Tenors UnLimited known as the “Rat Pack of Opera” are celebrating over 20 years of creating music. Throughout the years the composition has changed from three to two. I caught up with Paul and Jem to learn more about their journey.
Jannie: Let’s talk about where it all started. Take me right back to the beginning. Whose idea was it?
Tenors UnLimited: It was an idea that evolved. All of us were working in theater, and doing our thing. We came across one another working in the corporate market between jobs. All actors and performers need to sustain their income during the early days, throughout their careers to be fair! Scott and I met (and another chap called Stuart) and the three of us, we all got on and we just thought, hang on, let’s consolidate this and formalize this as a group. At the time, there was nothing out there that was a “man band” as people have called us since. There was nobody doing what we were doing or wanted to do. There was Russell Watson and there was the Opera Babes, and there was Charlotte Church, and a young, very young just about to appear on the scene, Hayley Westenra and, of course, Katherine Jenkins. But there were no groups. And so, not that we saw a gap in the market, but it was very obvious that there was. We were talking to the record label as well at the time and they were looking for the new Three Tenors. Because obviously Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti were no more or at least were slowing up and had sort of ceased to do the Three Tenor concerts. We thought, well, we’re young, and we liked singing pop songs, we liked singing classical, so actually, we could combine everything in this new sort of image. So we were encouraged, but it was very much our own visions. Very soon after that, Stuart left to do his own thing and Paul beautifully came into our life. And that was probably 21 years ago, but we’ve been touring pretty much for 20 years. So fantastic! That’s how it’s happened!
Jannie: You both have that really special connection. Is that something that you found straightaway with each other? Or is that something that’s been developed over the years?
Tenors UnLimited: You learn to bury the loathing and bitterness (laughs). I think both, the whole idea of the group was to find success and to bring enjoyment and that’s what we’ve hopefully done. But also was very much part of the initial outset, what we wanted to achieve was the ability to support and look after our families and look after one another within that. So the social and the family side of what the group is, is as important, I would say, even more important than the music. And well, the proof is in the pudding after 20 years, we’re still doing it. That was very much creating a balance. I think because we came to it, we were sort of late 20s – early 30s when we set the group up, we were young enough, but still old enough to know what we didn’t want by that stage. I think that’s part of the learning process when you take control completely for yourself, I think you need to be in a place where you’ve left the other things, you’ve tried the other things, you know what you’re letting go, because otherwise they’ll always be regret. “I don’t have any of that”! There’s lots of things I still want to do. I’m a fidget. But when even 20 odd years ago, we set the group up, we knew what we wanted to achieve and it was very clear. We didn’t want commercial success at the expense of something. I think a lot of artists fail and struggle, because there isn’t that balance in their lives and creating that balance is very hard. But at the same time, if you know, that’s what you want, you will achieve that.
Jannie: You both have performed on TV, radio all around the world, top venues with top artists. Tell me about that, it must be really exciting as you performed with the likes of Katherine Jenkins, Sting, Lionel Richie, Jeff Wayne, tell us a bit about that.
Tenors UnLimited: It’s really nice to do those things. That’s one of those times when you have to live in the moment, because sometimes on the day of the show, there’s always other stuff, there might be a problem with the sound or something else or something difficult going on, or your baby’s not slept the night before or something. It’s important to remain present in those moments. You know how the Jeff Wayne (War of the Worlds) thing came about, he actually wrote a special section just for us which was amazing, we eventually performed at the Festival Hall. He likes to have a lot of pre-recorded stuff done. He wanted guide vocals and we went to his house and his recording studio. Wonderful, beautiful recording studio. And my guide vocal who laid it down for me was Gary Barlow! So that was sort of pinch me moment… I could never have imagined that I’d be with Jeff Wayne and having him specially write some new harmonies and words for us. I think it’s very much about appreciating those moments when you’re in them but also not to get carried away, because you know there’s an audience out there and they want your best, not you blubbering being on stage because you started emotional.
Jannie: You’ve had some great reviews – you must be so proud! It must be a proper pinch me moment. How does that feel?
Tenors UnLimited: Reviews are great. I think once you put yourself out there on social media, in this age of the trolls, you’re going to get the odd thing, but generally, when people say nice things, that is very nice. You know, weirdly, in this profession, I don’t take compliments very well. So I just go, uh huh, huh right and just nod and then walk away. If somebody gives me a compliment. I’m not very good at taking them. But yes, it’s really nice to get a good review. I remember when I was singing at college, a Rossini opera, I did one of what I thought was one of the worst things I’ve ever did and opera magazines said I was magnificent and wouldn’t stop going on about me. And I was like, “Well, okay” so I’ve kind of taken a lot of reviews with a pinch of salt after that.
It’s part of the training I think is watching ice skating at the Olympics? For example, why do I use this analogy? Because it’s true. Nobody’s really bothered about the 99.9% of the beautiful dancing if it’s Torvill and Dean, they’re waiting for the person to fall over aren’t they? The college training, tradition, apart from one or two shining beacons of light focus on what you weren’t achieving most of the time rather than what you were achieving. I think that needs to be remembered educationally. We aspire and we complement one another but if we’re going to criticize the criticisms, it has be in a positive constructive way. Going back to the sort way in which education, particularly in the arts is done, a lot of actors and performers and dancers will tell you, it’s about, “That’s wrong. That’s good. That’s too flat..” Of course, it’s important to know your failings, but there’s a positive way through which you can learn through those failures rather than being beaten down by them. I suppose the reason we’re all still in it is because we’ve learned to wade through a lot of things. A lot of people get to 23-24, whatever they are, they’ve left college thinking “Oh, I’ve had enough of this already.” When I look back on those, there’s quite a lot of people. Yes, it’s an experience, but do they carry on and have careers? There’s a big fall away.
Jannie: Do you plan in the future to release an album of solely original material?
Tenors UnLimited: Absolutely! Our albums for the most part are reflections of our tours, so yes, we’ll probably do a couple of albums, we’ll definitely do a Christmas album, which we’ve never done previously! We’ll definitely do our previous tour album, which we’ve never done. So there’s still quite a lot of music out there that actually just for the sake of record needs to be nicely recorded but from the perspective of us writing, yes, it’s always been something that we’ve loved doing and it’s a bedrock of our existence. We just like writing. Paul wrote a charity single to raise money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and it’s a beautiful song. And, of course, in some small way, it can help raise money and raise awareness.