Russell Watson, born in Salford, Lancashire, England, November 24, 1966 is … Read Full Bio ↴Russell Watson, born in Salford, Lancashire, England, November 24, 1966 is an English tenor who has released popular albums of operatic-style songs. In his 9 year career he has released four singles, five albums and another was planned for November 2006, delayed now until 2007 due to removal of a benign brain tumour.

His debut album entitled The Voice followed in May 2001, a mixture of operatic arias and covers of pop songs, topping the UK classical music charts and eventually reaching number five in the UK album charts. Later when released in the United States the album took the number one spot and made history as the first time a British artist has held both the US and UK classical number one. The album featured a duet with Cleo of girlgroup Cleopatra (band) on the song 'Someone like You'. Cleo also did a duet with Russell on his third album 'Reprise' on the song 'The Best That Love Can Be' Cleo.

Prior to the formation of Velvet Revolver, Russell Watson was asked by Slash (former guitarist of Guns n' Roses and currently in Velvet Revolver) whether he would be their singer, however he rejected; on grounds of continuing his solo career, at least for the time being.

Also in 2001, Watson sang the opening theme of Star Trek: Enterprise, "Where My Heart Will Take Me" (written by Diane Warren), originally sung by Rod Stewart for Patch Adams. The song was remixed to be more upbeat in 2003. Watson also sang it live at the Commonwealth games opening ceremony in England in 2002.

In late 2002, he released the single "Nothing Sacred - A Song For Kirsty" to raise money for the Francis House children's hospice in Didsbury, Manchester. Their campaign to raise £5 million was fronted by Kirsty Howard, a seven-year-old girl with a serious heart defect. The song reached number 17 in the UK singles chart. [2]

Watson won the Album of the Year at the Classical Brit Awards in both 2001[3] and 2002[4], also collecting Best-Selling Debut Album (2001) and Best-Selling Album (2002). He recently played Parson Nathaniel in the stage adaptation of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds which toured the UK in early 2006.

Perhaps Watson’s most unusual collaboration to date is with former Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder on Watson’s first album The Voice. Ryder lends his vocals to the Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé song "Barcelona".

Che gelida manina
Russell Watson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Che gelida manina,
se la lasci riscaldar.
Cercar che giova?
Al buio non si trova.
Ma per fortuna
e una notte di luna,
e qui la luna l'abbiamo vicina.
Aspetti, signorina,

le diro con due parole
chi son, e che faccio, come vivo. Vuole?
Chi son? Sono un poeta.
Che cosa faccio? Scrivo.
E come vivo? Vivo!
In poverta mia lieta
scialo da gran signore
rime ed inni d'amore.
Per sogni e per chimere
e per castelli in aria,
l'anima ho milionaria.
Talor dal mio forziere
ruban tutti i gioielli
due ladri: gli occhi belli.
V'entrar con voi pur ora,
ed i miei sogni usati
e i bei sogni miei
tosto si dileguar!
Ma il furto non m'accera,
poiche v'ha preso stanza
la speranza!
Or che mi conoscete,

parlate voi, deh! parlate. Chi siete?
Vi piaccia dir!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Russell Watson's "Che Gelida Manina" are in Italian and translate to "What a cold little hand/ Let me warm it for you/ What's the use of looking? In the dark one can’t see anything / But fortunately it's a moonlit night / And here we have the moon / Wait, young lady/ I’ll tell you in two words / Who I am/ What I do, and how I live/ Who am I? I’m a poet/ What do I do? I write/ And how do I live? I live!/ With my happy poverty/ I squander like a lord / My poems and my love songs/ For dreams and for fantasies / And for castles in the air / My soul becomes rich / At times from my strong-box / They steal all my jewels / Two thieves: the beautiful eyes/ I'll go with you, momentarily / And my usual dreams / And my beautiful dreams / Will soon scatter! / But the theft doesn't embitter me / Because in your sweet face / I see hope! / Now that you know me / Speak, tell me who you are / Please!"

Line by Line Meaning

Che gelida manina
What a cold little hand

se la lasci riscaldar.
If you let it be warmed

Cercar che giova?
What good is searching?

Al buio non si trova.
In darkness nothing is found.

Ma per fortuna
But luckily,

e una notte di luna,
it's a moonlit night,

e qui la luna l'abbiamo vicina.
and the moon is near us.

Aspetti, signorina,
Wait, miss,

le diro con due parole
I will tell you in two words

chi son, e che faccio, come vivo.
who I am, what I do, how I live.

Chi son? Sono un poeta.
Who am I? I am a poet.