Paul Robert Potts (born 13 October 1970) is a British tenor. In 2007, he won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with his performance of "Nessun dorma", an aria from Puccini's opera Turandot. As a singer of operatic pop music, Potts recorded the album One Chance, which topped sales charts in 13 countries. Before winning Britain's Got Talent, Potts was a manager at Carphone Warehouse. He had been a Bristol city councillor from 1996 until 2003, and performed in amateur opera from 1999 to 2003.
Paul Potts was born on 13 October 1970 in Kingswood, Bristol, and raised in nearby Fishponds by his English father Roland, a bus driver, and Welsh mother, Yvonne (née Higgins), a supermarket cashier. He has two brothers and one sister.
Potts attended St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, where he developed his love of singing. He also sang with the choir at Chester Park Junior School and with the choirs at several Bristol churches, including Christ Church. Potts said in interviews that he had been bullied in school, and that experience may have made him lack self-confidence. He has also said that his voice had always been a source of solace when he was bullied.
After he left school in 1987, Potts had various jobs including working at Waitrose and Tesco; he also worked part-time at Debenhams. At the time of his Britain's Got Talent appearance, he was working in The Carphone Warehouse.
In 1993, Potts earned a B.A. (Bachelor of Arts) Honours degree in humanities from University College Plymouth St Mark & St John. In 1996, Potts was elected in a council by-election to represent the Eastville ward of Bristol City Council as a Liberal Democrat councillor; he was the youngest member of Bristol City Council and served until 2003.
After winning Britain's Got Talent, Potts took a six-month sabbatical from his job and resigned on 5 March 2008.
Potts first sang opera in the minor roles of the Prince of Persia and the Herald in Puccini's Turandot for Bath Opera, an amateur company, in 1999. He then performed leading roles on four occasions: Don Basilio in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 2000; Don Carlos in Verdi's Don Carlos in 2001; Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni in 2003; and Radames in Verdi's Aida in 2003. He also performed the role of the Chevalier des Grieux in Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the Southgate Opera Company in London, an amateur company, in May 2003. Additionally, he sang with a small ensemble from the Royal Philharmonic in front of an audience of 15,000 and toured northern Italy as a soloist as part of his music classes there.
In several interviews, Potts revealed that he performed Aida despite doctors' wishes to remove an adrenal tumour they had discovered during his illness from a burst appendix, and shortly after the tumour surgery performed Manon Lescaut. Potts broke his collarbone and suffered whiplash in a bicycle accident in 2003. The mishap and financial difficulties that followed led him to enter Britain's Got Talent despite not having sung in years.
Potts auditioned for Simon Cowell's new talent show Britain's Got Talent at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, Wales on 17 March 2007. The audition was televised on ITV in the UK on 9 June 2007. Potts sang the full rendition of Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun dorma," which was condensed for broadcast. His rendition of the aria brought looks of awe from the judges. Potts received a standing ovation from the audience of 2,000 people. The YouTube video clip from the show has had more than 199 million views as of January 2026.
In the semi-final on 14 June 2007, Potts performed the main verses of Andrea Bocelli's "Time To Say Goodbye." He progressed to the final after receiving the highest public vote in that show.
He performed "Nessun dorma" again for his finale on 17 June 2007, as well as an encore after he won the competition. Potts defeated the bookmakers' co-favourite Connie Talbot, and received the highest percentage of two million votes cast to win £100,000. He then performed Sarah Brightman's "Nella Fantasia" at the Royal Variety Performance on 3 December 2007, in front of Queen Elizabeth II.
On 3 December 2012, he was invited to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Variety Performance alongside Spelbound, Diversity and 2009 finalist Stavros Flatley. Together they performed a dance routine finishing with Potts singing "Nessun Dorma" with Flatley dancing to the song.
Questions about amateur status
Shortly before the Britain's Got Talent final in June 2007, the programme was criticised for representing Potts as a simple mobile-phone salesman, when he had appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and had plans for a summer tour with it. He was accused of being an experienced performer who was reaping the benefit of professional training. Potts responded that he had never worked as a professional singer. He had paid for lessons, but everyone taking part in the show had had some training. He had not claimed to be untutored, but had never performed any concert for pay and was therefore an amateur. He also said that the Pavarotti masterclass he attended in Italy was paid for from his own savings. His comments were confirmed by the singing teacher who gave him lessons until illness caused Potts to give up in 2003.
In the United States, he was profiled on a National Public Radio programme called Day to Day, and appeared live on NBC's programme Today.
In July 2007, Potts performed "Nessun dorma" at a Katherine Jenkins concert at Margam Park, Wales. On 16 July 2007, his debut album One Chance was released in the UK, and claimed the No. 1 spot in the UK Album Chart the following week. In December 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented Potts with a platinum disc for having sold 2,000,000 copies of his album.
On 13 December 2007, he performed in Leipzig in the live television broadcast of the 13th annual José Carreras Gala, accompanied by the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg under the direction of Scott Lawton. In January he began a series of 97 concerts in 85 cities across 23 countries. This included three outdoor classical music concerts with the Finnish violinist Linda Brava and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at Sofiero Palace, Sundbyholms Castle and Slottskogsvallen from 24 to 26 July.
In the semi-finals of the 2009 series of Britain's Got Talent, Potts appeared in a comeback performance.