The tenor, from Port Talbot in south Wales, first sang opera at the age of 28 when he dressed as Pavarotti at a karaoke event. In 1999 he appeared in Michael Barrymore's My Kind Of Music, and won £8,000, which he spent on singing courses in Italy.
Between 1999 and 2003 he appeared in four productions for the Bath Opera company, including The Marriage Of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Don Carlos and Turandot. He also performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and toured northern Italy for three months as a soloist, training under teachers Mario Melani and Svetlana Sidrova.
However, after spending £20,000 on his career hopes, including a masterclass in which he sang for Luciano Pavarotti, doctors discovered a benign tumour during treatment for appendicitis in 2003. Then, shortly after his recovery, he broke his collar bone in a bike accident.
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