The People's Tenor

HE SINGS SCALES

Because he was out singing in the cold,

in all different weathers, gives him a strength which,

maybe some of the divas haven't got, you know?

So, even if you are known, in this day and age it's not an easy task?

If you are not a known name it is 10 times more difficult.

Really, to go alone, it's not going to happen.

It just isn't going to happen, sadly.

It's cold!

HE SINGS SCALES

It just gives you a sort of wonderful glow

that talent can be found in the mud.

To make it in the music business you have to get out there,

learn your trade, learn how to entertain people.

One, two...

Realistically, I'd say it's too late.

OK, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

welcome here to Plymouth city centre.

My name is John Craig Innes,

I'm here singing a few songs for you in support of...

MAN SHOUTS

Do you mind?

..in support of Help For Heroes.

I'm going to sing for you a popular Spanish classic

and this one is called Aranjuez Con Tu Amor.

GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING

# Aranjuez

# Un lugar de ensuenos y de amor

# Donde un rumor de fuentes de cristal

# En el jardin parece hablar... #

John Innes has been singing opera on the streets of towns and cities

throughout the UK for over 15 years.

# Aranjuez... #

If TV talent contests today have shown us the easiest path

to musical stardom, this is the story of the very hardest.

# ..recuerdos del romance que una vez

# Juntos empezamos tu y yo

# Y sin razon olvidamos... #

'I find opera, because it's so potent, is very intense.

'It's a very intense form of singing and, in terms of therapy, I think

'it does give you that rush of kind of emotional kind of release.

'The people that are listening to you and kind of taking in that moment,

'they are with you in that moment, aren't they?

'They're kind of, like, getting second-hand what I guess

'you're giving out, you know?'

Lovely singer, lovely man. He's got lovely looks. He sings lovely.

Absolutely beautiful. He feels the song as well. Very, very important.

# He's like the son I might have known

# If God has granted me a son

# The summers die one by one... #

'There's a lot of excitement because you never know what you're going to get.'

You turn up on the street and it, it's spontaneous.

You're starting with nothing because people are just

walking by doing their everyday things, shopping, basically.

You don't have a captive audience, so it really is challenging.

# Dilegua...

He is absolutely marvellous

and he is as near I've ever heard as to Pavarotti.

..vincero. #

-Could you sign it to Cat and Hannah?

-Yeah, sure.

I think busking and singing on the streets

can do more harm than good to an untrained voice.

It can, you know, without a solid technique

you're going to be using up the reserves of your vocal cords.

It's an incredibly rigorous process, learning to sing,

and part of that process is building up the stamina

so you can sing a complete and utter programme.

# Here's to the heroes

# Who never rest

# Heading for glory... #

Thank you for your support.

-You're very brave singing in the cold weather!

-Oh, I'm used to it.

I'm a brazen Scot! You know, I'm used to this cold weather!

'It seems to me that his public loves what he does.'

Who go wild for his top B, as people should.

I mean, it's a rare gift to be able to sing a great note like that.

It's called the money note in vulgar parlours.

He's got the money note.

# To reach

# The unreachable star. #

Thank you.

How are you?

From Glasgow to Brighton, whenever John sings on the streets

people is ask him the same question, "Why are you here?"

'I'd moved to London back in 1998.

'I auditioned for most of the big colleges in London -

'Guildhall, Royal College of Music and the National Opera Studio

'but, unfortunately, I was turned down by most of them

'because I didn't have the essential music qualifications.

'Well, at least for someone my age maybe.'

Yeah!

The money started to run out.

I decided I wanted to go out there and get some experience by singing

and through that, you know, I've got some form of education.

From that, you know, I went on to become what I am now.

You know, this kind of tenor whose kind of, like,

trodden the streets for the last 12 or 13 years singing for the people.

Unlike street performers, John doesn't take donations.

He sells CDs that he produces in a home-made studio

at the bottom of his garden.

A tenner for a tenor!

-OK, yeah, that's great! Thank you.

-Shall I sign it for you?

