- Order:
- Duration: 3:23
- Updated: 09 May 2013
- published: 27 Nov 2012
- views: 3357341
- author: Dan Henig
I guess it's not my lucky day today oh well
You've been good to me
You make me feel so happy
Can't believe that I deserve it though
Love's more than the silly games you play oh no
Play it casually
No need to get a sweat on
At least not at the moment so
369 all the time
What's the meaning in the number
Somebody tell me
369 through my mind
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody help me please
Take this bitter cup away from me oh oh
It takes two you know
So if you're feeling lonely
Why not start a conversation no no
Another bitter twist of irony ho ho
Not that easily
My heart is on the warpath
I don't need a reservation369 all the time
What's the meaning in the number
Somebody tell me
369 through my mind
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody help me
369 so sublime
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody tell me
369 for the sixth time
What's this with that number
Somebody help me
Now that you know you have no one
But yourself to blame
No matter which way you look at it
It still looks the same
[SOLO]
I guess it's not my lucky day today oh well
You've been good to me
You make me feel so happy
Can't believe that I deserve it though
I guess it's not my lucky day today oh well
You've been good to me
You make me feel so happy
Can't believe that I deserve it though
Love's more than the silly games you play oh no
Play it casually
No need to get a sweat on
At least not at the moment so
369 all the time
What's the meaning in the number
Somebody tell me
369 through my mind
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody help me please
Take this bitter cup away from me oh oh
It takes two you know
So if you're feeling lonely
Why not start a conversation no no
Another bitter twist of irony ho ho
Not that easily
My heart is on the warpath
I don't need a reservation
369 all the time
What's the meaning in the number
Somebody tell me
369 through my mind
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody help me
369 so sublime
All I'm getting is a number
Somebody tell me
369 for the sixth time
What's this with that number
Somebody help me
Now that you know you have no one
But yourself to blame
No matter which way you look at it
It still looks the same
I guess it's not my lucky day today oh well
You've been good to me
You make me feel so happy
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
Ladies and gentlemen
I'm about to make you feel alright
I've got the beat to move your feet
Plus I know just what you like
You're hotter then a pepper
1, 2 stepper, baby that is a shame
You gotta keep it moving, gotta keep it groovin'
'Cause baby you're off the chain
Now let me see ya like
A hanky panky I'ma turn around
The girl's gonna do it, let me lay it down
There's a couple of games I like to play
By the time I'm due this is what you'll say
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
If you gotta problem
I don't wanna hear it just let it go
All my ladies on the beat
Let me see you drop it to the floor
Fellas take a look around
The ladies are so fine!
It's going down, so get on up
Now you add that second line
Now let me see ya like
A hanky panky I'ma turn around
The girl's gonna do it, let me lay it down
There's a couple of games I like to play
By the time I'm due this is what you'll say
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
It's B.O.B.
Acting like a radar
The way she movin' faster
Then go slow just like some dalla
So maybe me and her
Can get to chewin' like tobacco
That's old fashioned talk
But my slang is rather dapper
And plus I got the swagger
Clap clap
Like a pistol
She seen my everywhere
Because I be on my grizzle
Dat mean I'm on my ground
All the time
No matter little
Her name is Claudia
She said meet ya in a little bit
So I'm trying to see if she can
Clap clap
In the building
Women let me see ya
Clap clap
Players in the building
Let me see ya
Clap clap
Came to get it started
Let me see ya
Clap clap
Came to have a party
Let me see ya
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
Millennium: | 1st millennium |
---|---|
Centuries: | 3rd century – 4th century – 5th century |
Decades: | 330s 340s 350s – 360s – 370s 380s 390s |
