biography

Opera singer

Multi-platinum-selling Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli reached a mainstream pop audience with his beautiful operatic renditions, after a film of his live concert in Pisa, Romanza in Concert: A Night in Tuscany, was aired on a PBS fund-raising special at the end of 1997. Since then, Bocelli has aptly catered to both the pop and operatic worlds, appealing to ardent fans of both types of music with his remarkably lovely voice. According to the Boston Herald's Stephen Schaefer, Bocelli has been dubbed the "fourth tenor," the "leading [or singing] Tower of Pisa," and "the most beautiful voice in the world."

Bocelli was already a best-selling pop artist in Europe, with more than ten million copies sold of his debut album, Romanza, and after his exposure through the PBS special, his success in the United States skyrocketed. The PBS production was slated to run only once, but due to its popularity it ran three times. Bocelli's debut album, Romanza, ranked alongside the Titanic soundtrack as one of the two best-selling albums sold during the holidays in 1997, and his second album, Viaggio Italiano, was on top of the Billboard classical charts in early 1998. His roster of fans includes such luminaries as the late Pope John Paul II, Luciano Pavarotti, Isabella Rossellini, Cecilia Bartoli, Julie Andrews, and Madonna. By 1998 Bocelli had performed for the pope on four different occasions. Unlike many of the "crossover" artists in the classical field who often have more success in Europe than in the United States, Bocelli's fame was truly international.