Yes, please. That would be nice. Thank you.

The neighbours in Dartford don't often hear lawn mowing

coming from John's back garden.

It's a very different sound that greets them each day.

I guess I've graduated from a one bedroomed flat in Dartford,

where I converted my ex-girlfriend's attic out to do all my recordings

but now this one's got a bit more space

and I decided to build it here at the bottom of my garden,

just to give my neighbours some peace and quiet.

As you can see,

we don't have much storage space around here so everything seems to...

..congregate in this, kind of, shed, you know, if you like.

On this occasion I'm just recording two tracks -

my backing track and my vocal.

The backing track, here,

just downloaded about half an hour ago, from the internet.

# ..forme discio...

# ..gliea dai veli!

# Svani per sempre il sogno mio d'amore

It's a lonely existence producing your own music in the suburbs

and without any collaborators or a music producer

John has to make all his own creative decisions.

'It's actually quite difficult to be working on your own in the studio

'because you don't have that other pair of ears.'

You're having to man all the...

controls and everything,

and your attention should be on the creative side of it, as opposed

to engineering the process, but it is the cheapest way of doing it,

and by creating your own products it's going to help create

some revenue to take it to that next stage, which is the recording studio.

Some of the early recordings that John played to me were very good

but there was obviously, they are not custom-built for the voice.

It can only go so far because you're generally working with...

backing tracks which are general-purpose.

They are not really for everybody.

It's not just the technical skills he's had to acquire, he's had

to take on every element of building his street performance business.

And I produced a CD and so far we've raised about, I think, £8-9,000.

So, I've set up a gig for 13 August.

I know it can be very tempting for an artist to want to manage

themselves, I mean, for financial reasons or artistic control

but the difficulty is that...

they can't really get the promotion or the marketing

which a record company would deliver.

Lock this lot up.

'Have artists ever successfully gone it alone? No. Not in my experience.'

Two, two, two, one, two, two...

'So I think that artists do kind of realise, having gone it alone,

that there are benefits to having a record company behind you

and a good manager.

While street performing has allowed John to sing for a living,

now in his late 40s, he realises his dream of becoming a recording artist has almost slipped away.

Two, one, two. Testing, two...

I don't think anyone's made it in that kind of field

using backing tracks. I think you have to go to the next level

and have a good producer, good studio, symphony orchestra.

For most singers a record deal would be little more than a dream.

At John's age it's a near impossibility.

With few options,

he's considering professionally recording his debut CD for himself.

But at a price of over £50,000 he will need a way to lower the cost.

Erm, my brother is a saxophone player for the band

of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and the band's director, being his boss,

has heard me singing, at least I think he's heard a CD, and...

..he said he was interested in recording some music for me

so long as I do the next product for charity. So...

I'm thinking that this is going to free up quite a bit of money

so that I can have a big stringed orchestra.

So it may be a cheaper way to go.

If the band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland help him record, it will

save some money but it will still mean putting his house on the line.

But John does see at least one benefit to taking the risk.

..I can possibly commit to. OK, well...

'I'm not keen on spending all of my savings

'from my street performances to do it alone.

'There are some positives to doing it myself.

'I've heard so many stories about being ripped off by music companies'

and not really being in control of your own destiny

and where you go, what you're doing, what you record.

All of that, really.

John is learning his lesson from another Scots recording artist

who thinks his record label cost him his long-awaited shot at fame and fortune.

Having lived through the bad experience of being signed to

a major record company, inasmuch as we were taken advantage of,

I wouldn't allow a manager to have carte blanche

over your complete career.

You know, you have to retain some kind of, if not control,

but you have to have a say in what you do

because what went wrong with us is that

the manager took us down the wrong road.

'Here come the Rollers!'

After risking it all to record a debut album,

John would need more than a little luck to attract a record label.

Even with a label there's no guarantee the album will succeed.

OK, well, if you could possibly come back to me on that

and maybe we can see what we can do.

If you're lucky enough to be picked up by a record label,

of which there's very few left,

I've been signed to four major record companies

in my musical career.

