| Former Celtic Thunder Tenor to Play B.B. Kings on September 21st |
| Written by Rich Monetti | |||
| Wednesday, 19 September 2012 05:51 | |||
 Paul Byrom began training as a soprano at the age of seven and first appeared in front of audiences soon after. He turned professional at twelve and released his first album at fourteen. His second release, Velvet, reached #2 on the Irish music charts and helped make him a staple on Irish TV and radio. In 2008, he reached the classical billboard charts with I'll be Home for Christmas. This obvious success went a long way to landing him among the Irish tenor quintet Celtic Thunder, which garnered him worldwide recognition. All told, his crooning voice envelops the listener to the point of tears, and as it turns out, you don't even have to be among his many female fans to switch on the water. Times Square(TS): Your voice almost make me swoon. Describe the reaction of your female fans? Paul Byrom(PB): They get pretty excited about the songs, and by and large, they are very supportive. Of course, you get a lot of guys who many times are dragged along by their wives or girlfriend, and afterwards they'll tell me that they really enjoyed it. I get a big kick out of that. TS: Tell me about your early days singing? PB: I did the typical boy soprano stuff. I started in the church choir and went from there. I got my first professional engagement at 12 with the Dublin National Council, which gave me a real sense of what professional music was all about. That was it for me. TS: When you were a little kid, were you afraid to get up in front of an audience? PB: I was never scared - the bigger the better. I think performers are generally like that. It's simply part of our makeup. TS: What's Celtic Thunder? PB: It was a concept developed by a woman named Sharon Brown. They wanted singers from five different genres and five different age groups. We had a 14 year old tenor, a 20 year old pop singer, someone from a musical theatre background, me as the classical music crossover, and an older male tenor who was very familiar with Irish ballads. We had no idea if it was going to work, but we went into the studio and it appealed widely - from younger kids right through to grannies. TS: Six years of success, why move on? PB: I definitely enjoyed it and it was a good experience, but my objective was always to be a solo artist. TS: Tell me about going solo. PB: This is my forth solo album but my first since Celtic Thunder. I wanted it to be a statement of intent. This is the kind of music I sing. TS: Which is generally? PB: It's a mixed bag of stuff. Everybody talks a lot about my pieces from musical theatre. This is the Moment, From Jekyll and Hyde – is the title track to my current album. On the pop side, I do a rendition of Billy Joel's Lullaby, but I also like pieces from the matinee age. The Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire kind of time – I'm a big fan of that type of music. TS: What kind of feedback do you get from artists that you cover? PB: I covered Judy Gold's hit, From A Distance, and she liked it enough to take me out to lunch. She's become a big fan, while Frank Wildhorn of Jekyll and Hyde reached out through my manager and likes what I've done with his work. So it's the kind of thing that's great to hear and really keeps you going. TS: OK, but are you a singer or an Irish singer? PB: There's an awful lot of people who come over and sing traditional songs from Ireland, which is fine, and I have a couple of those myself but I don't want to be considered an Irish tenor so to speak. I'm just a tenor who happens to be from Ireland. TS: What compelled you to move to America? PB: I've been back and forth many times with Celtic Thunder, and since my fiancé wanted to spend some time in a northern city, New York was obvious. We decided to try it for five or six months to see if we liked it. Two years later, we're pretty happy. TS: But Queens? PB: Everybody would love to live in Tribeca, if you're making that kind of money. At the same time, we didn't come over to live in an apartment where the bathroom is part of the kitchen. We also had some friends in the area so we settled in with all the great little bars, cafes and restaurants. TS: Does Queens ever find you singing in those cafes? PB: After a few drinks yeah, but not professionally. TS: What's the inspiration factor of New York City? PB: It's said all too often, but the energy and vibe make it like no other city in the world. Of course, if meeting the right person is what your after, this is the place. TS: When is the show at B.B. Kings? PB: September 21st. TS: What's up after that? PB: I'm in the process of negotiating a PBS special. Unfortunately, with the cuts to public broadcasting we're working on raising money. TS: How's that going? PB: We're doing it through a Kickstart account and hope to be on the air early next year. For more Times Square articles like Former Celtic Thunder Tenor to Play B.B. Kings on September 21st, please visit the Music Interviews Section of TimesSquare.com PLUS- Follow us on Facebook.com/TimesSquare Twitter.com/eTimesSquare & get a free copy of Times Square Magazine
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