再怎么有才华，要用他实在很考验人的忍耐极限。所以他就在业务员和梦想成为职业歌手的选择中打滚了很长的一段时间。他从28岁时就梦想唱歌剧，因此穿的像是帕华洛帝一样唱卡拉OK，也曾经上节目唱歌赢得了八千英镑的奖金，但是他把这些钱都花在去意大利学上专业的歌剧训练课，甚至还有一堂课接受过帕华洛帝的指导，中间也还有必须实际上台和巡回的实习课程。这样总共花了他两万英镑，也因此欠下了一屁股债之后，一连串的倒霉事件却开始发生了。2003年时这个家伙盲肠破裂住院开刀，开刀完了住院休养，出院之后回诊时还被发现肾上腺长了一个十公分的肿瘤，于是又再开刀一次。就在最后都快要康复的时候，此人又从脚踏车上摔了下来，把锁骨给弄断了。医生劝告他最好尽可能的休息，短时间内都不要再唱歌了。因此，不管他的梦想有多么强烈，有好几年的时间他都只能痛苦的躺在沙发上，根本没办法唱歌。

终于，时间到了2007年，而他也正在考虑如果以他的尊容闯不出名堂来，恐怕就必须放弃歌剧的梦想，专心的当一个手机业务员了。
因此，这场在Cardiff的千禧剧场的「Britain Got Talent」的试演活动，就变成他的最后一次机会了。他必须在三个各司其职的严酷评审和两千名观众面前展现他最好的一面。
终于要上场了，当天他是怎么样的精心打扮来面对自己的最后一次机会呢？
他穿着被描述为「Tesco」大卖场买的西装，根据他自己的说法：我不认为评审对我有多少期待。我又矮又胖，穿着一件便宜的旧西装。发型师用的发胶又太黏，让我看起来好像有点秃头。Simon说我的西装好像太大了，Piers说我看起来糟透了…

就这样，这个看来猥琐、肥胖、顶着一头傻傻发型的手机业务员Paul Potts站上了舞台，点头示意工作人员按下音乐的播放钮，「杜兰朵公主」中的「公主彻夜未眠」前奏流泄而出，三位评审交换了眼神，露出没有任何期待的表情……
然后，一切就进入了历史。

这就是一个青蛙变成王子的真实故事。


36岁的Paul Potts是一个手机推销员，在6月9日参加了《英国达人》的选秀，他是一个矮胖的中年男人，穿着廉价的褶皱衬衣和裤子，缺了一只门牙，神态羞涩而猥琐。在台下他慌乱地踱来踱去，面对提问他羞涩地露着微笑，站在台上，他拘谨地立在那里，一副不知所措的样子，在他回答说在表演歌剧时，我们看到评委西蒙·考埃尔鄙视的眼光，Paul Potts张开那张缺了一只门牙的嘴，唱出歌剧《图兰朵》中《今夜无人入睡》，纯净的歌声穿透了鄙薄和不以为然，魔幻般震颤了每一个人的心灵，观众和评委们一起流下感动的眼泪。

　　Paul Potts在生活中一直是一个不起眼的小角色，在超市和手机店上班，骑着自行车去学歌剧，在聊天室里找到自己的太太，因为肿瘤、盲肠炎欠了3万英镑的债务。一切都是极普通的人小物的生活。但是Paul Potts爱歌剧，他只是自己歌唱，他用自己的心灵演绎了每一个音符，也打动了每一位观众。

　　6月17日，Paul Potts以《今夜无人入睡》最终赢得了《英国达人》的冠军——他赢得了10万英镑的奖金和一张唱片合约。



"I keep waiting for someone to pinch me and say 'Wake up, Paul, it's time for work - you're late again'. I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster - a white knuckle ride into the unknown. And I don't want to get off!"

Britain's Got Talent winner Paul Potts has spent most of his life feeling 'insignificant'. Bullied at school for being 'different', he realised growing up that he had one true friend and that was his voice. Singing was his escape. He was able to lose himself in his own little world - the vicious words of his tormentors replaced by hauntingly beautiful lyrics and melodies that lifted his heart and spirit. It was a love, a passion, a lifeline that would follow Paul into adulthood and help him through many more periods of adversity. But it was also a gift that was destined to go largely undiscovered, due to a crushing lack of self-confidence that has dogged this hard working and humble man throughout his 36 years.

Born just outside Bristol on October 13, 1970, to bus driver Roland and his wife Yvonne, a supermarket cashier, Paul - who's one of four children
- was singing almost from the moment he could talk. "My mother recalls me listening to the theme from ET and conducting an imaginary orchestra with sticks," laughs Paul. By the time he reached 11, he was part of one of the best church choirs in Bristol. But it was when he hit 16 that his love of opera took hold. "I bought a cheap recording of Carreras," he recalls. "It was the first time I had heard Che Gelida Manina (Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen) and I was so moved by it. To this day La Boheme remains my favourite opera."

Although Paul has performed at amateur level, most notably with Bath Opera, his chronic lack of self esteem and fear of rejection always prevented him from trying to make it professionally. " As I saw it, if I never asked - never put myself out there - then I'd never get told "No",'says Paul. "It was safer that way."

