A 16:9 rectangle in which rectangles visualize the ratio. Note that the groupings are not square.

An LCD television set with a 16:9 image ratio.

16:9 (1.77:1) (16:9 = 4²:3²) is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television (EDTV) PALplus.

Generally 16:9 is pronounced "Sixteen-Nine", "Sixteen-by-Nine," or "Sixteen-to-Nine."

History[link]

Equal area comparison of the aspect ratios used by Dr. Powers to derive the SMPTE 16:9 standard.^[1] TV 4:3/1.33 in red, 5:3/1.66 in orange, 16:9/1.77 in blue, 1.85 in yellow, Panavision 11:5/2.2 in mauve and CinemaScope/2.35 in purple.

When the 16:9 (1.77:1) aspect ratio was proposed by Kerns H. Powers, a member of the SMPTE Working Group On High-Definition Electronic Production, nobody was creating 16:9 videos. The popular choices in 1980 were: 1.33:1 (based on television standard's ratio at the time), 1.66:1 (the European "flat" ratio), 1.85:1 (the American "flat" ratio), 2.20:1 (the ratio of 70 mm films and Panavision) and 2.35:1 (the CinemaScope ratio for anamorphic widescreen films).

Powers cut out rectangles with equal areas, shaped to match each of the popular aspect ratios. When overlapped with their center points aligned, he found that all of those aspect ratio rectangles fit within an outer rectangle with an aspect ratio of 1.77:1 and all of them also covered a smaller common inner rectangle with the same aspect ratio 1.77:1.^[1] The value found by Powers is exactly the geometric mean of the extreme aspect ratios, 4:3 (1.33:1) and 2.35:1, which is coincidentally close to 16:9 (1.77:1). Applying the same geometric mean technique to 16:9 and 4:3 yields the 14:9 aspect ratio, which is likewise used as a compromise between these ratios.^[2]

While 16:9 (1.77:1) was initially selected as a compromise format, the subsequent popularity of HDTV broadcast has solidified 16:9 as perhaps the most important video aspect ratio in use.^{[citation needed]} Most 4:3 (1.33:1) and 2.39:1 video is now recorded using a "shoot and protect" technique^[3] that keeps the main action within a 16:9 (1.77:1) inner rectangle to facilitate HD broadcast.^{[citation needed]}. Conversely it is quite common to use a technique known as center-cutting, to approach the challenge of presenting material shot (typically 16:9) to both a HD and legacy 4:3 audience simultaneously without having to compromise image size for either audience. Content creators frame critical content or graphics to fit within the 1.33 raster space.^{[citation needed]} This has similarities to a filming technique called Open matte.

After the original 16:9 Action Plan of the early 1990s, the European Union has instituted the 16:9 Action Plan,^[4] just to accelerate the development of the advanced television services in 16:9 aspect ratio, both in PAL and also in HDTV. The Community fund for the 16:9 Action Plan amounted to €228 million.

In 2008 the computer industry started to use 16:9 as standard aspect ratio for monitors and laptops. According to a report by displaysearch the reasons for this were/are:^[5][6]

• Innovative product concepts drives a new product cycle and stimulating the growth of the notebook PC and LCD monitor market.
• 16:9 provides better economic cut (panelization) in existing TFT LCD fabs.
• 16:9 products provide higher resolution and wider aspect ratio.^[7]
• The widespread adoption of High Definition in the consumer entertainment sector will help end users readily adopt the new products with the wider aspect ratio.
• The 16:9 panels provide an opportunity for PC brands to further diversify their products.^[5][6]

In 2011 Bennie Budler, product manager of IT products at Samsung South Africa, confirmed that monitors capable of 1920x1200 resolutions aren't being manufactured anymore. “It is all about reducing manufacturing costs. The new 16:9 aspect ratio panels are more cost effective to manufacture locally than the previous 16:10 panels”.^[8] Since computer displays are advertised by their diagonal measure, for monitors with the same display area, a wide screen monitor will have a larger diagonal measure, thus sounding more impressive. Within limits, the amount of information that can be displayed, and the cost of the monitor depend more on area than on diagonal measure.