None of them exist any more.

# Bye-bye baby, baby, goodbye... #

The music industry is changing.

There's so much competition out there, it's very,

very difficult but it's probably easier to get a record deal

than to win the X Factor or Britain's Got Talent.

To go alone and then want to join a record company,

it's not going to happen. It just isn't going to happen, sadly.

Realistically, I would say it's too late.

The band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland agrees to record

the brass section of his album.

With his house as security,

John commits to the first of two recording sessions.

He's hired one of London's top recording studios.

This particular studio can accommodate up to 60 musicians.

It's largely used for orchestral recordings.

With 20 minutes before the start of the session

most recording artists might be warming up their voices.

To save money, John is making sandwiches for the 40 members of the band.

So, how many sandwiches do you have to make?

Erm, well, me being a Scot I'm a bit stingy so I reckon about one each!

To economise even more,

John booked the studio for the minimum two hours...

..it's 14.06...

..a decision he is already beginning to regret. The band is late.

Oh, here we go.

Hi, how far away are you now?

Just we actually, we've got to get all set-up and stuff.

I was just wondering what the position is.

Sat nav? Have you got a sat nav?

They said they'd be about 10 minutes in the coach...

20 minutes into the session the band finally arrives.

-Ready to go!

-Good, good.

INSTRUMENTS BEING TUNED

As the band warms up,

the star performer is still making sandwiches for the troops.

-'Stressful now?'

-It is, I'm running against the clock here.

You know, these bloody army blokes

should be having their guts for garters!

But there is another more pressing problem.

He's forgotten the music for the conductor.

You have the scores?

Yeah, they're just the scores for the ones that...

I got them as PDF, I think. I'll see, see if I can get it from the laptop.

John has to face the embarrassment of calling the musical arranger

to ask him for the missing part.

Just, I'm wondering if you could e-mail me across the PDF file

for the Here's To The Heroes. The actual full score.

Just the PDF for the full score. Great.

Just that we're ready to do a session.

If you can do that for me, that would be great. Thanks. Bye.

What are we going to do?

Are we going to do it as a full-on band

or are we going to record solos, overdub, etc?

Er...

-Have you got your SOP with you?

-No.

-You've not?

That would be an overdub. It's best to do it like that.

Recording himself until now has not prepared John for supervising

a recording session alone and things are beginning to unravel.

His self-reliant style takes a while for the military band to get used to.

Even his own brother is finding it testing.

He does delegate. Well, I think sometimes he skips that bit.

You know, he so driven and he's such a workhorse.

He never stops, you know?

Sometimes he forgets to tell you what he wants

before he marches off and he expects you to read his mind!

We'll play like this on the loud clarinet.

I'm lifting that out a lot and I think...

With only 15 minutes left of the session

John still hasn't done any singing.

# Here's to the heroes who... #

Sorry.

It's been a rocky start.

Perhaps the stress of taking it all on has interfered

with his concentration?

But in the last few minutes, after two hours in the studio,

he manages to complete a perfect take.

'By going out there and doing it, performing in front of people,'

which I think a more experienced person,

if they've experienced hardship in life,

they would certainly would be more emotive

and bring the lyric to life.

# Who go further. #

-Good. Is that OK?

-Yeah.

-Good, good.

-That's lovely.

But, despite his best efforts,

it's going to cost a bit more than he budgeted.

I thought you were going to say, "Don't worry about paying me!"

I wish I could!

THEY LAUGH

-Put your signature.

-That's lovely. Thank you very much.

-Thanks for the band. Sounds good. Sounds really good.

-Good.

-Good.

Tastes good. I like your sandwiches.

Gets us out for nothing and then he gives us a measly sandwich!

I feel like I'm a sandwich half short of a picnic!

Didn't sleep that well. Off to Prague.

It's going to be a long day.

Undeterred by his experience in London, John has decided

to add production value to his CD using a full 80 piece orchestra.

Sparing no expense, he signs up the string section

of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and books another recording session.

This time, in the Czech Republic.

