Celtic Tenor Daryl Simpson on love of singing

Oct 13 2009 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

Celtic Tenors

DARYL SIMPSON is one of those infuriating people who are fantastically successful in a career they stumbled into.

The Celtic Tenor was unaware of the calibre of his voice, and had no classical voice training, until he was studying music at university.

He was specialising in the piano at Queens University in Belfast, when somebody suggested he join the chamber choir.

“I was very reluctant and had to be brought along kicking and screaming,” he recalls.

“But it was like somebody had switched on a light within me.”

He has made up for lost time, first training as an opera singer and now performing hundreds of shows a year as one of the three Celtic Tenors.

On Friday, they will be accompanied by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra at the Philharmonic Hall.

“Having one of the top symphony orchestras in the UK playing for you is a real treat,” says Simpson.

Celtic Tenors audiences are used to expecting a bit of everything from the trio. As well as tenor classics You Raise Me Up and Time to Say Goodbye, they will also sing songs from the musicals (including Anthem from Chess), some American folk music from their new album Hard Times and, true to their roots, some Irish traditional standards.