So instead, he carried on with his day jobs - which have included stacking shelves in a supermarket and, most recently and famously, selling mobile phones, where he was told by one of his superiors that he was a 'natural salesman'. "But I knew I wasn't," says Paul. "When I was selling, I always felt like I was putting on an act. When I sang, that's when I felt I was myself - the real me."

In 2000, Paul used savings and a bit of money he'd won on a quiz show to attend a three-month summer school in Italy, where he learned the language and got to indulge his passion further. He even got to sing in a masterclass for his idol, Pavarotti. But he was about to be dealt a cruel blow.

In 2003, he suffered a burst appendix. While undergoing treatment for this, doctors discovered a benign tumour on his adrenal gland. It was successfully removed but while he was recovering, he was knocked off his bike and broke his collarbone. "Of all the health problems I'd been through, breaking my collar bone was the most painful and it took months to recover," says Paul. " I got very, very low and for once, singing was the last thing on my mind."

And he might have given up forever, had it not been for Britain's Got Talent - the talent show for today's generation, created by Simon Cowell and co-producved by his Entertainment company Syco TV, which last week was celebrating a double whammy. In a first for a reality TV format, the Got Talent shows on both sides of the Atlantic - Britain and America - were at number one, with more than 13 million viewers tuning in to see Paul win the final of the British version and the same figure welcoming back a second season of America’s Got Talent in the States. (The format has now been commissioned worldwide and will be shown in 40 countries by the end of the year!)

Though it's fair to say that when Paul strolled awkwardly - almost apologetically - onto the Cardiff stage for his first Britain’s Got Talent audition a week before that final, in his now infamous £35 Tesco suit, and announced to Simon and fellow judges Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan that he was going to sing opera, they never thought for one minute they were looking at their winner. Until he opened his mouth and started to sing.
It was, as Simon has said since, simply magical. "Incredible", agreed Piers. And Amanda, who was moved to tears, said his voice had left her covered in goosebumps. "We were not expecting that," admitted Simon.

"I was so nervous I was shaking like a jelly, but when I watch that audition back, i can see in my eyes that when I start to sing I go to a totally different place and the nerves just vanish," says Paul. "When I stopped singing, there were a few seconds when my heart was racing because I had absolutely no idea what the judges were going to say."

Since then, accolades have been posted on the Internet from as far afield as Australia and Taiwan, from fans who've seen Paul's performances on
YouTube. "A humble bloke who's not even aware of his amazing gift - Paul
Potts is a true star" wrote one.

"It has changed my whole life. I used to feel so small and insignificant.
But now I know I am someone - I am Paul Potts and this is what I do,"
smiles Paul.

But don't worry - there's no danger of him going all starry and getting above himself! "I am not going to change - although I might invest in some nicer suits! But whatever happens, I'm keeping that Tesco one. It's a reminder of where I was and where I attempt to remain - except in better clothes!"

Paul also hopes to get his teeth done. "I don't think I'd suit one of those dazzling Hollywood smiles, but I'd like to get the cap sorted as I'm very conscious about it when I sing." Other plans for the £100,000 prize money include taking proud wife Julie-Ann, 27, who he wed four years ago, on safari - and, fingers crossed, starting a family.

"It's something we couldn't afford to think about before," explains Paul, who lives with Julie-Ann in a modest two bedroomed house in Port Talbot, south Wales. "Now we can and that would complete things."

However, it might have to wait a little while. His feet have barely touched the ground since his victory last Sunday and he's got a host of engagements to prepare for. The Thursday after winning, Paul flew to New York to perform in the plaza for NBC's Today show - just days after Enrique Iglesias played the same venue and, the previous week, JonBon Jovi! Then he'll be back to the UK to start work on his first album.
And, of course, there's also the VIP performance for which he was competing in Britain's Got Talent - appearing in front of Her Majesty the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance in early December.

"All of this is like a fairy tale and I'm terrified I'm going to wake up soon and find I've dreamt it all," says Paul. "The support I've had has been incredible and I feel so touched and humbled by it. It has done so much for my confidence and I really can't thank people enough for giving me the chance to realise my dream. To be given an opportunity like this is more than I ever could have hoped for. Finally, I am going to be doing what I've always felt I was put here to do - something I love and that gives me so much joy."


Paul Potts歌劇封王傳奇最終章：


stone：不知顾长卫是不是一个未卜先知的人，06年就开始拍《立春》，而现实中的王彩玲在07年《英国达人》这个节目中出现了。Paul Potts，一个其貌不扬的人，歌声里却隐藏了无穷的力量。《one chance》，如他成名后出的专辑的名字，一次机会，一个小人物，却撼动了世界。知道了他的故事，再听他的歌声，不再有鸡皮疙瘩，而是一种敬佩，一种感动。看过《立春》后，并不希望导演们再拍这种励志片。如果让世界又多了些终日穷困潦倒的文艺青年，还不如让他们好好过日子。春天撒下的种子，到秋天未必就能收获，需要浇水，需要施肥，还需要迎接随时可能出现的冰雹。值得欣慰的是，Paul Potts终于成功了，现实世界中的王彩玲终于可以在歌剧院一展歌喉。

仰天大笑出门去，我辈岂是蓬蒿人。衷心祝福Paul Potts在以后的演艺道路上走好！