Years: | 366 367 368 – 369 – 370 371 372 |
369 by topic | |
Politics | |
State leaders – Sovereign states | |
Birth and death categories | |
Births – Deaths | |
Establishment and disestablishment categories | |
Establishments – Disestablishments | |
Gregorian calendar | 369 CCCLXIX |
Ab urbe condita | 1122 |
Armenian calendar | N/A |
Assyrian calendar | 5119 |
Bahá'í calendar | -1475–-1474 |
Bengali calendar | -224 |
Berber calendar | 1319 |
English Regnal year | N/A |
Buddhist calendar | 913 |
Burmese calendar | -269 |
Byzantine calendar | 5877–5878 |
Chinese calendar | 戊辰年十二月初七日 (3005/3065-12-7) — to —
己巳年十一月十七日(3006/3066-11-17) |
Coptic calendar | 85–86 |
Ethiopian calendar | 361–362 |
Hebrew calendar | 4129–4130 |
Hindu calendars | |
- Vikram Samvat | 425–426 |
- Shaka Samvat | 291–292 |
- Kali Yuga | 3470–3471 |
Holocene calendar | 10369 |
Iranian calendar | 253 BP – 252 BP |
Islamic calendar | 261 BH – 260 BH |
Japanese calendar | |
Julian calendar | 369 CCCLXIX |
Korean calendar | 2702 |
Minguo calendar | 1543 before ROC 民前1543年 |
Thai solar calendar | 912 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 369 |
Year 369 (CCCLXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Galates and Victor (or, less frequently, year 1122 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 369 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
"Pumped Up Kicks" | ||||||||
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File:PumpedUpKicks.jpg | ||||||||
Single by Foster the People | ||||||||
from the album Torches | ||||||||
Released | September 14, 2010 | |||||||
Format | Digital download, 12-inch single | |||||||
Recorded | 2009 | |||||||
Genre | Indie pop, alternative rock, neo-psychedelia | |||||||
Length | 4:11 (album version) 3:38 (radio edit) |
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Label | Columbia | |||||||
Writer(s) | Mark Foster | |||||||
Producer | Mark Foster | |||||||
Certification |
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Foster the People singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Pumped Up Kicks" is a song by American indie pop band Foster the People. It was released as the group's debut single in September 2010, and the following year was included on their EP Foster the People and their debut album Torches. "Pumped Up Kicks" became the group's breakthrough hit and was one of the most popular songs of 2011. The song was written and recorded by frontman Mark Foster while he was working as a commercial jingle writer. Contrasting with the upbeat musical composition, the lyrics describe the homicidal thoughts of a troubled youth.
The track received considerable attention after it was posted online in 2010 as a free download, and it helped the group garner a multi-album record deal with Columbia Records imprint Startime International before they had issued a commercial release. The song became both a crossover hit and a sleeper hit in 2011, as it received significant airplay on modern rock and contemporary hit radio stations. The song spent eight consecutive weeks at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, making it the first Billboard Alternative Songs number-one single to crack the U.S. top 5 since Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" in 2009. The song was widely praised by critics, and it has been licensed for use in a wide range of popular media since its release. "Pumped Up Kicks" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
Contents |
Soon after Mark Foster formed Foster the People in 2009, he wrote and recorded "Pumped Up Kicks" in five hours while working as a commercial jingle writer at Mophonics in Los Angeles.[1][2] Thinking that he was just recording a demo, he played all of the instruments on the song. Ultimately, Foster's original version of the song is what ended up being released.[3]
"I like to write about real-life topics, and I like to write about different walks of life. For me, that song was really an observation about something that's happening in the youth culture these days. I guess I wanted to reveal that internal dialogue of a kid who doesn't have anywhere to turn, and I think the song has kind of done its job. I think people are talking about it, and it's become a point of conversation, which I think is a really healthy thing."