In March 2011 the 16:9 resolution 1920x1080 became the most common used resolution among Steam's users. The earlier most common resolution was 1680x1050 (16:10).^[9]

Properties[link]

16:9 is the only widescreen aspect ratio natively supported by the DVD format. Anamorphic DVD transfers store the information as 5:4 (PAL) or 6:4 (NTSC), which is set to expand to either 16:9 or 4:3, which the television or video player handles. For instance, a PAL DVD with a full frame image may contain a video resolution of 720x576, but a video player will stretch this to 1024x576 with a 16:9 flag in order to maintain the correct aspect ratio.

DVD producers can also choose to show even wider ratios such as 1.85:1 and 2.39:1^[10] within the 16:9 DVD frame by hard matting or adding black bars within the image itself. Some films which were made in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, such as the U.S.-Italian co-production Man of La Mancha and Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, fit quite comfortably onto a 1.77:1 HDTV screen and have been issued anamorphically enhanced on DVD without the black bars. Many digital video cameras have the capability to record in 16:9.

Super 16 mm film is frequently used for television production due to its lower cost, lack of need for soundtrack space on the film itself, and aspect ratio similar to 16:9.^{[citation needed]}

Common resolutions[link]

Common resolutions for 16:9 are 640x360, 854x480, 960x540, 1024×576, 1280×720, 1366×768, 1600×900, 1920×1080, 2048x1152, 2560×1440, 3840×2160 and 4096x2304.

1080p (Full HD) is 1920×1080, while 720p (HD) is 1280×720.

In Europe[link]

In Europe, 16:9 is being adopted as the standard broadcast format for digital and HDTV. Some countries have even adopted the format for analog television by means of the PALplus standard.

