Singing for England
How Luciana Pavarotti’s singing at the opening of the 1990 World Cup gave one man the determination to sing
England’s misfiring football team should employ tenor Martin Toal as a fulltime mascot.
Five times he has led the singing of the British national anthem prior to crucial matches. Each time, they won.
As winning isn’t what springs to mind when you combine the words English and football, the national squad should be grateful that Martin decided to give up his teaching job and turn to singing.
The tenor in full cry is what we mean when we think of men and opera, and the names of Caruso, Gigli and Pavarotti are code for the world’s greatest operatic achievement. These chaps sing in a stratospheric vocal range that is well above the grumbling baritone register in which most men sing.
Sadly, in the world of staged opera they will invariably end up being the ones stabbed, poisoned, hanged or shot. It’s a strange fate for such a gentle man.
Martin comes from a singing family. His childhood in Manchester, where his family had moved to after leaving County Mayo, Ireland, was filled with music.
“At home my father enjoyed listening to recordings of Caruso and the great Irish tenor John Mc McCormack. At school I was encouraged to join the choir, and at parties I would always be asked to get up and sing a song, usually egged on by my grandfather who loved all types of music. I never had formal singing lessons. I just kept on singing because I loved it,” said Martin who was recently in Cyprus to perform in a charity event in aid of breast cancer.
Making the decision to turn professional took time. He always sang socially, but his main career was as a language teacher at a Manchester grammar school. He married, had a family, and seemed set for a quiet, non-theatrical life in leafy suburbia.
Then came the 1990 World Cup in Italy. When Luciana Pavarotti walked out on to the football pitch and sang Nessun Dorma at the opening ceremony in front of millions of watching around the world, he played a huge part in creating a whole new audience for opera. What had been considered elitist and high-brow suddenly became considerably more mainstream.
“That was a truly spine-tingling moment for me. I was completely enthralled by the man’s voice, and I wanted to be like him,” said Martin.
“At that time I was a fulltime teacher, but then the urge to sing professionally was so strong. So I started singing, but only part time, at various functions, charity events, etc.”
It took until 2004, however, until he finally went professional and gave up his secure teaching career. Instead of going to work clad in jeans and a casual jacket to teach Italian and French in front of often reluctant schoolchildren, Martin now wore a dinner suit and travelled to different towns to perform Arias in perfect Italian to enthusiastic paying audiences.
“I see myself as an athlete in a way. This job may look relatively easy, just standing there singing, but it’s really quite stressful sometimes. I have to also keep physically fit. I go to the gym each morning and then work for about 20 minutes on scales and on my technique and breathing.”
Martin can now hit the high C’s, the all-important benchmark for a tenor. “My voice like all singers will change as I get older. I’m 41 now, and a tenor is supposed to peak between 40-45, so I have my peak still to come!”
In some ways, Martin is lucky he wasn’t seriously trained at a young age. Many youngsters make a ‘Faustian’ pact by beefing up the voice when it is still maturing. As a result some talented singers can ruin their voices.
For fear of allergies, Pavarotti would never allow flowers either on stage or in his hotel or dressing room. Like most singers Martin has to be careful about what goes near his voice. Plug-in air fresheners, sprays and pot pourris are all banned from his house as they can affect the voice.
“Singers have to protect their instrument just in the same way a violinist ensures the strings on his violin don’t get damp. The main problem with singers is they permanently carry their instrument around with them, so it’s more liable to become damaged by smoke, dust and so on.” Needless to say people with colds are given a wide berth.
One huge advantage Martin has above many of his piers is he can actually understand the languages he is singing in. He is fluent in Italian, French, German and Spanish. He can also entertain as a classical ‘cross over’ artiste, with renderings of more accessible songs ranging from Irish folk songs to rousing anthems.
Singing ‘big’, as he calls it, has become something of a signature with Martin. He seems as utterly unfazed performing live in front of 90,000 people as he does performing for small audiences.
English football fans can only hope he wants to keep on singing big for them.
