NEW YORK (AP) — Keith Miller was a bruising fullback out of the University of Colorado who never quite made it to the National Football League. He has, however, become a star at the Metropolitan Opera. And that transformation is more amazing because he didn't have any formal musical training when he started.

In 1994, in Colorado, Miller took a girlfriend to see a traveling production of the Broadway musical "The Phantom of the Opera." He says he was so enthralled that tears rolled down his face and he bought a CD and learned the songs.

Years later, he was training for a workout with the Denver Broncos, and saw a flier announcing an open audition for an opera at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan.

On a whim, Miller showed up, got the job, and says "It was like a baby learning to walk."

Now, he's going full speed, appearing next month at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera (oon BAH'-loh MAHS'-kyur-ah)," which translates to "A Masked Ball."

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