All About Manchester

Manchester's Domingo

His looks are Greek, his accent Mancunian and his voice, well his voice is just out of this world. As Jon Christos prepares for his first big solo concert in Manchester, he retraces his steps from Salford's terraces to international concert halls.

It is a sunny Thursday afternoon and we are sitting outside a bar at Deansgate Locks that shall remain nameless, sipping perhaps the worst coffee ever to soil a perfectly decent mug. But Christos is in good spirits as he jokes with his producer Alun Taylor and tries relentlessly to convince me that he is more Greek than I give him credit for.

Well I don't know about that, but the truth is there is more to Christos than meets the eye. Humble yet confident, respectful yet deliciously mischievous, vulnerable yet strongly passionate, he is instantly likeable. The fact that - as he cheekily points out - ?the package is not too offensive to the eye' also adds to his magnetism.

It is easy to forget, after chatting with him for a while, that he is one of the world's most talented and highly regarded tenors. That's right, this slim 30-year-old lad from Salford who smirks like a school boy in his blue jeans and brown sneakers has recently been hailed as the second best tenor in the world, while world-renowned conductor Carl Davis has described him as ?Manchester's Domingo'.

Shouldn't he be at least ten stone heavier? And unbearably posh? And walking around with a permanent scarf?

He laughs. "I know the opera singer used to have this kind of image but it's changed a lot over the years, since the likes of Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, G4 and Il Divo. What we do now is called ?crossover', we're singing new music of everyday themes that people can relate to, whereas in opera you're singing about a big lady dying of consumption, which no-one wants to hear about."

Christos sings about passion, love and loss - themes that he is intimately acquainted with. This is his story in a nutshell:

Born in Salford to a British mother and a Greek-Cypriot father, Christos - the youngest of three brothers - decided to be a classically trained musician at a very young age, when he first saw a violin played on television. Musical talent runs in the family (his great grandfather was a professional cornet player and George Michael is a distant cousin), so his choice of career was no big shocker.

He received a scholarship to study at Chetham's School of Music, where he trained on the violin and the piano, and then enrolled into the Royal Northern School of Music. The fledgling musician was living a dream until he lost his father.

He died just after the 1990 World Cup when Pavarotti sang Nessun Dorma for the first time and he absolutely loved it, he was in tears when he heard it. So I said to my mum after he died that I was going to sing that for him. I was 14 at the time and that's been my driving force ever since."

Fulfilling the promise he made at 14 was not easy. "It's taken a lot of sacrifice because after my dad died my mother struggled to pay my school fees as a single parent. She had to take on extra shifts at work as a nurse at the hospital, and the neighbours were also chipping in. So I always feel now that whatever I''m doing I''m paying them back."

Manchester's Domingo

He managed to finish his training in Manchester and then went on to take leading roles at home and abroad in operas such as Puccini's La Boheme, Mozart's The Magic Flute, and Janacek's Jenufa among many others. The audiences loved him, the cash was flowing in but Christos was beginning to feel disillusioned.

"I found it very elitist. I didn't like the atmosphere, I didn't like the fact that I was performing for a small privileged minority and I felt restricted with what I was doing - singing the same roles for a year, night after night. I wanted to do new music that everyone could relate to and I wanted to sing for people who couldn't necessarily afford to go and watch opera. So I decided it was time for a change in direction, and that was when I met my manager Perry."

Perry being Perry Hughes - a successful manager and executive producer of some of the country's leading classical stars - who happened to live just around the corner from Christos' family home in Salford. It did not take Hughes long to realise Christos was a rare find, a hugely talented classically trained tenor with massive popular appeal. Thus began a partnership and a friendship that is still going strong today.

In October 2005, Christos released his debut album, Northern Light, a mix of mostly original opera-inspired compositions. On this CD the tenor sings with a velvet-smooth voice that moves with ease across a staggering two-and-a-half-octave range. But he also plays the piano and conducts The City of Manchester Sinfonia, which is an orchestra that he created and filled with his friends from college.

"I was very proud of Northern Light because it was the first classical album that was wholly produced in Manchester."