The lyrics to "Pumped Up Kicks" are written from the perspective of a troubled and delusional youth with homicidal thoughts.[3] The lines in the chorus warn potential victims to "outrun my gun" and that they "better run, better run, faster than my bullet". Foster said, "I was trying to get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid."[3] He wrote the lyrics in order to "bring awareness" to the issue of gun violence amongst youth, which he feels is an epidemic perpetuated by "lack of family, lack of love, and isolation".[5][6] The song's title refers to shoes that the narrator's peers wear as a status symbol.[7] The issue of youth violence is a matter close to the group. Foster was bullied in high school, while bassist Cubbie Fink has a cousin who survived the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Fink said of his cousin's experience, "She was actually in the library when everything went down, so I actually flew out to be with her the day after it happened and experienced the trauma surrounding it and saw how affected she was by it. She is as close as a sister, so obviously, it affected me deeply. So to be able to have a song to create a platform to talk about this stuff has been good for us."[4]
Contrasting with the dark lyrics of the song, the music, which was written first, is upbeat. Foster said, "It's a 'fuck you' song to the hipsters in a way—but it's a song the hipsters are going to want to dance to."[3] Jeffery Berg of Frontier Psychiatrist said, "I was so engrossed with the cheery melody of its chorus that it took me a few listens to discover that the lyrics suggest dark, Columbine revenge."[8]
Due to the opening lyrics, "Robert's got a quick hand," many have speculated that the song is a reference to Robert Hawkins, perpetrator of Omaha's Westroads Mall shooting. The band's publicist refutes this with "This is completely false. The character name in the song is just a coincidence."[9] For play on the television channels MTV and MTVu, the words "gun" and "bullet" were removed from the song's chorus.[10] Foster believes many have misinterpreted the song's meaning, and he has written letters to his record label and called radio stations to complain. He explained, "The song is not about condoning violence at all. It's the complete opposite. The song is an amazing platform to have a conversation with your kids about something that shouldn't be ignored, to talk about it in a loving way."[2]
"Pumped Up Kicks" drew considerable attention online after Foster posted the song on his website as a free download in early 2010; Nylon magazine used the track in an online advertising campaign,[11] and through various blogs, it went viral.[12] Foster the People first performed the song live at the Stand Up Charity Benefit in Venice in February.[13] The group, yet to be signed, reached additional audiences with performances at the South by Southwest music festival in March 2010.[14] Foster was emailed by many people about the song, and needing professional guidance, he contacted artist manager Brent Kredel at Monotone, Inc., saying, "Everyone is calling me and emailing me—what do I do? Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys?" Kredel recalled that "He went from the guy who couldn't get a hold of anyone to being the guy who had hundreds of emails in his inbox." Kredel and Brett Williams were subsequently hired to co-manage Foster the People, and they helped the group get a multi-album record deal with Columbia Records imprint Startime International in May 2010.[11]
"Pumped Up Kicks" was licensed for use in a July 2010 episode of the TV series Entourage, the first of many instances in which Foster the People's music was licensed in popular media.[11] Wishing to release a record that would back up the song's success, the group wrote new material between July–September 2010.[11] The song received its first widespread radio play in July 2010 on Sirius XM's Alt Nation channel and the Australian radio station Triple J.[15] The song was released as their debut single on September 14, 2010.[citation needed] In November, the University of Maryland's radio station WMUC played the song, marking its debut on US terrestrial radio.[16] The song placed at number 32 in the Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2010,[17] a big achievement due to the band being relatively unknown in Australia. Still, the group was inexperienced as a live act, and as a result, their booking agent Tom Windish secured them several club shows "to help them get their sea legs." Foster the People promoted these concerts in January 2011 by emailing fans who had downloaded "Pumped Up Kicks" from their website, notifying them of the shows. The group continued to grow its fanbase with a month-long residency of concerts in January at The Echo nightclub in Los Angeles. By the group's third show at the venue, according to Windish, "there were hundreds of people trying to get in outside... It was an obvious turning point that could be measured in numbers." The residency also drew the attention of music supervisors in attendance who would later help the group license their music.[11]
