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Greg Pritchard: 'Britain's Got Talent' Reaches New Heights

Posted Mon May 11, 2009 12:18pm PDT by Lyndsey Parker in Reality Rocks

When I first laid eyes on the latest buzzy Britain's Got Talent sensation, 24-year-old Welsh waiter Greg Pritchard, I sort of assumed he was the across-the-pond equivalent of Adam Lambert.

Greg definitely had the Lambert Look I wanted to know better: copiously product-placed hairdo, expertly applied guyliner, H&M black pleather, ambiguously androgynous rocker-boy image, and obvious natural charisma. I only hoped that he'd also have Adam's incredible vocal range.

Well, the bloke had range, all right:

Blimey. This "male soprano" was a whole lot prettier than Susan Boyle (no "makeover" necessary here)...AND his voice was about, um, 18 octaves shriller! He in fact possessed a higher-pitched tone than even Britain's Got Talent's pre-pubescent singing ballerina, Hollie Steel.

While the Britain's Got Talent TV drama has always been completely and rather formulaically based on fakeouts (i.e., the judges and audience assuming a contestant won't be able to sing a note, then being proven very, very wrong), this latest BGT stunner may have been the most surprising yet. Greg's performance was definitely disconcerting at first, hearing such a glass-shattering falsetto emanating from a ruggedly soul-patch-accented male mouth. Certainly the shocked silence in the Britain's Got Talent auditorium was indication of this gender-bending, mind-bending confusion, as was the temporarily speechlessness of the normally loquacious Simon Cowell.

And when Simon eventually said, "That shouldn't have just happened," it was unclear whether or not he was actually impressed.

But yes, it did happen...and yes, it should have happened. Greg's vocals (like "a dog meowing," according to what Simon intended as a bizarre, almost Paula Abdul-like compliment) may have been an acquired taste upon first listen, but his "Nessun Dorma" performance was still bloody gob-smacking, as the Brits might say.

Backstage, one of the BGT emcees wondered aloud about Greg's seemingly helium-enhanced voice: "Surely he can't get any higher!" But I think Greg's career is about to soar to great, Adam Lambert-esque heights.

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3042 Comments

81. Wind G -
No one tops Adam Lambert - the 'New Elvis!' This Greg guy seriously has major range - totally unexpected. I hope he does well.. another rarity (of a different kind).

82. Vivacity -
Huh? No thank you. No thank you. Not even tempted to listen to it again.

83. RoniieCute -
Wow, he was great....it was strange watching that voice come out of a guy though.

84. ash -
adam lambert is hot and good at singing. this guy is weird and sucks

85. Ashley -
I absolutely loved it... :]

86. ... -
i admit hes kinda cute.
=P

87. chris -
everyone needs to stop talking about adam lambert. he sucks!!!!!!!!!! everyone is so obssed over him. im tired of hearing about him. it pisses me off

88. Charlie -
this guy is great! this is one of the best things ive ever seen!

89. Sarah E -
Ummm,
good but in a way very very very disturbing.

90. Juansky -
That was stinky and he needs some looser undies so he can sing like a man.

91. Brandon -
woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

92. jisatsu -
Thats was just bloody amazing yes. Through the whole video I thought it was a joke but wow just wow....

Also Simmon seems a lot nicer on BGT, then on American Idol eh. Same thing goes for Gordan Ramsay, but I love them both.

Thank for posting thi mate

93. Tracy -
god certainly gave this person a gift from heaven.

94. Yahoo! Music User -
lol

95. J.J. -
If my husband could do that..we would be rich! Well done!

96. Beth -
That was absolutely FABULOUS!!

97. zach -
HAHAHA! I wasn't expecting something like that at all. That was amazing.

98. sharon -
WOW SHOCKING! :D

99. Gian -
lol - that was amazing.

100. Yahoo! Music User -
That guy was amazing!! His voice was beautiful, much better than Adam Lambart. Just extraordinary. Man, I know why American Idol is so bad all of the sudden, all the talent is on the other side of the ocean!!
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