Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966; age 57) is an English vocalist and tenor who sang the opening theme song from Star Trek: Enterprise entitled "Where My Heart Will Take Me", which was originally recorded as "Faith of the Heart" by Rod Stewart for the film Patch Adams. The song was remixed with a faster beat for Enterprise's third season.
Hailing from Salford, Greater Manchester, England, Watson initially was not seeking a career as a professional singer. Working as a bolt-cutter in Manchester, Watson began accepting singing engagements to earn extra money. His reputation and popularity increased through these engagements, ultimately leading to his being chosen to sing at the Rugby Challenge Cup final in Wembley Stadium in 1999. His performance there was so successful that he was later invited to sing at the UEFA Champions League soccer final in Barcelona. Following this, his career took off, and his first album – entitled The Voice – followed in 2001. Both that album and his next, 2002's Encore, won Album of the Year at the Classical Brit Awards in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
In 2006 Watson took part in the BBC's Just the Two of Us, in which British celebrities were paired up with professional singers (including Watson) for a duet-singer showdown. Watson was paired with actress Sian Reeves and was actually a late arrival, having replaced singer Rick Astley after the latter abandoned the show.
Watson was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor that year, and underwent an emergency operation to remove it on 24 September 2006. [1] On 24 October 2007 a regrowth of the tumor was discovered, and he had a second round of emergency surgery. [2] On 4 February 2008 Watson announced that he was soon to complete a five-week course of radiotherapy, writing on his official blog that he had suffered draining side-effects but was "hanging in there." He also added that feared damage to his voice had not occurred. [3]
Following his recovery, in the summer of 2008 Watson served as a panel judge on the BBC's Last Choir Standing in the UK. [4]
External links[]
- Russell-Watson.com – official site
- Russell Watson at Wikipedia
- Russell Watson at the Internet Movie Database