BBC News | FILM | Russell Watson is 'Hollywood-bound'

Singing star Russell Watson is to star as opera legend Mario Lanza in a new Hollywood movie, according to reports.

The former factory worker has become one of the UK's top classical music stars in just two years.

Watson said it would be an "amazing opportunity" if he broke into the film world.

He told the Daily Express: "I was in Los Angeles doing a concert for the opening of the Kodak Theatre and Steven Spielberg and all the other Hollywood producers were there.

"The next night, one of them came back and I was offered a movie deal on the spot."

Breakthrough

Watson is also launching an assault on the pop charts.

He has teamed up with former Steps singer Faye Tozer and they will release their ballad Someone Like You in May.

While working on the shop floor of a Manchester engineering firm, he started to use his spare time for singing, performing arias in working men's clubs and local halls.

Faye Tozer used to sing in Steps
His reputation spread by word of mouth until he came to the attention of Martin Edwards, chairman of Manchester United football club.

Mr Edwards invited him to sing at Old Trafford at United's end of season game against Tottenham Hotspur in 1999.

Watson's national breakthrough was the release in September 2000 of the album The Voice, which sold 450,000 copies in the UK in its first three months.

It remained at the top of the classical charts for more than a year.

He is also a massive success in the US, and he became the first ever UK male artist to take the number one spot on both sides of the Atlantic's classical charts simultaneously.

Watson has won two classical Brit awards and has sung for the Pope.


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