But the £40,000 John has managed to raise is all going

into the recording and he's forced to tighten his belt elsewhere.

OK. We are going to head for a yellow cab

because they are a wee bit cheaper and I am a Scot.

So Scots always do things on the cheap.

How much is it to Prague city centre?

City centre. Address? Address?

Phoenix Central.

-Se ke Studio?

-Studio?

-OK. Phoenix Hotel. Yeah.

With the flight delayed by two hours, it seems that again,

John will be up against it on his shoestring budget

if he's going to cut 12 solo music tracks in one day.

MUSIC: "E Lucevan Le Stelle" by Puccini

How much was that?

The bulk of John's money will be spent in the session

and he's anxious to avoid another experience like Angel Studios.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Is this is where the orchestra? Orchestra?

'The orchestra didn't really know much how I went about

'raising the money to do this particular event.

'They are such a busy orchestra, they are being used all the time

'so I'm just a client like most other clients.'

Just up here? Upstairs?

Not sure if these are designed to keep us out or in.

John is about to record in a renowned studio

frequented by major international opera stars,

including Katherine Jenkins and Andrea Bocelli.

Learning his lesson from Angel Studios,

this time John has hired the creative team behind

recording artists Russell Watson and Hayley Westenra.

-Nice to see you again.

-Hello there, John. How are you?

-Good, yes.

-You've had a shave.

-I have indeed.

-Hi, Bill.

-Brought extra work with you?

-Hi, hello.

-Nice to meet you.

Oh, dear.

Once you have custom-built your track and your arrangement,

with the help of people like Bill - fantastic arranger.

It was then that the performances start to come together

and they become truly individual performances.

MUSIC

It is now 13 hours since John's 3:00am start

from his home near London.

And right now, he's beginning to wish

he hadn't decided to fly out and back in the same day.

We are going to try and fit a string session in before we finish.

With the additional strings.

Once again, John just about pulls it off

but on a deadline as tight as this,

he's had to make some recording compromises

to finish all the tracks he needs.

MUSIC: "Nella Fantasia" by Ennio Morricone

I really wanted to get one last take with the orchestra

with complete strings

but we are really running against the clock and...

I don't know.

In terms of what we got done, I think we got what we need.

But it just would have been good to have that final thing.

But never mind.

If it was a struggle to cut a professional debut CD,

it's an even bigger one to make back his investment.

ORGAN GRINDER MUSIC

Is this your CD?

'How many albums would I have to sell to make my money back?

'That's a big question. Maybe...'

5,000 albums, maybe.

It could take me 5,000 albums, 5,000 albums to make my money back

-after the money I spent.

-And how long is that going to take?

Well, I'd like to think it would take about six months to retrieve that.

All being well.

It's about managing expectations.

If somebody wants to do it alone, it can work

but then they've got to be satisfied with far less record sales

but maybe a higher profit per record.

You can possibly do it without a big record company behind you.

Certain artists have broken through the internet

but they are in the minority.

I would much prefer a big record company promoting me

and making sure my record was seen and heard.

The setting of drug culture film Trainspotting,

West Pilton was not the obvious starting point

for an opera singer's journey to fame and fortune.

I sing for the ordinary people

and people around here are as ordinary as you are going to get.

You know, that's basically what...

You are brought up in this environment

and you feel quite comfortable singing for people

that live in a similar environment, you know.

It doesn't have to be Covent Garden. It could be anywhere.

It could be a place like this.

MUSIC: "E Lucevan Le Stelle" by Puccini

# E lucevan le stelle... #

'One of the reasons...

'To succeed, I wasn't risking very much by giving up everything I had

'to take myself off to London and become an opera singer.'

Because I never really had very much in the first place.

It was a gamble which, for me, I think, has paid off.

You know, not in terms of how much money I've made

or anything like that, just the fact that I've managed to become

somebody that's regarded to have a quality tenor voice.

Just over to the right is where we grew up. Number six.

John, your first stage.

That will be your window, there.