In January 2011, the band issued their first commercial non-single release, a self-titled EP on which "Pumped Up Kicks" appeared. Around the same time, many alternative radio stations began playing "Pumped Up Kicks", including Los Angeles terrestrial stations KROQ-FM and KYSR, and it continued to gain popularity on Alt Nation.[11] Mark Foster credits Sirius XM's airplay with the song's success, saying, "Alt Nation played our music before any other radio outlet in the country."[18] On January 29, the song debuted on Billboard's Rock Songs chart and a week later, it debuted on the Alternative Songs chart. In May, the track debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later that month, the group released their first full-length studio album, Torches, on which "Pumped Up Kicks" appears.[11] On May 23, 2011, BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James selected the song as his Record of the Week, which ran until May 27. During this time, James released an accompanying video of him dancing to the song which he entitled and promoted "The Bum Dance".[19]
The song proved to be a crossover hit, peaking at number three on the Rock Songs chart in July and number one on the Alternative Songs chart in June, while breaking into the top 40 of the Hot 100 in late July and appearing on the Adult Top 40 and Mainstream Top 40 charts. Columbia senior VP of promotion Lee Leipsner said, "It was one of the only alternative bands I remember in a while that you could actually dance to. And the fact that the record has a groove and rhythmic feel to it—not heavy guitar-based at all—gave us a wide opportunity to cross the record." He credits the song's crossover success and push into the top 40 to a June presentation of new music by Clear Channel president of national programming platforms Tom Poleman. According to Leipsner, "After we showed our presentation, we had so many Clear Channel major-market programmers come up to us and say, 'The record I want to play besides Adele is Foster the People.'" "Pumped Up Kicks" peaked at number three on the Hot 100, spending eight consecutive weeks at the position.[11] It has been certified 3× platinum in the US, Canada,[20][21] and Australia,[22] while receiving a gold certification in Germany.[23] The song ranked as the sixth-best-selling digital song of 2011, selling 3.61 million copies.[24]
The music video, directed by Josef Geiger, was filmed at multiple locations in Los Angeles with insert footage from San Francisco[citation needed] and features the band playing a show. There are also cuts to band members doing other activities, such as playing frisbee and surfing. The video peaked at #21 on the MuchMusic Countdown in Canada.[25] The video has received over 83 million views on YouTube.[2]
"Pumped Up Kicks" received positive reviews from critics. Barry Walters of Spin said that with the song as their debut single, Foster the People "announce themselves as major players".[26] Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone described the song as having a "slinky groove, misty guitar flange and delicious astral-wimp vocals".[27] Rob Webb of NME drew some parallels between the song and other indie pop hits like "Young Folks", "Paris", and "Kids" describing its rise in popularity as thus: "artist writes (undeniably brilliant) pop song, makes it catchy as hell, but quirky enough for the 'cool' crowd, song subsequently gets some big pimping from every blog/radio station/Hype Machine user on the planet and, seemingly overnight, becomes utterly, irritatingly inescapable."[28] August Brown of the Los Angeles Times called it a "reputation-making single" that "cakes Foster in Strokes-y vocal distortion atop a loping synth bass".[29] Jon Pareles of The New York Times called it a "pop ditty with dazed, dweeby vocals and a handclapping chorus that warns, 'You better run, better run, outrun my gun'".[30] BBC Music's Mark Beaumont called the song a "psychedelic block party skipping tune". Reflecting on the song's fusion of various musical elements, Beaumont said the song is a prime example of how they "adapt Animal Collective's art-tronic adventurousness to incorporate the funky danceability of Scissor Sisters, the fuzzy pop catchiness of 'Kids' and the knack of throwing in deceptively downbeat twists akin to Girls, Sleigh Bells or Smith Westerns".[31] Matt Collar of Allmusic said the song, like other tracks from the album, is "catchy, electro-lite dance-pop that fits nicely next to such contemporaries as MGMT and Phoenix".[32] The Guardian's Michael Hann was less receptive, saying it "amounts to little more than a bassline and a chorus" and that "It's as irresistible as it is infuriating".[33]
