From
Mirror.co.uk 26 December 2005
EXCLUSIVE: RISE AND RISE OF THE SMALL BOY WITH THE BIG VOICE
EXCLUSIVEBy Julie Mccaffrey
AS YOUNG Joseph McManners stepped on to the stage of his local theatre in Oliver, he squinted into the bright lights and tried to pick out his mum in the audience.
Barely two years on, the 13-year-old is again barefoot and in Oliver Twist's ragged costume.
But this time he is starring in the BBC's star-studded adaptation of the musical and has a £2million record contract in his pocket.
Joseph's sensational singing voice has taken him from his nervous first public performance at Canterbury's Marlowe Theatre to prime-time television. And no one is more stunned by his fame than the 4ft 8ins youngster.
"It's amazing, it really is," he says, shaking his head in disbelief.
"I always loved the original Oliver! film, especially the songs, so to be playing the role alongside Ron Moody, who played Fagin in the original version, feels like a dream.
"But every day of the past year has felt so fantastic, so brilliant, it seems unreal."
Joseph's confident manner at such a young age leaves adults transfixed.
He is blessed with a megawatt smile, giant green eyes, luminous skin and perfectly placed dimples, and he speaks of his co-stars Aled Jones, Shane Richie,
Hayley Westenra and Ruthie Henshaw as if they are old pals.
His record deal is 20 times greater than the contract signed by child star turned teen diva Charlotte Church back in 1996, when she was 10. And his mum Deborah, a GP, believes her son could be 20 times as famous as our Charl.
She says: "Charlotte Church is such a lovely singer and has been hugely successful. But Joseph also has a naturally beautiful voice that often moves people to tears.
"It's an exciting thought that one day he could be bigger than her. We can expect a lot from Joseph. Bigger than Charlotte? Yes, anything's possible."
Joseph could be forgiven for being big-headed about the fact he has already earned more than the combined salaries of the 57 teachers at his school, the Simon Langton Grammar School in Canterbury.
IT'S a mind-boggling sum for a lad who, until last month, got £5 a week pocket money and splurged it on Beano comics.
But while his friends ask for jokey loans, Joseph - who has never had a formal singing lesson - is trying to get his head around the fact that his post office savings account is overflowing.
He shrugs: "I'm trying not to think about it. It's way over my head. I just want to concentrate on my singing. After all, that's what's going to take me on this amazing journey."
Joseph has Celine Dion to thank for his rapid rise to fame. At seven, he became obsessed with her song My Heart Will Go On after seeing the Titanic film starring Kate Winslet. Deborah - who this year separated from Joseph's dad Hugh, a Falklands War veteran and author - spotted the sheet music and CD while buying music books for her elder son William, 15, an accomplished violinist.
She stopped in her tracks when she heard Joseph singing along.
She recalls: "I was on the phone to my mum when I first heard him, so I held it in the air and said: 'Listen! That's Joseph singing - isn't it lovely?' Mum didn't believe me at first." A few years later Joseph sang at a family reunion, leaving his relatives agog at his huge talent. That's when he picked up the bug for performing.
"When everyone clapped and told me they were impressed, I thought: 'I like this - I think I'll keep doing this,'" he grins.
He went on to receive a rapturous reception as Oliver.
That led to a successful audition for the BBC's Little Prince opera, where he beat 25,000 other children for the lead role.
Singer Lesley Garrett was blown away by his talent and he caught the ear of Sir Elton John's former manager Don McKillop, who orchestrated his four-album record deal.
But is Deborah, who lives on a £1million estate in Petham, Kent, the pushy mum behind his success?
"Absolutely not," she insists. "I didn't even know about the Little Prince auditions until the last minute. And we went only because we thought it would be fun.
"But I was appalled by the behaviour of some of the parents in the queue that snaked down four streets. They fluffed their kids' hair, prodded them to stand up straight and nagged them to smile. Some of those poor children had been there since 3.30am.
"And when they were told that they hadn't won through to the next stage of auditions, parents were so angry they banged on the windows of the producers, shouting: 'Do you know how long we've waited out here? Do you know how much it cost to come here?'
"It really was shocking - I felt so sorry for the children.
"To be honest, I haven't had time to be a pushy mum. I've always worked full-time. If anything, I've spent more time with William because learning the violin is so hard. Anything Joseph has achieved he's done on his own."
Joseph has played the Oliver role made famous by Mark Lester, has the classically pure voice of Charlotte Church and the impossibly cute looks of Macaulay Culkin in his pre-puberty prime.
But is he destined to follow their route of falling off the rails and into a spiral of drink, drunks and undesirable lovers in a few years' time?
"I really don't think so," insists Deborah. "He has had a very strong foundation in life which should root his feet to the ground. He was never stifled, never cosseted, and was always independent, so he's sure of his own way.
"It will be interesting to see how he goes about all this growing-up business. I think he'll continue to blossom."
JOSEPH has the composure of someone three times his age but he's keen to point out that he isn't good at everything.
"Sometimes I leave my room in a bit of a mess," he giggles. "And I can't do tricks on my skateboard. I just sit on it and roll down the hill. But although it sounds corny I get good grades at everything at school. But I'm not a swot. Honestly."
Yet it seems his cot could have been sprinkled with stardust. His mum explains: "He was born by caesarean at 38 weeks and was a thin, scrawny little thing who was jaundiced and very difficult to feed.
"I went back to work full-time when he was only nine weeks old, and my enduring memory of him even then was of a happy and smiling little boy. His laugh sounded like a peal of bells.
"I used to take him into the surgery with me in and he'd often fall asleep on the back of my chair. Everyone who met him wanted to take him home - they still do." Not content with causing a storm with his singing, Joseph is also writing his own songs.
"I write the lyrics first, then the music," he says. "I don't want to try to be someone I'm not, because people easily see through that. So I only write about my own experiences, things I know and enjoy. Like my pets. I can't write about lovey or coupley things."
Which brings us to one of Joseph's sore subjects: girls. Wrinkling his nose with disdain, he says: "I do like girls as friends, but definitely not as girlfriends. Bleurgh!
"Lots of girls try to hug me and tell me I'm cute, which is really embarrassing."
As he squirms on the sofa, Deborah whispers: "Girls have always adored Joseph. They always send him love notes and buy him sweets. And these are girls up to 18 years old."
Joseph is keen to point out that his musical tastes have moved on from Celine Dion and his favourite bands are Keane and Coldplay. It seems that being cool is high on his list of priorities.
Unlike child stars before him, he won't be trussed up in a bow-tie or chorister's collar.
His mum still buys his clothes, and he's happy with his oversized T-shirts, rolled-up jeans and his old trainers. Anyone who suggests he cuts the shoulder-length blond hair will be given short shrift, too.
"This happened by accident," he says, ruffling his uncombed mop. "I didn't get round to having a haircut for a while, and when it got long I thought it looked cool. I don't want anyone to change me.
"And hopefully, one day, I'll be known as the great child singer who developed into a great adult singer. That would be so cool."
julie.mccaffrey@mirror.co.uk
CELEBRATE Oliver! is on BBC1 today at 6.45pm
so... Joseph has got off to a slow start with his frst day's sales and will struggle to enter the top 100 of the pop chart based on that... although he should get ahead of Hayley and Aled if he's in the classical charts. 
?