There would be curtains at the front of it

and it would open up like a stage and we would have to perform.

Edinburgh as well, you know, the fashions of the time.

It was the '70s. We were just wee kids.

And...

the Bay City Rollers were rife all over the world. And the Osmonds.

And we were completely unfashionable

because we didn't listen to that kind of music at all.

# Ever since we met you've got a hold on me

# It happens to be true... #

We were more into Al Jolson, Frank Sinatra, Mario Lanza.

Yeah, I know.

It was odd. Funny looking back.

# I only want to be with you. #

I went to school in a place called Pilton.

A very, very deprived kind of area

with its fair share of drug-related problems.

During my schooling years

I guess I gravitated towards the music department.

It's very easy to fall into the wrong kind of company,

especially in that area.

I suffered in my first kind of year or two of secondary school,

I think probably because of my timid, quiet nature.

The fact I was more on the creative kind of side.

Deep thinking kind of guy.

And I tended to be a bit different from everyone else.

Music as well. If you're involved in music...

They see you as a bit of a... Yeah.

A bit kind of soft, you know.

MUSIC

From then on I learned to play saxophone.

Did a stint in the Royal Scots Military Band,

where I discovered I could sing

and decided to take some singing lessons for a number of years.

I realised I had a potential tenor voice

which went on to become very strong and very professional.

HE SINGS IN ITALIAN

It's been six months since John started selling his CD

and the going is slow.

My name is John Innes and I'm a professional tenor.

I've been travelling the country since my...er...

I recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra

and I went out there, self-funded,

this CD which you see in front of you, here.

So if you'd like to pick up a brochure, I do have a brochure,

and if you'd like a CD...

Also they do mention a charity...

There is a detail there about future release etc.

And if you'd like a copy of that...

It's been almost six months since I started selling my CD,

my professional CD, that is.

And...

..the new CD isn't really selling any faster

than the original one that I did in my garden shed.

So I'm thinking that maybe a concert tour

would get me a bit more publicity.

John decides to enlist the help of a professional producer,

somebody who's heard him sing on the street and thinks there's potential.

The unique thing about John is that somebody with his voice

would even sing on the street.

There's not many singers with even half his voice

who would even consider doing it.

That's what caught my attention.

John is attempting a daring method

to sell his concerts that nobody else has really tried.

When he hires a concert hall himself,

he financially puts the money down.

It's a huge, huge risk but his unique way of selling it

is then to busk outside the venue or elsewhere to promote and sell it.

Huge, huge bravery. Huge risk he's taking.

Not many people that would have the audacity or the courage to do that.

Also here today promoting my forthcoming concert

at York Grand Opera House.

If you'd like to pick up a brochure, I do have a brochure...

I do hope you enjoyed my entertainment this morning.

I'm going to sing another song for you and I hope you enjoy this one...

John arrives for his opening night performance.

He has only managed to sell 50% of the tickets.

Even if you are known in this day and age,

it's not an easy task to fill a concert hall.

There's so much competition around.

If you are not a known name, it's sometimes more difficult.

I think what John has done, he's taken that money,

he's made his own recordings

and then gone into the concert hall and put on his concert.

He's doing it his way and wherever that leads, we've yet to see.

For several weeks before a show,

he'll set up shop outside the theatre

and sing one to two-hour sets

and people literally walk straight into the box office and buy tickets.

He'll sell 50 in a day doing it that way.

SWING MUSIC

It's very, very difficult getting this out. Just a skeleton crew.

John doing a lot of the work. He gets very, very tired.

He's organising things and he's hawking it, like he is now.

Normally he likes to belt it out in a rehearsal

but today he's taking it really easy.

He sang until 4:00pm yesterday afternoon

and he seems to have lost his voice.

Normally you pull a show at this point

but he hasn't bought any production insurance.

It's show time and John has to make a decision.

With no production insurance, he stands to lose a lot of money.

What would happen if we cancelled the show?

With the audience already arriving, it's too late to cancel.

He has to take the risk.

OK. All right. OK. Fine. Good. Thanks. He wants to go on.