Country	Channel
Albania	TV Klan, Klan HD, Digi Gold, DigitALB HD (1,2,3,4,5,6), SuperSport (1,2,3,4,5)*, Top Channel**, Digi Plus**, Film Autor**, Film Hits**, Film Thriller**, Film Drame**, Film Aksion**, Film Komedi** * Do not set the aspect ratio correctly when broadcasting in 16:9 and the image appears squashed on 4:3 TV sets. ** These channels do broadcast in 16:9 and 4:3 but the aspect ratio is always kept 4:3 so 16:9 programs appear squashed.
Austria	ORF1, ORF2, ORF Sport Plus, ORF1 HD, ATV, Puls 4, Servus TV, and others (all main channels)
Belarus	Belsat
Belgium	All channels
Bosnia and Herzegovina	BHT 1, Kanal 1, TV1, Hayat music, BDC TV,
Bulgaria	BNT 1*, The Voice, TV+, FILM+/SPORT+, TV7*, RING.BG, bTV Action* * These stations do not set the aspect ratio correctly when broadcasting in 16:9 and the image appears stretched on 4:3 TV sets. Such stations use mostly 4:3 programming.
Cyprus	ANT1 Cyprus RIK HD Sigma TV
Croatia	RTL Televizija*, RTL 2*, Doma TV**, Sportska televizija**, Kapital Network** Older programmes filmed in 4:3 are: * cropped. ** transmitted in their original format.
Czech Republic	TV Nova, Česká televize, TV Nova HD, TV Prima, TV Barrandov
Denmark	Almost all main channels as 16:9 is the national standard for television.
Estonia	All main digital channels (ETV, Kanal 2 and TV3) and their sister channels are 16:9.
Finland	Almost all main channels as 16:9 is the national standard for television, including but not limited to Yle TV1, Yle TV2, MTV3, Nelonen, TV5, Liv, Jim, Sub, Yle Fem, Yle Teema, The Voice, Fox, AVA
France	All nationwide channels on the French DVB-T (TNT) And almost all pay channel via TNT, ADSL, DVB-C and DVB-S; Canal+ Décalé, Canal+ Family, Poker Channel, CinePlay, Ciné Cinéma Premier, OL TV, Motors TV, Disney Cinemagic, Disney Cinemagic + 1, NRJ Hits, Ciné Cinéma Premier HD and SD, National Geographic HD and SD, Ushuaia TV HD and SD, Disney Cinemagic HD and SD, MTV HD, NRJ 12 HD and SD, iConcert HD, HD1, Melody Zen HD, Sci Fi Channel HD and SD, 13ème Rue HD and SD, Orange cinemax HD...
Germany	ARD (Das Erste, EinsExtra, EinsFestival, EinsPlus; BR and BR-alpha, HR, WDR, SWR, RBB, RB), ZDF, 3sat, Arte, DW-TV, Phoenix; kabel eins, ProSieben, Sat.1; RTL, RTL II, Super RTL, VOX; and others (all main channels)
Greece	Exclusively in 16:9 aspect ratio: Skai TV, Star Channel, Prisma+, Cine+, Sport+, MTV Greece, NovaCinema1, NovaCinema2, NovaCinema3, NovaCinema4, NovaCinema HD, NovaSports1, NovaSports2, NovaSports3, NovaSports4, NovaSports Highlights, NovaSports6, NovaSports7, NovaSports HD, Nickelodeon (Greece), KONTRA Channel, ERT HD Occasional in 16:9 aspect ratio: ET1, NET, ET3, Mega Channel, Alpha TV, ANT1
Hungary	All main channels (RTL Klub,[11] TV2,[12] Magyar Televízió (m1, m2), Duna TV (both standard and HD),[13] Duna 2) FEM3, PRO4, Story4*, Sport Klub , Sport 1, Sport 2, Sport M, Life Network, Ozone Network, Viasat3*, TV6*, ATV, Spektrum, DigiSport, 1 Music Channel, MusicMix, Discovery Channel * Do not set the aspect ratio correctly when broadcasting in 16:9 and the image appears stretched on 4:3 TV sets. Such stations use mostly 4:3 programming.
Iceland	All three national stations broadcast in 16:9 with occasional 4:3 programs. Some smaller local stations still use 4:3.
Ireland	RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3, TG4, and Setanta Ireland
Italy	All the 10 SKY Cinema channels, all the 6 SKY Sport channels, all the 15 SKY Calcio channels, all the 30 SKY Prima Fila channels, Cult, Sky TG24, Sky Meteo24, Sky Uno, MGM (localized version), Discovery Channel Italy, Discovery Science Italy, Discovery Travel & Living Italy, National Geographic Channel Italy, National Geographic Adventure(Italy), National Geographic Wild (Italy), History Channel Italy, AXN Italy, AXN Sci Fi, Comedy Central Italy, E! (localized version), all the 6 dahlia TV channels, all the 6 Premium Calcio, all the 3 Premium Cinema channels, Studio Universal, Rai Sport 1/2, QVC Italy. Most of the actual broadcast of RAI public service and of few major local television stations and almost all of the broadcast of Mediaset and La7 networks (except some rerun, a handful of minor programs and the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful on Canale 5) is shown in the 16:9 ratio. Many television networks do not set correctly the aspect ratio when broadcasting.
Latvia	TV3 Latvia, TV6, LTV7
Lithuania	Lietuvos rytas TV, LNK, TV3 Lithuania, TV6, TV8, TV1, Info TV.
Luxembourg	RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg, Luxe.tv
Macedonia	Alfa tv, MTV1 HD
Malta
Montenegro	RTV Panorama
Netherlands	All nationwide channels (Netherlands Public Broadcasting, RTL, SBS), BravaHDTV. Only older programmes filmed in 4:3 are usually transmitted in their original format, as cropping a 4:3 picture for 16:9 TVs has proved unpopular.
Norway	16:9 is the national standard for television — almost all channels conform to this format.