A Rolling Stone readers poll named it the second-best song of summer 2011.[34] Claire Suddath of Time magazine named "Pumped Up Kicks" one of the Top 10 Songs of 2011.[35] In end-of-year polls, writers for Rolling Stone selected "Pumped Up Kicks" as the 11th-best song of 2011,[36] while the publication's readers voted it the year's sixth-best song.[37] A listeners poll by Toronto radio station CFNY-FM (102.1 The Edge) voted it #1 in a list of the top 102 new rock songs of 2011.[38] Entertainment Weekly selected the song as the second-best single of 2011.[39] NME ranked it number 21 on its list of the "50 Best Tracks of 2011", writing, "Unusually for a song so omnipresent, listening to its hyper-upbeat melodies about a psycho high-school kid-killer is still an enjoyable experience."[40] The magazine's readers voted "Pumped Up Kicks" the year's eighth-best song.[41] At the end of 2011, the song received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.[42]
In an article for The Huffington Post, DJ Louie XIV singled out "Pumped Up Kicks" as one of several popular songs that helped usher in the return of commercially successful indie music. In discussing the growing acceptance of fringe cultures, he wrote, "It seems only fitting, then, that the soundtrack to this time period should be music that was itself once viewed as fringe culture."[43] Reflecting on the song's success, Gary Trust, the associate director of charts/radio for Billboard, said, "They're walking a tightrope very well in terms of eras, formats and styles. When you mix all that together, it becomes a very good recipe for a hit that works on so many levels. It's the perfect song." Foster said of the song, "There's a spirit there and that's what people resonate with. 'Pumped Up Kicks' wasn't an accident."[2]
The song was used in TV series such as Entourage,[44] Gossip Girl, CSI:NY, Cougar Town, Homeland, Warehouse 13 and The Vampire Diaries and also in the 2011 films Friends with Benefits[11] and Fright Night, as well as sampled in Shawn Chrystopher's song "All the Other Kids", from his 2010 hip-hop album You, and Only You. The whistling part of the song is part of the rotation of bumper music played on the Michael Medved syndicated radio program. The song is also used on the BBC programme Match of the Day. On October 8, 2011, Foster the People performed the song on Saturday Night Live. The song was also used in Australian beer XXXX's "XXXX Summer Bright Lager" television commercial.[45]
The official remix of the single was released by New York City-duo The Knocks in April 2011, under the name "Pumped Up Kicks (The Knocks Speeding Bullet Remix)", and was made available to subscribers to the band's email list. The song was covered by Weezer during their 2011 North American Tour, at the Orange County Fair on August 4, 2011. Weezer also played the song during their grandstand performance at the Minnesota State Fair on September 3, 2011.[46] Mark Foster said in reaction, "Nine years ago, I met Rivers Cuomo at a party, and I had my acoustic guitar with me. He taught me how to play 'Say It Ain't So'. So nine years later, to watch him play one of my songs - it was wild. I can't wait to meet him and remind him of that story."[47]
In 2011, The Kooks covered song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[48] Australian musician Owl Eyes performed a version of "Pumped Up Kicks" for Triple J's Like a Version. In the Triple J Hottest 100, 2011, Owl Eyes' version came in at 28, four positions higher than the original did the previous year. Singer-songwriters Dani Shay and Justin Chase covered the song in a theatrical music video October 2011[49] and released the single in November 2011.[50] A parody of the song was performed by Taylor Swift and Zac Efron on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, as a serenade to the host. Its lyrics were about how they felt weird when Ellen used to put them as a couple when they were not.[51] On March 12, 2012 singers Lex Land and Charlotte Sometimes performed the song during the second "Battle Round" episode of The Voice.[52]
UK digital download[53] | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "Pumped Up Kicks" | 3:58 | ||||||||
2. | "Pumped Up Kicks" (Chrome Canyon Remix) | 4:49 |
Vinyl – side A[54] | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "Pumped Up Kicks" | 4:13 | ||||||||
2. | "Chin Music for the Unsuspecting Hero" | 3:26 |
Vinyl – side B[54] | ||||||||||
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No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
1. | "Pumped Up Kicks" (a cappella) | 4:13 | ||||||||
2. | "Pumped Up Kicks" (instrumental) | 4:13 |
Country | Date | Format | Label |
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United States | September 14, 2010[54] | Vinyl | Columbia Records |
United Kingdom | June 19, 2011[53] | Digital download |
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Sarah Brightman | |
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Sarah Brightman performing at the World Athletics Championships 2007 in Osaka |
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Background information | |
Born | 14 August 1960 |
Origin | Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England |
Genres | Classical crossover, operatic pop, symphonic rock, symphonic metal, pop, new age, rock, dance, electronica, techno, folk, traditional |
Occupations | Singer, actress, songwriter, dancer |
Instruments | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
Years active | 1976–present |
Labels | A&M (1993) East West (1995–2001) Angel/EMI (1997–2007) Manhattan/EMI (2008–present) |
Website | www.sarah-brightman.com |
Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves.[1][2] She sings in many languages including English, Spanish, French, Latin, German, Italian, Russian, Hindi, Mandarin Chinese and Japanese.[3]
Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, she made her West End musical theatre debut in Cats and met composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she married. She went on to star in several Broadway musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, where she originated the role of Christine Daaé. The Original London Cast Album of the musical was released in CD format in 1987 and sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling cast album of all time.[4]
After retiring from the stage and divorcing Lloyd Webber, Brightman resumed her music career with former Enigma producer Frank Peterson, this time as a classical crossover artist. She is often credited as the creator of this genre and remains among the most prominent performers, with worldwide sales of more than 30 million records and 2 million DVDs, establishing herself as the world's best-selling soprano of all time.[5][6][7] Her duet with the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, "Time To Say Goodbye", topped charts all over Europe and became the highest and fastest selling single of all time in Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for fourteen consecutive weeks and sold over 3 million copies.[8][9] It subsequently became an international success selling 12 million copies worldwide.[10] She has now collected over 180 gold and platinum sales awards in 38 different countries.[11] In 2010 she was named by Billboard the 5th most influential and top-selling classical artist of the 2000s decade in the US.[12]
Brightman is the first artist to have been invited twice to perform at the Olympic Games, first at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games where she sang "Amigos Para Siempre" with the Spanish tenor Jose Carreras with an estimated global audience of a billion people, and sixteen years later in Beijing, this time with Chinese singer Liu Huan, performing the song "You and Me" to an estimated 4 billion people worldwide.[13] Since 2010, Brightman is Panasonic's global brand ambassador. Together they launched the song "Shall Be Done" at the 2010 Winter Games held in Vancouver, Canada.[14] Brightman is the element of union in Panasonic's signing of Strategic Partnership Agreement with the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, as she stars the campaign "The World Heritage Special" that is being aired on the National Geographic Channel in 183 countries and areas.[15]
In early 2012 Brightman was appointed as the UNESCO artist for peace for the period 2012–2014 for her “commitment to humanitarian and charitable causes, her contribution, throughout her artistic career, to the promotion of cultural dialogue and the exchanges among cultures, and her dedication to the ideals and aims of the Organization”.[16]
In 2012 In conjunction with Virgin Galactic, The Brightman STEM Scholarship program (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) was launched. It will help young women in the US pursue STEM education across their four year college careers.[17]
Apart from music, Brightman has begun a film career, making her debut in Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), a rock opera-musical film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, and in autumn 2011 and early 2012 Stephen Evans' "First Night", starring opposite Richard E. Grant.[18][19] In addition, she formed her own production company, Instinct Films, where her first film is in pre-production.[20] Brightman is the world's richest female classical performer with a fortune of £30m (about US$49m).[21]
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Brightman is the oldest of six children of businessman Grenville Geoffrey Brightman (1934[22]–1992) and Paula Brightman. She was raised Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. At age three, she began taking dance and piano classes and went on to perform in local festivals and competitions.[23] At age 11, she successfully auditioned for the Arts Education School in Tring Park, a school specialising in performing arts.[24] At 13, in 1973 Brightman made her theatrical debut in the musical I and Albert at the Piccadilly Theatre, London, playing one of Queen Victoria's daughters (Vickoria). In 1976 she was in the leading TV dance group Pan's People and was later recruited to lead Arlene Phillips' troupe Hot Gossip in 1977. The group had a disco hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", which sold half a million and reached number six on the UK charts. Brightman, now solo, released more disco singles under her own label, Whisper Records, such as "Not Having That!" and a cover of the song "My Boyfriend's Back".[25] In 1979, Brightman appeared on the soundtrack of the movie "The World Is Full of Married Men" and sang the song "Madam Hyde".
