This is the story of a boy with an extraordinary1 voice
Declan Galbraith (born on December 19, 1991) and his family live in the small town of Hoo, near Rochester, Kent. His father is of Scottish descent, while his mother comes from an Irish family. Declan lived with Ben, his grandfather, since he was six months old. Ben sang in a band and often took Declan along to the bars he was playing in.
“I would sit there for hours watching Poppy Ben and the musicians, and listening to their music,” says Declan. The explosive mix of Scottish and Irish musical traditions inspired Declan and became his early musical influence. He remembers himself already singing at the age of two. He adds, “These are some of my very first memories in life—always singing.”
Declan’s talent was publicly acknowledged2 for the first time when at just 7 years old he performed at the annual Rochester Dickens Festival3. Little Declan, dressed up as a chimney sweep, started singing and the crowd went wild. Soon after this he started to enter local talent contests and within a year he had won 16 titles and more than ￡100,000.
Since then he has gone on to record a version of “Walking in the Air” which was released on the same Christmas album as Westlife. In a short period of time, Declan has become a well-known celebrity and has appeared in numerous television programs, newspapers and radio shows all over the UK and Ireland. Unfortunately Ben died before he could see Declan's success, however，Declan cites him as his strongest musical influence.
His first album Declan was out in 2002. It was a big hit and charted in the U.K. and Ireland. Another big success came during a nationwide tour of Young Voices concerts when breaking the Guinness World Record. Not only does Declan possess an extraordinary vocal talent but the range of music he sings is both diverse and unusual for such a young boy of his age.
His mother said, “As parents, it has always been the biggest concern to ensure that irrespective of4 his talent and success, Declan would not lose touch with the real world, and to remain a normal young man. We know he has an extraordinary talent and he has set himself a very high goal.”
Now, several years later, Declan has made music and singing his full-time career. In cooperation with multi-platinum5 German producer Ully Jonas, the resulting album, entitled Thank You, was released in December, 2006. Of this album Declan says, “I like to record songs that are meaningful to me and the audience. I have recorded many different types of songs, such as ‘Tears in Heaven’, ‘Love of my Life’, and ‘An Angel’, songs that demand vocal performance and interpretation6. I love that kind of music.”
Declan is determined to keep his feet firmly on the ground and knows that it is important to keep up with all of his schoolwork and education. He is also anxious to record new songs that he can claim to be his very own and perhaps one day he’ll even write them himself. “So far I have been able to realize my dream of making music and singing. I am now playing guitar and the piano and have also started to write my own songs. One day I would also like to develop other skills and perhaps do some acting as well.”
In daily life, Declan is like most other 16 year old boys. He loves computer games, swimming, cycling and football. He is a very simple but filial7 boy. He wishes to gain enough money so that his parents needn’t work any more, he also wants to buy a new car for his father.
一个有着非凡嗓音的男孩的故事……
迪克兰·加尔布雷思（出生于1991年12月19日）的家在一个叫做胡的小镇上，位于英国肯特郡罗切斯特附近。他的父亲有苏格兰血统，母亲来自一个爱尔兰家庭。迪克兰从6个月大起就与祖父本一起生活。本是个乐队歌手，他去酒吧表演时总把迪克兰带在身边。
迪克兰说：“我总是一坐几个小时，看着爷爷和音乐家们表演，听他们演唱。”苏格兰和爱尔兰传统音乐的冲撞与融合给了迪克兰灵感，影响了他的早期音乐理念。他记得自己两岁就已经开始唱歌。“我生命中最早的记忆就是这些——一直在唱歌。”他补充道。
年仅7岁时迪克兰就在一年一度的罗切斯特狄更斯节上初次展露出音乐天赋。小迪克兰打扮成一个扫烟囱的孩子，引吭高歌，众人顿时为之倾倒。此后不久，他开始参加当地才艺比赛，不到一年就获得了16个奖项，赢了10多万英镑。
此后他更进一步，翻唱了歌曲《空中漫步》，与西城男孩的歌出现在同一张圣诞歌合辑上。在很短的时间内，迪克兰成了大名人，在全英和爱尔兰的电视节目、报纸以及电台频频露面。不幸的是，本未能目睹迪克兰的成功就去世了，不过，迪克兰说本在音乐方面对自己影响最大。
2002年他推出了首张专辑《迪克兰》。唱片非常成功，登上了英国和爱尔兰排行榜。在名为“童声音乐会”的全国巡演中，他因为打破吉尼斯世界记录而获得了另一次重大胜利。迪克兰不仅具有极好的声乐天赋，而且所唱的歌音域宽广、风格多变，对像他这么小年纪的男孩来说非同寻常。
他母亲说：“作为父母，无论他多有天赋、有多成功，我们最关心的还是要确保他不要脱离了真实世界，做一个普通的小伙子。我们知道他有非凡的天赋，而他也给自己定了一个很高的目标。”
几年过去了，现在音乐和唱歌已经成了迪克兰的全部事业。在盛产多白金唱片的德国制作人乌利·玖纳斯协作下，迪克兰心血之作：专辑《谢谢你》于2006年12月发行。关于这张专辑，迪克兰说：“我喜欢录制对自己、对听众来说都意味深长的歌曲。我录制了各种不同风格的歌，比如《泪洒天堂》、《我的爱》以及《天使》，这些歌不仅需要好嗓音，还要感情演绎到位。我喜欢这样的音乐。”
迪克兰坚持脚踏实地，他懂得完成学业的重要性。对于录制纯属于自己的新歌他也跃跃欲试，也许有一天他甚至会自己写歌。“到目前为止，我已经弄明白了我的梦想就是做音乐和唱歌。我弹吉他、弹钢琴，而且已经开始自己写歌。将来我还要发展其它方面的技能，也许会演戏。”
日常生活中，迪克兰就像大部分16岁的孩子一样。他喜欢玩电脑游戏、游泳、骑单车和踢足球。他心地单纯，非常孝顺。他希望赚到足够多的钱，让父母不用再工作，他还想为爸爸买一辆新车。
NEAR TO DECLAN
Strong voice, super songs and charts success. Declan is only 16—and has already got what a star needs! In front of the camera he’s already a Profi8. Smiles, pulls faces, rocks with his guitar. Stage-fright? No way! With 10 years he got his first record deal, short time later he was even allowed to sing in front of the English Queen. Now with 16, Music world is on his feet. But how is this Boy really? What does he think about girls? He told us...
Q: You’re still so young, and already so successful, aren’t you afraid to lose the ground9?
Declan: No absolutely not. It’s a bit stupid of course to say “I’ll never ever lose ground under the feet”, but I don’t wanna think I’m something better ’cause I’m just a normal 16 years old boy. Besides that my parents look after me staying on the ground—especially my mum.
Q: Do you have strict parents?
Declan: No. I’m actually allowed to do everything—apart from smoking, having wild parties and coming home totally drunk.
Q: Are you looking for a girlfriend?
Declan: Well, it’s not like I wake up one day, step in front of the door like:“today I’m gonna look for a girl.” But I wouldn’t mind if a girl would find me.
Q: Tell us about your first real love!
Declan: There was a totally cute girl in my school. I saw her like every day and was totally in love. I wanted to talk to her all the time but I didn’t really dare all the time because I’m really shy. But then I invited her to the cinema and guess what: she said yes. During the performance I’ve tried all the time to put my arm around her but I didn’t dare to. We just stayed friends then. Sometimes I’m mad at myself for being so shy.
Q: Did you have heart aching after this?
Declan: Sure it hurts but I didn’t fall into a deep hole. But I was a little bit sad of course.
Q: Do you have any tips against heart aching?
Declan: Well the worst thing you can do is to watch romantic movies, you should do something with friends or family, that works for sure.