Poland	TVP1, TVP2, TVP Info (except some regional opt-outs), TVP Polonia, TVP HD, TVP Sport, TVP Kultura, TVP Historia, TVP Seriale, Polsat, Polsat 2, Polsat News, Polsat Sport, Polsat Sport Extra, Polsat Café, Polsat Film, Polsat Play, Canal+, Canal+ Film, Canal+ Sport, Ale Kino!, TVS, TVN, TVN +1, TVN Siedem, Religia TV, TVN 24, TVN Meteo, TVN CNBC, TVN Style, TVN Turbo, TVN Warszawa, nSport, Mango 24, nFilm HD, nFilm HD 2, 4fun.tv, Eska TV, TV4, TV6, Orange Sport Info, Domo, Kuchnia.tv, MiniMini, TV Biznes, AXN, National Geographic Channel, NatGeo Wild HD, Fox, FOX Life HD, MGM HD, Wojna i pokój, BBC Knowledge HD, Animal Planet HD, TLC, Radio na wizji
Portugal	RTP2, TVCine, Canal Q, Eurosport, AXN, AXN Black, AXN White, National Geographic Channel, SportTV, Syfy Universal, Económico TV, História, Odisseia, Fuel TV
Romania	Occasional 16:9 widescreen programming shown on The Romanian Public Broadcaster's channels (TVR 1, TVR 2, TVR Cultural), Sport.ro, B1 TV and DigiSport. SD version aired in 16:9-in-4:3 letterbox on PRO Cinema and MTV Romania. Full 16:9 widescreen programming aired on all HD channels: TVR HD, PRO TV HD and Sport.ro HD.
Russian Federation	Channel 1, Sport 1 HD, Dozhd Optimistic Channel, Expert TV HD, Fox Life HD, NTV+, Eurosport, HDMedia, RT
Serbia	RTS HD, RTS Digital, Arena Sport 1, 2, 3 & 4 HD, Prva, Sport Klub, Sport Klub+, SK Prime
Slovakia	Markíza, Slovenská televízia (STV1, STV2, STV3 HD), JOJ, TV Doma
Slovenia	All main channels (RTV Slovenija (TVS 1, TVS 2, TVS 3, TV KP), Info TV, POP TV, POP BRIO, Kanal A, Sport TV 1, Sport TV 2, Sportklub+, Golfklub, HBO Slovenija, TV3 Slovenia, RTS Maribor) and all HD channels (Televizija Slovenija HD, Info TV HD, RTS Maribor HD)
Spain	Always on 16:9: Antena 3, Cuatro, laSexta, Telecinco, Veo7, MTV Spain, Neox, Nova, Nitro, Teledeporte, Marca TV, Intereconomia, AXN (PPV), FOX Spain (PPV), Discovery Channel Spain (PPV), Calle 13 (PPV), Canal+ Spain (PPV), Eurosport (PPV), Gol Televisión (PPV), ETB (Euskadi), Canal Sur (Andalusia), TV3 (Catalonia), Telemadrid (Madrid), and Aragon TV (Aragón). All HD channels like TVE HD, Antena 3 HD, TV3 HD, Telemadrid HD, FOX HD (PPV), MTVnHD (PPV) or Disney Cinemagic Spain (PPV). Older programmes filmed in 4:3 are transmitted in their original format or zooming to 14:9 Pillarbox, stretched programs are not common. Advertisements filmed in 4:3 often are zoomed to 16:9, only some of them are transmitted with 4:3 Pillarbox. Never stretching. Often on 16:9: La 1, La 2, Disney Channel Spain, La 10, La Siete, FDF, laSexta 2, laSexta 3 and practically all of the regional tv channels like Cyl TV, CMT or TVG. Sometimes on 16:9: Canal 24 Horas, Clan, Intereconomia (stretches most of its programming to 16:9) and practically all of the local tv channels. Always on 4:3: Practically all PPV Channels like The History Channel, Cartoon Network, Canal de las Estrellas or CNN+. Shop channels.
Sweden	Almost all main channels as 16:9 is the national standard for television.
Switzerland	All SRG SSR channels
Turkey	TRT 1, TRT Türk, CNBC-e, e2, a Haber, World Travel Channel, Semerkand TV, Altaş TV, HTV, TarımTürk TV, TürkMax, Lig TV, Moviemax, Sinema TV
Ukraine	English Club TV
United Kingdom	In 1997, BBC, ITV and Channel 4 began producing 16:9 idents and switched some television shows to 16:9. In 1998, with the introduction of digital television, digital versions of BBC One, BBC Two, ITV 1 and Channel 4 were created. An On Digital set top box or a subscription to Sky Digital was required to view the digital versions. On 1 July 2000, "C-Day", most of the UK broadcast industry began requiring commercials to be delivered in 16:9 full-height format (with a 14:9 safe area for those channels still broadcasting in 4:3). ITV and C4 upgraded their continuity suites to be 16:9 capable at the same time, allowing idents to be broadcast in widescreen format on digital. In 2001, the UK's fourth broadcaster Channel 5 switched to 16:9. In 2002, On Digital became defunct and free-to-air digital television services began to operate under the name of Freeview. In 2003, Sky branded channels were re-branded which included the switch to 16:9. In 2006, BBC HD began broadcasting in 1080i which became the standard for all HD channels. Similar to the switch to Digital in 1998, viewers required an additional set-top-box which was HD capable, one that could be provided from either Sky or Virgin Media. In 2007, Channel 4 HD was launched on Sky. It was later added to Virgin Media in 2009 and then to Freeview HD in 2011. In 2008, ITV 1 HD was launched on Sky and was later added to Virgin Media and Freeview HD in 2010. In 2009, Freeview HD launched allowing viewers to watch BBC HD and ITV 1 HD without a subscription to either Sky or Virgin Media, a Freeview HD set-top box was required. In 2010, Channel 5 HD and BBC One HD were launched on Sky and Virgin Media. BBC One HD was later added to Freeview HD in 2011. As of 2012; All Freeview channels broadcast in 16:9 Almost all cable/satellite channels broadcast in 16:9 with the rest expected to switch by the end of 2012.

In Oceania[link]

Country	Channel
Australia	All major channels since the introduction of DVB-T in 2001
New Zealand	Almost all channels

In Asia[link]

Japan's Hi-Vision originally started with a 5:3 ratio but converted when the international standards group introduced a wider ratio of 5¹⁄₃ to 3 (=16:9).

Country	Channel
Hong Kong	All major channels since the digital television broadcasting in 2007.
India	HD channels were added by most DTH operators.
Israel	All main channels, including but not limited to Hot, Yes.
Japan	Japan pioneered in its analogue HDTV system (MUSE) in 16:9 format, started in 1980s. Currently all main channels have Digital terrestrial television channels in 16:9 while being simulcast in analogue 4:3 format. Many satellite broadcast channels are being broadcast in 16:9 as well.
South Korea	All major channels currently feature 16:9 aspect.
Qatar	All Al Jazeera Sports channels, ESPN channels and NBA TV.
Thailand	Thai PBS, Spring News TV and Voice TV
United Arab Emirates	Alarabiya (Since 06.14.2011).
Vietnam	All of VTC HD's channel, K+'s channel (selected programme)

In America[link]

Country	Channel
Brazil	Telecine Premium, Telecine Action, Telecine Fun, Telecine Touch, Telecine Pipoca, HBO, Max HD, Megapix, TBS, FOX Sports, FOX News, BBC World News, Deutsche Welle, NHK, SporTV, Sky Sports+

See also[link]

• High-definition television
• Display resolution
• 1080p / 1080i
• 720p
• 4:3
• 14:9
• 16:10

References[link]

Cited references

General references

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 16:9

Paul Potts
Background information
Birth name	Paul Robert Potts
Born	(1970-10-13) 13 October 1970 (age 41) Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England,[1] United Kingdom
Genres	Classical, pop opera
Occupations	Tenor musician (Formerly employed by Carphone Warehouse)
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Syco, Columbia (2007–2010)
Website	www.paulpottsofficial.com

Paul Robert Potts (born 13 October 1970)^{[citation needed]} is an English tenor. In 2007, he won the first series of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with his performance of "Nessun dorma", an aria from Puccini's opera Turandot. As a singer of operatic music, Potts recorded the album One Chance, which topped sales charts in nine countries. Prior to winning Britain's Got Talent, Potts was a manager at The Carphone Warehouse. He had served as Bristol city councillor from 1996 until 2003, and also had performed in amateur opera from 1999 to 2003. Potts's net worth was estimated at £6 million in April 2012.^[2]

Early life[link]

Potts was born in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, England and raised in Fishponds, Bristol, by his father Roland, a bus driver, and mother, Yvonne (née Higgins), a supermarket cashier.^[3] He has two brothers and one sister. Potts attended St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, where he developed his love of singing.^[4] He also sang with the choir at Chester Park Junior School and with the choirs at several Bristol churches, including Christ Church. Potts said in interviews that he had been bullied in school, and that experience may have made him lack self-confidence. He has also said that his voice had always been a source of solace in the past when he was bullied.^[5]

He earned an Honours degree in 1993 from University College Plymouth St Mark & St John, majoring in Humanities.^[6] In 1996, Potts was elected the youngest member of Bristol City Council; a Liberal Democrat, he served until 2003.^[4][7] Potts was a manager at mobile phone store Carphone Warehouse in Bridgend and lived in Port Talbot. After winning Britain's Got Talent, Potts took a six-month sabbatical from his job and resigned on 5 March 2008.^[8]

Singing career[link]

Potts first sang opera in the minor roles of The Prince of Persia and the Herald in Puccini's Turandot for the Bath Opera, an amateur company, in 1999. He then performed leading roles on four occasions: Don Basilio in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 2000; Don Carlos in Verdi's Don Carlos in 2001; Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni in 2003; and Radames in Verdi's Aida in 2003.^[5][9][10] He also performed the role of the Chevalier des Grieux in Puccini's Manon Lescaut for the Southgate Opera Company in London, an amateur company, in May 2003. Additionally, he sang with a small ensemble from the Royal Philharmonic in front of an audience of 15,000 and toured northern Italy as a soloist as part of his music classes there.^[9]

In several interviews, Potts revealed that he performed Aida despite doctors' wishes to remove an adrenal tumour they had discovered during his illness from a burst appendix, and shortly after the tumour surgery performed Manon Lescaut. Potts broke his collarbone and suffered whiplash in a bicycle accident in 2003. The mishap and financial difficulties that followed led him to enter Britain's Got Talent despite not having sung in years.^[11]

He also participated in the soundtrack of epic Korean drama Queen Seondeok (TV series), singing two major characters', Deokman and Yushin's love theme "Passo Dopo Passo" in Italian, meaning "Step by Step". He has also performed a duet with world famous soprano, Hayley Westenra, Sei Con Me, featured in his album Passione.

[edit] Britain's Got Talent

Potts auditioned for Simon Cowell's new talent show Britain's Got Talent at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff on 17 March 2007. The audition was televised on ITV1 in the UK on 9 June 2007.^[12] Potts sang the full rendition of Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun dorma", which was condensed for broadcast, and he received a standing ovation from the audience of 2,000 people.

In the semi-final on 14 June 2007, Potts performed the main verses of Andrea Bocelli's "Time To Say Goodbye".^[13] He progressed to the final after receiving the highest public vote in that show.^[14] He performed "Nessun dorma" again for his finale on 17 June 2007, as well as an encore after he won the competition. Potts defeated the bookmakers co-favourite Connie Talbot, and received the highest percentage of two million votes cast to win £100,000, and performed at the Royal Variety Performance on 3 December 2007, in front of Queen Elizabeth II. His version of "Nessun Dorma" on Britain's Got Talent has over 93 million combined views on YouTube.^[15]

Doubts over amateur status[link]

The Sun newspaper received complaints following allegations that Potts had been "coached by Pavarotti".^[16] There was anger that he was portrayed on Britain's Got Talent as a simple mobile-phone salesman, whereas he had in fact appeared in six amateur opera productions and in a concert for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,^[16] and had plans for a summer tour with that orchestra.^[9] Potts responded that he had not claimed to be completely untutored, only that he had never performed any concert for pay and was therefore an amateur. He also said that the Pavarotti masterclass he attended in Italy was paid for from his own savings and was a single masterclass, not regular coaching.^[17]

Post-BGT career[link]

In the United States, he was profiled on a National Public Radio programme called Day to Day,^[18] and appeared live on NBC's programme Today.^[19]

In July 2007, Potts performed his rendition of "Nessun dorma" at a Katherine Jenkins concert at Margam Park.^[20] On 16 July 2007, his debut album One Chance was released in the UK, and claimed the #1 spot in the UK Album Chart the following week. In December 2007, Prime Minister Gordon Brown presented Potts with a platinum disc for having sold 2,000,000 copies of his album.^[21]

On 13 December 2007, he performed in Leipzig in the live television broadcast of the 13th annual José Carreras Gala, accompanied by the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg under the direction of Scott Lawton.^[22] In January he began his concert series^[1] of 97 concerts in 85 cities across 23 countries; this ended on 12 November. This included three outdoor classical music concerts with the Finnish violinist Linda Brava and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra at Sofiero Palace, Sundbyholms Castle and Slottskogsvallen from 24 to 26 July.^[23] In the semi-finals of the 2009 series of Britain's Got Talent, Potts appeared in a comeback performance.