John's about to learn that the world of professional singing

on tour can be very unforgiving.

ANNOUNCER: This is your act one. Thank you.

He's realising he can't perform a solo concert of 24 songs

with a voice that's about to break.

I remember thinking at the time that he'd just pushed it too far

this time and that he was never going to pull it off for the show.

The voice wasn't going to hold up.

Before we start tonight's concert there's some relatively sad news.

Unfortunately, John's been suffering with a throat infection

so it may be that throughout tonight's performance,

we may have to trim some of the numbers.

# That one man scorned and covered with scars

# Still strove with his last ounce of courage...

# To reach... # HIS VOICE BREAKS

# To reach the unreachable star. #

APPLAUSE Thank you very much.

As you can tell I am struggling here a wee bit tonight

but I'm glad that you're still here!

John makes it through to the end.

Luckily for him, the audience,

many of whom saw him for the first time on the street,

are starting to root for him.

And it was about then I started believing

that this street training, this regime that he's been on,

has given him capacity and resilience that few singers have.

What's that? LAUGHTER

A special delivery from Boots the chemist!

Because he was out singing in the cold and all different weathers,

it gave him some strength that maybe some of the divas haven't got.

Singers, they're as good as their worst day.

So if you've got a cold, you're not feeling great,

your marriage is on the rocks, you've still got to go out

on that stage and look great and perform well.

At your lowest point, have you got a good enough technique to ride it?

And that's where technique comes into play, I think.

MUSIC: "Rigoletto" by Verdi

APPLAUSE

-Phew! Wow!

-HE LAUGHS

You were wonderful.

It's very different singing in concert

because you have a captive audience for one thing,

and they come with an expectation of being entertained.

Completely different from singing on the street

because they're passing by, they're stopping for maybe 20 minutes

and they enjoy what they hear and move on.

But with a concert performance,

you're having to entertain people for the space of two hours

and I find that quite challenging.

And myself, John Innes.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It's an experience.

You have a different connection with those people.

A very different connection.

# You raise me up so I can stand on mountains... #

'I'm fortunate that every time I've done a concert,'

it's always been around people who've come along to support me.

So they come along with that sense of support and wanting me to do well.

On the steps of the concert hall. I set my PA system up.

APPLAUSE

I think most of you here tonight

I have probably spoken to you at some point.

It's fantastic to be indoors instead of out, where it's blowing a gale.

What is up with all this Glasgow weather we have been having today?

So once again, thank you for coming along.

It is a real honour to have you tonight. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

As John manages to handle the demands of performing his concerts,

his exhausting system of selling tickets on the street is becoming an issue.

It is always a struggle to fill these shows.

John isn't a household name.

He hasn't been on the TV talent shows, he hasn't gone that route.

So it always is an uphill battle.

Off we go again to Cambridge.

Another day flogging bloody tickets.

HE SIGHS

I'm a bit concerned about this concert tour that I'm involved in.

And I'm almost wishing I hadn't actually committed myself to it

but if I back out now, I'm going to lose a lot of money.

Not to mention publicity for my CDs.

But I can't do that because it's going to give me

a really bad reputation so I'm going to have to go ahead with it.

It's one week before the next concert

and John has only managed to sell 40% of the tickets.

My name is John Innes

and I'm here promoting my forthcoming concert at Cambridge Corn Exchange

so that's the tour here this year in the UK

after last year's concerts in Worthing and York.

John's last week on the street has just about paid off.

The concert is a little over half full

but now he has an even bigger task.

To fill the 2,000 seat Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

-RADIO:

-'You can be with us on 2nd November, Royal Concert Hall.

'We'll give the box office details later.'

The Concert Hall is a fabulous venue

and it's become one of THE venues now in Scotland.

It's an amazing place and so many big names have appeared there

and now you are going to be there too.

FANFARE

In his native Scotland, John's story has struck a chord

with his loyal followers from the streets of Glasgow.

It's a sell-out performance.

I certainly think busking has given him the stage presence I've seen.

