Over the latest bank holiday, Ian Bowden delivered another jazz weekend full of talent and famous musicians. Russell Watson played to packed pews on Thursday, May 3 in St Mary’s church.
Known as the “people’s tenor” Watson has sold millions of albums. The New York Times has said he “sings like Pavarotti and entertains like Sinatra” which was certainly true on this occasion. His voice was deep, musical, powerful and did not really need a microphone. The violinist accompanying him was also outstanding. Russell Watson has sung with many famous people such as Meatloaf, Lionel Richie and Paul McCartney as well as having sung to a worldwide audience of one billion people for the opening of the Commonwealth games in 2002.
Watson had a lot of personalised items for people to buy (mugs, T-shirts, calendars). In the second half of the concert the Fidelity international choir and special guest Danielle Louise Thomas, a classically trained mezzo-soprano from Liverpool, joined Watson on stage. He courted the audience with his intermittent funny stories from life experiences and asked the audience to stand for his rendition of Jerusalem which they did, with many joining in.
Photos: Main picture, courtesy Russel Watson. In text photo, Heidi Foster