Wynne Evans: Gocompare adverts changed my life
Welsh tenor, Wynne Evans said he owes everything he has to playing Gio Compario in the Gocompare insurance adverts; adding it is the best job he has ever had.

Acclaimed: Welsh tenor Wynne Evans

Wynne Evans, the Welsh tenor, thinks playing Gio Compario in the Gocompare insurance adverts is the best job he’s ever had.

The critically acclaimed opera singer – who drives a £30,000 Mercedes convertible with red seats, bathes in a hot tub he bought on eBay and typically spends £15 a week on cheese – says the money he earned from starring in the adverts has been life-changing.

He owes everything, he says, to Gio Compario, and worries he may one day lose it all.

Just a year after appearing in the adverts, Evans, who has sung for all of the major opera houses in Britain, signed a six-album deal with Warner Bros.

His debut album, A Song In My Heart, went straight to number one in the classical charts. His second, Wynne, was released last October.

He presents a regular radio show on BBC Radio Wales every weekday between 11am and 1pm, and recently completed a new challenge TV show, In It To Wynne It, for BBC One Wales, where he was given a month to learn a Bollywood-themed synchronised swimming routine.

Aged 44, he lives in Cardiff with wife Tanwen, 41, and daughters, Ismay, 14, and 12-year-old Taliesin.

What did your parents teach you about money?

Not a lot. It wasn’t something we really talked about. My dad, David, was a building inspector and my mum, Elizabeth, was a hairdresser who went on to run a theatre, The Lyric, in Carmarthen, Wales. We didn’t have much money. They weren’t great savers – they lived in the moment.

I’m not like that. I like to plan ahead, and put money away for my income tax, VAT and pension. Then I see what’s left and I have a great time.

What was the first paid work you ever did?

Answering the phone in a Ford garage when I was 14 on a Saturday, for £15. I loved that job. It taught me the value of money – and I loved the smell of new cars.

Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?

Yes, of course. When I started out as a singer, I lived hand to mouth. That’s when I started to worry about the future and my retirement, and ever since then it has played on my mind.

The time that we struggled most was when my wife was expecting our first baby. I was working as an opera singer in Cardiff and there wasn’t a lot of spare cash around.

One thing I wish I’d never done is buy stuff on a credit card. I didn’t run up a massive debt – about £1,500 – and I managed it properly, but I had it hanging over me for a long time, about ten years. I only paid it off when I got my first cheque from Gocompare.

Singing for his supper: Wynne in one of the famous TV adverts

Have you ever been paid silly money per hour for a job?

Silly money? That would suggest that I’ve been paid too much, and that’s never happened! But yeah, you do have to pinch yourself sometimes, and think: ‘Gosh, I’m very lucky’.

For example, I once did an opera recording where I only had about six notes to sing. I was paid the equivalent of £300 a note. That was fantastic.

What was the best year of your life, in terms of the money you made?

The last few years have been my best, but it’s been fairly consistent since 2009, when I started doing the Gocompare adverts. I’m in a very privileged position where people will pay me to do what I love doing, and playing Gio Compario is the best job I’ve ever had in my life.

What’s not to love about it? You get to be silly and go to great locations to film and you make money out of it.

I can’t tell you how much, but it’s changed my life. You’re in the public eye and more sought after. I owe everything to being in those adverts.

What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought yourself, just for fun?

A white Mercedes ML 4x4. It cost me £45,000. I wanted red seats but the salesman talked me out of it. I eventually sold it and the next Mercedes I bought – which is the car I’ve got now, a Mercedes SLK – does have red seats. I paid £30,000 for it, in cash, because I’m getting to a stage in life where I don’t want debt hanging over me. I always pay off my credit cards in full now as well. I like driving nice cars, they’re fun, but the MP3 player is more important to me than what’s under the bonnet.

Red obsessions: The Mercedes Wynne currently owns has red seats

What’s the biggest money mistake you’ve ever made?

Buying a Saab two weeks before Saab went bankrupt [in 2012]. I lost the warranty, and the resale value just plunged – I think I paid about £26,000 for it and I sold it for £10,000 two years later.

...and your best money decision ever?

Buying a one-bed flat near East Croydon station, in South London, two years ago. I bought it so I’d have a place to stay when I’m in town. East Croydon has since seen a fantastic uplift in house prices. I’d say the value of my flat has gone up by at least 25 per cent.

I also own my home in Cardiff, a semi-detached Victorian house three or four miles out of the centre. We bought it three years ago for £465,000 and gutted the entire place, put in new ceilings, new floorboards, everything.

We went 100 per cent over our budget and it took every single penny we had. But it’s probably doubled in value since we bought it. Of all the investments I’ve ever made, property has given me the best return.

Do you save into a pension and invest in the stock market?

Yes, I took out my first pension when I was 19 and I save into one every single month. It seems like a no-brainer to me, especially now you have more control of your money, thanks to the pension reforms last year.

I started investing in the stock market three years ago, dabbling with tiny sums of money: £30, £40 or £200 sometimes, but nothing major.

Now I have a financial adviser who advises me on what to do. I’ve invested pretty much everything I’ve earned from the Gocompare adverts in my house, on bonds or gilts. I’m cautious so I’ve got a low-risk, balanced portfolio. I don’t want to lose everything that I’ve worked towards.

Luxury: 'I bought myself a hot tub on eBay – without telling my wife. She found out in an email'

What’s your one little luxury that you like to treat yourself to?

Cheese from the cheese shop. Doesn’t really matter what kind, I just like a bit of choice. I’ll typically spend £15 a week on cheese. I also bought myself a hot tub on eBay without telling my wife. She found out from an email. So I am the only one who uses it, let’s put it that way.

If you were Chancellor of the Exchequer, what’s the first thing you would do?

Reintroduce free music lessons in schools for every child. With music lessons costing so much now, children are missing out on the opportunity to learn an instrument. But learning to play an instrument isn’t just about music, it also helps children with numeracy, literacy, social skills and confidence.

Do you think it’s important to give to charity?

Yes, it’s very important. But everyone does so in different ways, and however you choose to do it is something you’ve got to work out for yourself. I personally give about 10 per cent of my time to charities.

This year I’m also supporting Welsh-based cancer charity Tenovus as well as being patron of Ty Cymorth, a hospice in Carmarthen where my father went before he died.

What’s your number one financial priority?

To pay off the mortgage on my house. My goal is to pay that off as quickly as possible – before I’m 50 – and be totally debt-free. I can relax then.

I think it’s due to me being self-employed: if it all ends tomorrow but I don’t owe anything, I know I’ll be OK.