The album was produced by Roots Music Group, which was founded in 2005 by Perry Hughes and former Sony general manager Alun Taylor. The latter has been basking in the sun with us throughout the interview, cracking the occasional joke, but he is happy to get serious when asked his opinion about his label's hottest property.

With most artists who make big crossover records, the record company does everything and the artists turn up, do the singing and go away," he says. "Jon isn't like that. Because he's such an able arranger, conductor and indeed composer, he's very much involved in the production of his records."

"There are other Manchester tenors, who shall be nameless, who can't even read music. Jon's musical ability is very unusual in an artist with a popular appeal. He's up there with the best of them and he's easier to work with than almost any other artist in his field. He's professional, confident, able and knows what he's doing as opposed to a lot of artists who are just frankly a pain in the ass from the get-go to the finish."

Apparently Christos, unlike some other artists, does not insist that his room is maintained at a certain temperature at all times, that there is always an air purifier present or that someone gets the yellow ones out of his M&Ms. But there's still time to turn into a divo, isn't there?

Christos shakes his head in protest. "I've done the opera world. If I was going to be a divo I'd have become one already. It's not me. I come from a humble background, I've been brought up with no money. I have a little bit more now, but I don't have a lavish lifestyle, I still go shopping for discount things."

Yeah right, I think to myself, checking out his designer shades that probably cost more than a month's rent for most people in the neighbourhood where he grew up. But he reads my mind.

OK these are expensive, but they're my manager's. There's no way I would pay decent money for these. But when he turns his back I take them out of his car."

Christos is no divo. He still lives in his hometown among family and friends who seem to be doing a great job helping him keep his feet on the ground. You don't have to go through ten snooty PR people based in London to speak to him, you don't have to get his agent's permission before you can ask him a question, and if you live in his neighbourhood, you don't have to pay to listen to him sing.

When I'm in the car I'm singing, when I'm in the shower I'm singing. Some of my neighbours actually come out into the street and shout requests at me if they hear me practising."

When he is not singing, he keeps himself busy with all the things he is passionate about. "One thing my father tried to teach me and one thing I've learnt from losing him is that you must live every day to the full and you must also give something back. Outside the singing I find it relaxing to coach and I've been voice coach to celebrities like Richard Fleeshman, Andrew Flintoff, Shobna Gulati and others. But I also love to cook, I love to go out with my friends, I love my goddaughter with all my heart and take an active part in her life. And I'm a big Man City fan, mad, passionate. I co-produced the Man City album - I bleed blue!"

Christos is now working on his second album, which is set to be released later on this year. But he is also preparing for a series of European concerts this summer and he continues to donate his time for charity gigs at home.

On May 21, he is headlining the second act in a concert at the Bridgewater Hall to benefit the Five Star Scanner Appeal, which is a charity Christos has been supporting for a long time. But before that, on May 19, he is appearing at the Bridgewater Hall in his first big solo concert in Manchester.

"It's a sport symphony that is taking place the day before the Great Manchester Run, conducted by Carl Davis, and it's going to be a lot of fun. There's going to be music from boxing, football, running and other sports, as well as live big screen footage of sporting events. It's not really a classical concert - I think I'm the only tenor you'll see singing Nessun Dorma one minute and rocking the place with We Are the Champions the next.

"I've been performing all over the world but this will be my first big concert for my Manchester crowd. And it's probably the one I'm most nervous about because my family and friends will be there and I find that more intimidating that I would singing for the prime minister."

As I am typing the last few words of this feature with his music playing in the background, I get a premonition. I see standing ovations for Jon Christos at the Bridgewater Hall this month and at concert halls across the world in years to come. You may say I'm biased because he's not only a proud Mancunian but also Greek- Cypriot and quite possibly a distant cousin of mine, but hey.

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Manchester's Domingo

His looks are Greek, his accent Mancunian and his voice, well his voice is just out of this world. As Jon Christos prepares for his first big solo concert in Manchester, he retraces his steps from Salford's terraces to international concert halls.