It gives him that rapport with his audience.

It gives him a confidence.

John has a fearless approach to high notes which I really appreciate

and he's got great stamina and that counts for a lot, you know.

When your back's against the wall and you've got to produce the goods,

John's always there with the notes, the high notes.

MUSIC: "Nessun Dorma" by Puccini

# Vincero. #

He can truly get his heart, his message

across to those and that's seemingly what he does.

I mean, the responses that John has,

people spontaneously jumping up and applauding, that is genuine.

Although John's concerts in England barely broke even,

with the success of the Glasgow concert and the subsequent sales

of his CD, John has finally managed to clear his recording costs.

His house is safe.

But there was another benefit from the sell-out concert

that John has yet to realise.

He meets his future partner, Zoe.

Do you remember my name?

-Zoe?

-Well done.

Just two weeks after the success of the Glasgow concert,

John is facing the reality of having to make a living on the streets.

He receives an unexpected call

that could give him his long-awaited shot at the big time.

I just don't believe that.

I just got a call from Britain's Got Talent, who want me to audition.

Where the hell did that come from?

Could have used it before my concert and at least made some money

But anyway...

I've got nothing to lose so I'm going to do it.

The X Factor comes into its own

because you are in people's living rooms.

Millions of people every Saturday and now Sunday

and the public get to know the personalities

and what a head start that is in the music business!

TV talent shows. Well, they worry me.

Because it has made everything completely disposable.

I don't feel that these artists get any respect by the powers that be

and the people who put these shows on.

I think the only downside is

if a particular artist was to be on that particular programme

and they got through to the fourth or fifth round or whatever it is,

in front of Simon Cowell with the televisions and everything else,

you would have to sign up to his record label

in order to get the publicity machine kind of following you.

But I really wanted to try it and have a bit of fun with it.

I think that shows like the X Factor

and Pop Idol are sending out the wrong messages to kids,

that they have this instant stairway to fame and fortune.

And to a certain extent,

that does happen to those who have stood the test of time.

I think they would be a lot better getting out there

and learning the trade through joining a band.

Grafting a bit, instead of queuing up.

It's about entertainment but a lot of young people do take it

extremely seriously and maybe there is a danger in that.

They think if they win the programme, they've succeeded.

That's it. It is beyond that.

With the Bay City Rollers,

they didn't start off as a manufactured band.

I was personally on the road for seven years with the band,

trying to make them successful.

And we actually became successful in Scotland before making any records.

After eight hours of lining up and waiting,

the audition is finally over and John has had his chance.

I sang The Impossible Dream really well in my audition

and when I got to the high note at the end of it,

the producer or whatever said, "Wow!"

I wouldn't take it too seriously

and if I got to the next round or the round after,

got on television, I would really see it as a bit of fun, entertainment.

MUSIC: "Nella Fantasia" by Ennio Morricone

Back on the streets, with the success of his concert,

his extraordinary methods

are starting to attract mainstream media attention.

-RADIO PRESENTER:

-'Now, every so often a singer comes along...'

It seems after 15 years of street singing,

his moment has finally come and he has proved his many doubters wrong.

A big name to watch out for.

You may even have come across him before...

A warm welcome along for tonight's league game.

Put your hands together for the people's tenor.

Let's have a nice big Celtic welcome for John Innes!

People's tenor performing opera in the street

and he is now attracting a huge following.

Tonight John Innes...

Believes passionately in taking opera out of the opera houses

and going to the streets and the people here

in Edinburgh's St Andrews Square Gardens are very grateful.

To make it in the music business, you have to work really hard

and have fantastic drive and do not give up...

..regardless of what people say, how many doors are closed.

And eventually, if you work at it for years doing the same thing,

it'll work.

That's just my opinion.

# We are the champions... #

I think it's challenging and it can be fun.

It is hard work but that's why we do it. We enjoy what we do.

# Champions. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# And I know if I'll only be true

# To this glorious quest

# Then my heart will lie peaceful and calm

# When I'm laid to my rest... #

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd