When his career as a pop star flopped, Andreas Scholl swapped rock for baroque and Howard Jones for Handel - today he is regarded as the world's finest countertenor.
Born in a small provincial German town near Wiesbaden and raised as a Catholic, Scholl toyed for a time with the idea of becoming a priest, before finding his faith in choral and church music. "I could imagine becoming a priest but not the celibacy!" he grins.
At the age of 32 and with more than a decade of professional singing behind him, Scholl still mixes his own rock music at his home in Basel. But despite his enthusiasm for the Pet Shop Boys, the Human League and Howard Jones, his heart remains in the baroque period.