Potts was invited to appear on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show about YouTube, a site where clips of his performances had been viewed over 92 million times as of April 2012;^[24] as of April 2009^[update], his first appearance on Britain's Got Talent was the fourth most viewed YouTube video in the UK. On 24 November 2007, Potts was interviewed on the National Public Radio programme Weekend Edition. On 15 August 2008, he performed before the German football season opener match between Bayern Munich and Hamburger SV in front of 69,000 visitors as well as on 2 September 2008 during the farewell game for Oliver Kahn.

In July 2008, Deutsche Telekom began using a TV and cinema advertisement centred on his Britain's Got Talent performance.^[25] In August 2008, he did a now famous duet with Daniel Powter on the Wolfbaggin' Tour. In October 2008, Paul Potts sang in Japanese TV advertisements for Ryukakusan Direct throat medicine manufactured by Ryukakusan.^[26] Potts received two nominations at the Echo Awards 2009 in Germany: Best International Male Artist and Album of the Year. He won the 2009 Echo Award for Best International Male Artist on 21 February 2009. On 22 April 2009, Potts was the guest co-host on the Australian television programme The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies. Expanding his talent to the online world, Paul Potts recently performed an exclusive in studio performance for AOL Sessions.^[27] He collaborated with Swedish singer Carola Häggkvist on her Christmas album Christmas in Bethlehem, singing "O Holy Night". Potts has appeared twice on the popular Korean Talent TV show "Star King", first in 2008 and once again in 2010.

Potts was in Toronto on 10 November 2010 performing a "flash opera" at the Union Subway Station to a moderately-sized crowd and finished to loud applause.^[28]

Potts has recently appeared in the Korean television program called "Qualifying Man".

Personal life[link]

Potts has been married since May 2003 to Julie-Ann (née Cooper) whom he met in an Internet chat room. They met in person for the first time at Swansea railway station in February 2001. She had the upper hand at this "first meeting" as she had a photograph of Potts, but he had no idea what she looked like.^[29] As of May 2009 he had assets of £5 million. ^[30] Potts has moved since BGT, but continues to live in Port Talbot.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

The song "Nessun Dorma" got the 19th best-selling single of 2008 in Germany and was certified as Gold for selling more than 150,000 copies^[33][34]. In the UK, the song charted due to digital downloads only.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Paul Potts on Myspace
• Paul Potts at Sony BMG
• Paul Potts biography from BBC Wales
• Paul Potts interview on The Hour
• Paul Potts Official site.[2]
• Paul Potts on Avex Taiwan (Chinese)

v t e Britain's Got Talent Got Talent Series 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 Presenters Ant & Dec · Stephen Mulhern Judges Current Simon Cowell · Amanda Holden · Alesha Dixon · David Walliams Former Kelly Brook · Piers Morgan · Michael McIntyre · David Hasselhoff Guest Louis Walsh · Carmen Electra Winners Paul Potts · George Sampson · Diversity · Spelbound · Jai McDowall · Ashleigh and Pudsey Other notable contestants Series 1 Bessie Cursons · Connie Talbot · Damon Scott · Bar Wizards · Jake Pratt Series 2 Signature · Andrew Johnston · Escala · Faryl Smith · Kate and Gin · Charlie Green · Charlie Wernham Series 3 Susan Boyle · Julian Smith · Aidan Davis · Hollie Steel · Shaheen Jafargholi · Callum Francis · DJ Talent · Flawless · John Farnworth Series 4 Twist and Pulse · Paul Burling · ReConnected · Myles and Connor · Kev Orkian · Stevie Starr · The Cheeky Girls · Matthew Ahmet Series 5 Ronan Parke · Out of the Blue Series 6 Jonathan and Charlotte · Only Boys Aloud · The Loveable Rogues · Ryan O'Shaughnessy  · Molly Rainford · The Zimmers Related articles List of episodes · Discography · SYCOtv · FremantleMedia · talkbackTHAMES · Thames · ITV Category