Q: Though you have success you’re a totally normal teenager?
Declan: Yes of course! Maybe a lot of people think that’s not a normal life but what is normal? Some teens become profi football players with 14 or 15 and I have a record deal, I don’t see there’s much difference between actually.
Q: Do you actually still have spare time?
Declan: Sure, just not as regular as other people. Sometimes I have four months I have nothing to do and then there are six weeks which are very stressful. But I have time to relax.
Q: And what are you doing in your spare time then?
Declan: I have to learn for school of course and doing homework, but when I’m done with it, I play football with my cousins, that’s my second huge passion after the music.
走近迪克兰
高亢的嗓音、出色的歌曲、以及排行榜上的风光——年仅16岁的迪克兰已经拥有了一个明星所需要的一切！在镜头前他已能应对自如：笑、扮鬼脸、抱着吉他跳舞。怯场？他才不会呢！他10岁的时候签了第一份唱片合同，之后没多久甚至得到了在英国女王面前一展歌喉的机会。现在16岁的他已经在音乐界站稳了脚跟。但这个男孩到底是什么样子？他如何看待女孩子？他向我们讲述……
问：你这么年轻，就已经如此成功，你不怕以后会失利吗？
迪克兰：一点儿都不怕，当然，说‘我永远也不会丢了立足之地’这种话很可笑。但是我告诫自己不要以为我比别人强多少，我只是个16岁的普通少年。此外我的父母也盯着我，要我脚踏实地——尤其是我母亲。
问：父母管得严吗？
迪克兰：不。事实上我想做什么都可以——除了吸烟、参加疯狂聚会以及在外面喝得大醉而归。
问：你想找个女朋友吗？
迪克兰：呵呵，那可不像某天一觉起来，走到门口高叫“今天我要找个女朋友”那么简单哦。但是如果有女孩找我，我会考虑的。
问：讲讲你的第一次真爱吧！
迪克兰：我学校有一个超级可爱的女生。我几乎每天都能看见她，然后彻底地爱上她了。我一直想跟她说话，但我真的不敢，因为我太害羞了。但后来我请她去看电影，你猜怎么样？她说“好哇”。在整场电影中我一直想用手臂揽着她，可我到底还是没敢。从那以后，我们一直是普通朋友。有时候我真生自己的气——我太害羞了。
问：在这之后你有心痛的感觉吗？
迪克兰：当然心痛啦，但没深陷得不能自拔。不过，还是会有些伤心。
问：对付伤心事你有什么高招吗？
迪克兰：这种时候，千万不要去看爱情片，你可以跟朋友或家人一起做点儿什么，那很有效。
问：你虽然很成功，但还是个非常普通的少年，对吧？
迪克兰：当然是！也许很多人会认为这种生活不普通，可什么是普通呢？有些少年十四五岁就成了职业足球运动员，我则是推出一张唱片，我看两者之间没有多大区别。
问：你有空闲时间么？
迪克兰：当然有，只是不像别人那样有规律罢了。有时，我一连四个月无事可做，然后，又一连六个星期忙得不可开交。不过，我还是有时间放松的。
问：那么闲暇时间你都干些什么？
迪克兰：我要学习学校的课程，还要做作业。但是做完这些事以后，我就和表兄弟们踢足球，这是除了音乐之外我最爱干的事儿啦。
1. extraordinary adj. 非凡的；特殊的
2. acknowledge v. 承认
3. 狄更斯节：为纪念出生于肯特郡的作家查尔斯·狄更斯，每年6月份，人们穿上维多利亚时代的服饰或打扮成狄更斯书中的人物，走上街头游行欢庆。
4. irrespective of 不管；不顾 irrespective
adj. 不考虑的
5. platinum n. 白金
6. interpretation n. 演绎
7. filial adj. 孝顺的
8. profi=professional 专家
9. lose ground失去地盘，失利