Joe McElderry
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Born: 16th June, 1991 -
Nationality: UK
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Years active: 2011 - present
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Vocal Category: Tenor
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Studio Albums: 2 classical crossover (3 in total)
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Record Sales: 100,000+
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Record Label: Decca
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Biggest Markets: UK
ARTIST OVERALL RATINGS
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DESCRIPTION
Now this is putting the literal meaning into the term crossover. Joe McElderry won the British X-Factor in 2009 and was launched as a pop artist. Like Leon Jackson and Steve Brookstein before him, McElderry's album flopped and he didn't see his contract renewed. Like any celebrity struggling to keep their career afloat, McElderry took himself to a celebrity reality show which has brought the pop star to our waters. He competed in Popstar to Operastar (a show that trains pop singers to sing operatically and then puts them to a public vote where judges include Katherine Jenkins and Vanessa-Mae). He won the show with relative ease because whilst he was certainly still popular among the public so soon after his X-Factor win it was also because it turned out that McElderry was a complete natural, prompting Rolando Villazon to comment: 'I really hope you will commit to this wonderful art form because you have all the talent. You can become a real, real opera star in some years.' In response, McElderry quickly recorded a crossover album, Classic, to launch only six weeks after his win. The album is a textbook Decca album including 'Nessun Dorma', 'Time to Say Goodbye', 'To Where You Are' and 'She Was Beautiful'. Classic Christmas followed mere months after. Whilst the tracklistings are uninspired it's still a treat to hear a pop singer attempt all the songs we know so well with his briefly trained voice and it's a testament to the talent that Villazon referred to.
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