From Britain's version of American Idol

arbilad · Head Chef

From Britain's version of American Idol

arbilad · Head Chef

Here's another one:

crazymom5 · Senior Member

Actually, that is from "Britain's Got Talent". "America's Got Talent" is a spin-off.

And yeah, he was great!

Ros · Senior Member

I love this whole story. I would buy a CD today if it were available.

I awoke to his voice on Today show and instantly sat up to see who it was. Amazing!

Melissa · Veteran Member

I don't even like opera and that made me cry. In a good way. What an amazing talent.

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Amazing.

But, I wonder one thing... the chances of teaching oneself how to sing opera in Italian (let alone any language) to the point one sings even remotely closely to the level of one of the professionals (e.g. The Three Tenors) is so slim. With a voice as strong and refined as his is, why was he not discovered before? Why was he not in the profession, and why did his teachers ostensibly do nothing to get him in the opera profession?

arbilad · Head Chef

He did four volunteer opera shows (non-paid, so he qualified as amateur). He paid for singing lessons in Italy out of his own savings. He's worked hard at it.

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Obviously he has worked hard at it. I guess though he never got the right connections prior to this show.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

People, People. He's Welch. The Welch are better singers than the Italians. His biggest problem is he probably couldn't stop chasing sheep around long enough to get discovered. You know what they call a welchman with 30 girlfriends? A sheepherder!

Seriously though. The Welch are renouned for their singing ability and for the surname Jones. In Wales, guys like this are more common than anywhere else in the world.

And yes, it is spelled Welch not Welsh. Same pronounciation.

Ros · Senior Member

There was a mention of some illnesses and setbacks. I am patiently awaiting the rest of the story. And the CD.

ETA: Being Welch...purposely ignoring the whole sheepherding innuendo. hmm

-- Edited by Ros at 16:42, 2007-06-25

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

salesortonscom wrote:

People, People. He's Welch. The Welch are better singers than the Italians. His biggest problem is he probably couldn't stop chasing sheep around long enough to get discovered. You know what they call a welchman with 30 girlfriends? A sheepherder!

Seriously though. The Welch are renouned for their singing ability and for the surname Jones. In Wales, guys like this are more common than anywhere else in the world.

And yes, it is spelled Welch not Welsh. Same pronounciation.

Hey! On behalf of my Welsh ancestors, that sheep stuff ain't funny!

Welch, an obsolescent Anglicised variant of 'Welsh'...

Of course, the Welsh are better singers than the Italians... why the worst Welsh singer is better than the best (fill in the blank) singer from anywhere! We love to sing! My Dad was well known for his ability as a tenor, and I can do a decent job as a baritone myself.

glumirk · Senior Member

wow....that was amazing! I'd add him to my Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli collection any day! I seriously started tearing up! beautiful!

glumirk · Senior Member

Maybe I'm addicted now, but this girl is pretty amazing too!

arbilad · Head Chef

I know I have English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. I'll have to ask my mom to see if we have any Welsh ancestry.
BTW, Mahonri, some of my ancestors came over just a little after the Mayflower. Isn't it funny that the line that goes back farthest in the US is easiest to trace, but we can't find the passenger record to link my great-great grandmother to her parents?

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

came over just a little after the Mayflower

That would have been on the Juneflower, right? ta-da-dum!

(hey, if you can't laugh at your own stupid puns an jokes, how you gonna expect anyone else to? )

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

I love sniping a bit at the Welch. My wife has Welch ancestory while I tend to lean on my English and ScotchIrish ancestory. To make matters worse, I actually am in a Welch regiment for my American Revolution reenacting, the 23rd Regt of Foote Royal Welch Fusiliers. We're from the government and we're here to help.

So cheer up Men of Harlech, at least your not Irish!

For you historical nuts, the history of Wales is very interesting. Also fun to watch the Welch in the Michael Caine classic "Zulu".

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

I am firmly convinced that if it weren't for the Welsh pioneer ancestry that is shared by many in the U.S. population of the Church, there would be no one singing audiably in Sacrament Meetings aside from the Sisters So-in-so and their shrill voices with over the top tremolos.

And they even sang in "Zulu"!

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

Cat Herder wrote:

And they even sang in "Zulu"!

That's right. They sang "Men of Harlech". The song has many different versus but refers to the Welch troops that held out in Harlech castle against the English King Edward. The British Welch Regiments still sing it today. biggrin

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Yay! Trained monkeys!

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

I don't think Ray ever saw "Zulu"...

Based on true story of the battle at Rorke's Drift, although the claim is that the movie has a fair number of innacuracies...

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

It does have a lot of innacurracies but the Zulus in the film were Zulus. The guy that plays the chief was the actual chief of the Zulus at the time of filming. Many were descended from the actual warriors that fought in the battle.

PollyAnna · Senior Bucketkeeper

salesortonscom wrote:
the 23rd Regt of Foote Royal Welch Fusiliers.

That my maiden name!!!! weirdface Jason, are we related???

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

whenever I see performing children I think, "Yay! Trained Monkeys!"