We meet in a plush private members\u2019 club in Chelsea, Boe looking unassuming as he walks over with a brown cap pulled over his brow. He orders a pot of Earl Grey and takes the cap off, revealing a close crop of dark hair. He seems a little anxious, but then, with an album titled Face Myself, he\u2019s probably realised belatedly that he\u2019s waved the red flag to the bulls (journalists) eager to pry into the life of a man once dubbed \u201cthe bad boy of opera\u201d.<\/p>\n
Anyone hoping for sleaze and scandal will likely be disappointed. Boe\u2019s sobriquet stems more from his work in breaking down the stuffier misconceptions surrounding classical music, usually through golden-voiced covers of classic rock songs. But that doesn\u2019t mean he won\u2019t shed some light \u2013 in his music and during our conversation \u2013 on his working-class upbringing, evolving family life, career breakthrough and how he plucked up the courage to make this album in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, I\u2019ve been sort of guided down the direction that people feel I should go down,\u201d the 52-year-old tells me in his soft Lancashire burr. \u201cBut sometimes you have to take chances.\u201d He felt encouraged by his new management team \u2013 and his new record label \u2013 who were thrilled with what he was coming up with in the studio with producer\/songwriter MyRiot (Primal Scream, London Grammar). Initially the plan was to have just three or four original songs; they ended up with seven, plus five carefully chosen covers of artists he admires, from Elbow and Noel Gallagher to Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance.<\/p>\n
Album opener \u201cMeanwhile Gardens\u201d tells the story, in part, of Boe\u2019s own ambitions, performing on Broadway and feeling overwhelmed by the scale of New York City \u2013 \u201cgiant skyscrapers but also giants within the industry, these big bosses finding young artists and taking them for everything they\u2019ve got, then letting them go,\u201d he says. It\u2019s named after the park and community garden in Westbourne, north Kensington, near where Boe lived while studying at the Royal College of Music. He recalls: \u201cIt\u2019s one of those places where you feel like, no matter how busy life gets, there\u2019s somewhere to find an element of peace, to connect with yourself and plan your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was relieved to be met with such a positive reaction from fans while airing out these new songs at live shows. But, he points out, the sound of the album \u2013 lushly textured and with a cinematic quality to much of it \u2013 hardly veers far away from the romance and drama of the ballad \u201cBring Him Home\u201d from Les Mis. It was this song that helped propel Boe to household-name status back in 2010, thanks to a now-iconic O2 Arena performance as Valjean, a role he\u2019s reprised on stages around the world.<\/p>\n
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2212907333.jpg\")
Michael Ball and Alfie Boe at the curtain call during Les Mis\u00e9rables: The Arena Spectacular Gala Opening at ICC Sydney Theatre on 1 May 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Getty)<\/p>\n
Years earlier, he\u2019d been spurred into an opera career by a customer who heard him singing along to the radio at his car factory job, aged 19. Told he should audition for a touring company in London, he travelled down from Lancashire for the day, got hired, and packed in the factory job. He credits his family with influencing his early music tastes: the youngest of nine siblings, he grew up in a busy household in Fleetwood listening to everything from Elvis Presley to Pavarotti. \u201cThat\u2019s why my music taste is so eclectic\u2026 I didn\u2019t see any divisions,\u201d he says. \u201cI was just blasted by good songs \u2013 I didn\u2019t perceive any difference between rock or classical.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01KMHW89GT5VB8HE0NYQ5WTKWH.jpg\")
Cover art for Boe\u2019s new album, \u2018Face Myself\u2019 (PA)<\/p>\n