MICHAEL POTTS - Lead

Compared to the rest of the quartet, Michael is a barbershop novice, having become a member of Bolton’s Cottontown Chorus back in November 1994. His real involvement in music began 13 years earlier when he joined the Manchester Cathedral Voluntary Choir at the tender age of 8. After serving his time with the choir touring Europe first as a chorister and then as a part of the tenor section he moved on and joined the ‘Glee Club’ at York University, giving him his first taste of a cappella, albeit mixed voice.

On his return from university he joined Bolton chorus, to help fulfil his growing need for a cappella. He also began a brief dalliance with the stage, taking part in several amateur musical theatre shows ranging from "Hit the Deck" to "West Side Story", working with a number of societies based in the Greater Manchester area over a three year period.

It was during this time that Barbershop really began to take over. He joined his first quartet, REFLEXION, singing tenor and competed with them for a year. He changed voice to sing baritone in chorus, taking on the mantle of section leader for a short while. After returning to the lead section he was asked to train as an assistant chorus director. Michael experienced his first sing with his next quartet, MATRIX, at the Millennium Convention in Brighton and this quartet went on to win British Gold and European Silver at the 2001 BABS Convention in Glasgow. MATRIX sang together for four more years, competing twice at international conventions in Portland and Montreal and recording two CD albums. In his final competitive performance with Bolton in Brighton in 2005 the chorus finally attained the Gold medal performance level they had been working towards in the 25 years since they began.

Michael recently moved to Kent to live with his partner Jennie, a national account manager for a UK recruitment company who sings lead with the LABBS Quartet dIVa and Sevenoaks ladies chorus Green Street Blues. Shortly after the move he began singing with his new chorus, the Cambridge Chord Company, and within 2 months had won a second chorus Gold medal at the 2006 Convention in Harrogate. He currently works for Universal Pictures as a Marketing Administrator and is now based in central London.