Pope Francis said she has “the voice of an angel”, but nobody could accuse Carly Paoli of having the patience of a saint. When we spoke last month, the world-famous mezzo soprano’s Wiltshire farmhouse was already festooned with festive decorations.
“I love, love, love Christmas,” she tells me, her face lighting up like Santa’s sleigh. “As soon as we’re over Halloween, I’m ready for it. I’ve got all the trimmings up, Christmas songs are playing…It’s such a happy time. So many memories.”
What about the Scrooge-like pedants bah-humbugging who insist it’s the twelve days of Christmas, not the eight weeks?
“My dad is like that to start with,” Carly concedes. “But he gets into the spirit eventually. As a singer you tend to celebrate that little bit earlier.”
A little bit? She started recording her new album, Carly Paoli – The Christmas Collection, in March.
“I was singing Silent Night in the studio and there was a heatwave outside,” she chuckles.
As well as blissful carols and traditional yuletide classics, Paoli also covers Bless Us All from The Muppet Christmas Carol film.
“It’s my favourite Christmas song – that scene with Robin the Frog and the Cratchits gets me every time. I don’t do it in the style of Kermit, more Miss Piggy.”
Lorry-driver’s daughter Carly, 35, has shared stages with a host of iconic artists, including Elaine Paige, Andrea Bocelli, Aled Jones and most recently Sir Rod Stewart at the Rainbow Room in New York’s Rockefeller Centre – a charity event in aid of The King’s Foundation.
“The whole evening was a pinch-me moment,” she says, her blue eyes twinkling like the FOPE Italian luxury jewellery she loves to wear. “All the glitz and magic. Rod is an amazing storyteller and an amazing performer. I sang my Judy Garland medley, and we ended with a duet of Manhattan” – the tongue-in-cheek Rodgers and Hart song that promises, ‘We’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.’
The Rainbow Room does that for real. “We were on the 65th floor with a 360degree view of New York as the sun set…”
Not that she’s a stranger to idyllic views. Growing up the Mansfield-born, Nottingham-raised opera star enjoyed family summer holidays in Puglia, in the heel of the boot of Italy. Her mother is half-Italian – Paoli was her maiden name. Carly’s grandfather came here to work on the MI, fell in love with her grandmother and never left.
In 2015, the family bought a derelict villa which Carly’s uncle restored. Situated in Santa Maria di Leuca, it overlooks the Med. “On a clear day you can see Corfu and sometimes Albania,” she says.
Carly has been singing since she was three. “You couldn’t shut me up!” she laughs.
Opera singer Liz Hetherington – her teacher at Stagecoach, Southwell – realised 8-year-old Carly was special, telling her mother “Her voice is bigger than her body”.
Now her MD, Liz’s biggest challenge was training her to drop the American accent she acquired aping classic Hollywood musicals, Doris Day and Judy Garland.
Carly’s parents Paul and Tina Hopkinson, a former travel agent, sacrificed much to give their talented daughter the breaks she needed. They live together on her farm near Devizes.
Paul, who built a haulage company, chauffeurs her to concerts, Tina handles the logistics.
Young Carly won scholarships to study music and performing arts. At 16, she boarded at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Hertfordshire, doing A-level studies in the morning, then performing arts until 10pm – “It gave me my work ethic; I came home every weekend, doing dance, acting and musical theatre classes.”
Every summer, she went to Puglia and performed in the piazzas and churches.
At 18, Carly started a four-year course at Manchester’s Royal Northern College Of Music, working in M&S to pay for her accommodation.
After graduating at 23, she became a singing teacher, supplementing her wages by performing at corporate events. Then multiple Grammy-winning producer David Foster asked her to perform at his charity gala in Calgary, Canada…
“It was my ‘not in Kansas anymore’ moment,” she recalls. “I was thrust onto the stage with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Jennifer Hudson. My heart was in my mouth. I said a prayer and never looked back.”
At 26, Carly sang a duet from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with Cynthia Lawrence at a star-studded UNICEF fundraiser in the ruins of the Caracalla baths in Rome.
Her modern version of Ave Maria wowed the Vatican so much they asked her to perform at Pope Francis’s Jubilee concert at the Roman forum. The pontiff then chose it as the theme song for his 2016 Jubilee Year Of Mercy.
“Faith is important to me,” she says. “I like to think my voice is a gift from God, and you do your bit to make the world a better place.”
Carly duetted with Spanish tenor José Carreras on her 2017 debut album. “He told me, ‘You are a dream, I could look at you all day’. Then he said, ‘But please hurry up because Barcelona are about to kick off…’.”
This bi-lingual English rose was the first to sing God Save The King at an international football when England faced Italy at Milan’s San Siro stadium in 2022. She then sang Italy’s anthem, Inno di Mameli, stripping off her red cloak to reveal a full Azzurri kit underneath.
“It was an honour and a privilege,” she says. “They showed a beautiful picture of her late majesty, it was very poignant, a moment in history.”
She has performed twice for future King Charles twice – at Windsor Castle and St James’s Palace. And last year Carly opened the Ryder Cup in Rome. “Just before I went on, the stage manager told me 153 million were watching – they could’ve waited!”
In 2016 she did Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night XX11 in Phoenix, Arizona. “Singing not boxing,” she assures me. “I didn’t have to fight Reba McEntire.”
Carly, who was recently awarded an honorary Doctor Of Music degree by Nottingham Trent University, still has ambitions. “I’d love to do a musical, I grew up loving musical theatre. I can’t wait to see Wicked.”
In 2021 she performed at the It’s A Kind Of Magic, celebrating Queen, in Malta, with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Carly sang Barcelona.
“I was a massive fan of We Will Rock You growing up. I saw it 17 times! I’dve loved to have been a rock chick, but I haven’t got the right voice. ”
She continues, “I hope we don’t replace real music with technology. Nothing can replicate the emotional connection of real singing from the heart.”
As evidenced by her Christmas album – 15 tracks delivered with warmth and conviction, including live performances from Liverpool Cathedral and duets with West End musical theatre star Rachel John and Texan gospel singer David Phelps.
On Saturday [21st] Carly hosts a concert at the Albert Hall, Nottingham with Rachel John, The Gentlemen Songsters and three local theatre school choirs.
“It’s hard to say who’s more excited about coming home to sing, me or the kids!”
She is on two festive TV shows – Christmas Carols (Xmas Eve), “recorded in Stockport, at 8am”, and Ainsley’s Festive Flavours (Xmas Day). But no longer performs abroad on Boxing Day after experiencing a lacklustre turkey dinner in a Rome hotel. “They tried,” she says diplomatically.
She’s spending Christmas at home with family, including her brother Dean and his brood, and her aunt and cousins, “watching cheesy Christmas films”.
Then she’s off to Australia on holiday “in time to see the fireworks over Sydney”.
Carly has a special Valentine’s show at the Barbican in February but no significant other to woo her.
“The only man in my life is Fred my dog,” Carly laughs. “Can you put an advert in the Sunday Express for me? ‘Wanted: one tall, dark and handsome male…”
How about tall, grey and bearded? I ask. The phone goes dead.
Carly Paoli’s album, Carly Paoli – The Christmas Collection is available now on CD from all good UK record stores and digital download and streaming on all digital platforms. https://slinky.to/TheChristmasCollection
Carly will be celebrating Christmas with a special concert Christmas With Carly Paoli and Friends will be at Nottingham’s Albert Hall on 21 December 2024. Tickets from https://carlypaoli.com/events/