KNOWN as ‘the people’s tenor’ Russell Watson has performed all over the world to some of the most famous faces on the planet.

When The Gazette caught up with him, the Yorkshire-born singer was wrestling with technology, something he admits is not his strong suit.

“I’ve been sat here for an hour trying to send this document,” he tells The Gazette with a giggle in his voice.

“I got sent this contract and they asked me to send an electronic signature, I don’t have a clue how to do that. Just send it to me in the post I’ll sign it and send it back.”

After the tech frustrations, the conversation turns to Watson’s career.

Having performed for the likes of The Queen, the late Pope John Paul II and Barack Obama just to name a few, the charming singer says he approaches every single show in the exact same way.

He explains that even though he may have performed in some unbelievable settings, that is no different to performing at The Anvil, in Basingstoke.

He said: “It has never mattered to me if I am singing to 400,000 people on the West Lawn of the capital of the USA on the fourth of July or whether I’m singing in front of 500 people in a small theatre, the performance values are always the same.

“The set up and the regime I have is exactly the same, obviously as an artist you are aware of the situation you are about to face, but it doesn’t matter where I am, I always want to give my best and deliver my best performance.

“I want people to walk away saying ‘he’s alright, I enjoyed that.’”

The true showman that Watson is, he proclaims that as soon as the spotlight hits his face it is game time, no matter how he is feeling.

He adds: “Not every artist will admit to this, but you all have those days were you really don’t feel like doing a show, or you are feeling under the weather and you don’t want to go on stage.

“But as soon as the light hits me, I could be performing to three people and I will still sing my heart out.

“I got up in the middle of the night to get a drink and opened the fridge door and when the light hit me, I just started doing a 15-minute set.”

In all his years as a singer, Watson has gained the reputation as the UK’s best-selling classical crossover artist of all time and with a run a sell-out shows in 2015-16, he is very much a household name.

Having enjoyed playing lavish venues he as also experienced the other side.

“I did a concert in Nicaragua, it was a small performance and it was a United Nations performance. It was strange because we were picked up by this Jeep and on the back there were two armed guards and we started driving out of the city and you are basically running across dry land.

“We stopped at what was basically a shack and I went to bed with a guy with a shotgun sat outside my door.”

If Watson’s career wasn’t already strange enough, there is another accolade he can add to his belt.

“My voice is the only one to have been heard in space,” the singer told The Gazette.

“Someone at my office got a call from NASA saying they wanted to use one of my songs to wake up a probe which was on its way to Pluto.

“At first we thought it was a joke, but then we got the confirmation so I thought why not.”

So, Watson’s song Where My Heart Will Take Me has been heard the furthest away from planet earth than any other singer.

Watson will be coming to Basingstoke on Friday, 16 November, to perform his new show Canzoni d’Amore.

For more information and tickets about the show at The Anvil, visit anvilarts.org.uk/whats-on/russell-watson-1.