Opera singer Russell Watson: I’m still trying to find my full voice after tumour treatment

 
Working hard: Russell Watson has changed his style but still hopes to reach his full range (Picture: Getty)
Rod Kitson10 July 2014
The Weekender

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Opera singer Russell Watson has revealed his voice has not yet recovered after treatment for his illness.

Watson, 47, had a life-threatening brain tumour removed in 2006 and 2007, and seven years on says his vocal range is still not 100 per cent.

He told the Standard: “It is coming back very slowly. It does take time.

“I’m 85, 90 per cent back to my best. When I came first came out of radiotherapy and was trying to hit top notes, I was only getting towards the mid-range of my vocal level and I was blacking out, so it was very difficult. When I finished my radiotherapy treatment after my second operation and I couldn’t get any of the tenor notes I had to go out and change the styles of my records — soul instead of classical.”

The singer, nicknamed “The Voice”, believes he will hit all the notes again one day, adding: “I’m pretty bloody close now to getting my full range back. I’ve done a lot of hard work with my vocal coach rebuilding the stamina.”

He hit out at critics of his vocal style, saying: “So when people start saying, ‘He’s not doing that …’ it makes me think, well, I have had a few issues to deal with in my career, so maybe give that a thought before you start mouthing off about what I do and what I don’t do.”

Watson performs at the Greenwich Music Time festival on August 22, his only London show this summer. It will combine opera and “greatest hits”.

The singer, who is set to appear in long-running West End smash Les Miserables, said: “I think we are going to do some of the Les Mis stuff, and we’ll finish with a Last Night at the Proms-type finale — Land of Hope and Glory, Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Jerusalem.”

The festival runs at the Old Royal Naval College from August 20 to 23.

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