In 1981, Brightman auditioned for the new musical Cats and was cast as Jemima. In rehearsals she met Andrew Lloyd Webber. After a year in Cats, Brightman took over from Bonnie Langford as Kate in The Pirates of Penzance at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, and appeared as Tara Treetops in Masquerade, a musical based on Kit Williams's book of the same title. On that year she left to play the title role in Charles Strouse's children's opera, Nightingale.[26]
Enticed by a rave review, Webber went to watch her in the show one evening and was flabbergasted. It seemed inconceivable that he could have missed such vocal talent when she'd been in his show for a year. It would be an awakening that would alter more than just his perception of her. It would alter the course of their careers and lives. The two married in 1984, and Brightman appeared in many of Lloyd Webber's subsequent musicals including Song and Dance and the mass Requiem, the latter written for her.[26]
Scarcely a year later, Brightman's crystalline recording of Pie Jesu rocketed up the charts, selling 25,000 copies[26] on the first day of release and peaking at number 3, no mean feat for a song in Latin. With classical music permeating the Lloyd Webber household (Brightman was in heavy operatic training at the time), Lloyd Webber was moved to write the Requiem Mass as a tribute to young victims of war. Its Manhattan premiere, starring Placido Domingo and Brightman, was filmed by both PBS and the BBC for later broadcast. The LP eventually became UK's top selling classical album of the year and earned Brightman a Grammy nomination as Best New Classical Artist."[27]
Brightman starred as Christine Daaé in Lloyd Webber's adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. The role of Christine was written specifically for her.[27] Lloyd Webber refused to open The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway unless Brightman played Christine. Initially, the American Actors' Equity Association balked, because of their policy that any non-American performer must be an international star. Lloyd Webber had to cast an American in a leading role in his next West End musical before Equity would allow Brightman to appear (a promise he kept in casting Aspects of Love). In the end, it was a compromise that more than paid off. "Phantom" chalked up a staggering $17 million in advance sales prior to opening night on 28 January 1988, and generated a public and media frenzy that is unmatched since.[28] The original cast album was the first in British musical history to enter the music charts at number one. Album sales now exceed forty million worldwide and it is the biggest selling cast album of all time, and has gone six times platinum in the US, twice platinum in the UK, nine times platinum in Germany, four times platinum in the Netherlands, 21 times platinum in Korea and 17 times platinum in Taiwan.[29]
After leaving Phantom, she performed in a tour of Lloyd Webber's music throughout England, Canada and the United States, and performed Requiem in the Soviet Union. Studio recordings from this time include the single "Anything But Lonely" from Aspects of Love and two solo albums: the 1988 album The Trees They Grow So High, a compilation of folk songs accompanied by piano, and the 1989 album The Songs That Got Away, a musical theatre compilation of songs cut from shows by composers such as Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim, also Brightman sang the song "Make Believe" at the end during the credits of the children's film "Grandpa"; Howard Blake wrote the music and lyrics.[30]
By 1990, Brightman and Lloyd Webber separated. After their divorce, Brightman played the lead in Lloyd Webber's Aspects in London opposite Michael Praed, before transferring to Broadway.[31] Her work in Aspects notwithstanding, Brightman steeled herself and set forth to find her own footing. Perhaps the most poignant declaration of independence came in the form of her second solo album from this period, an eclectic but personal collection of folk-rock songs that she had hand-picked. It was a departure from musical theatre and indeed, a departure for Webber himself. More tellingly, the album bore a most prescient title: As I Came of Age.[26]
After her very successful stage career, Brightman decided to make a fresh start and embark on a solo career. In 1992, Brightman made an appearance with José Carreras at the Barcelona Olympic Games singing the theme song "Amigos Para Siempre" ("Friends forever") to a worldwide audience of 3 billion people. Following her appearance, Brightman travelled to Germany to work with co-producer Frank Peterson of “Enigma” fame The two collaborated on the album “Dive,” released in 1993 a water-themed pop album that featured "Captain Nemo", a cover of a song by the Swedish electronica band Dive.[32] The album is considered Brightman's first success as a recording solo artist, receiving her first Gold award for exceptional sales in Canada.[33]
Brightman and Peterson’s second collaboration yielded the pop rock album, Fly (1995). The album catapulted Brightman to fame across Europe, and she unveiled its hit track “A Question of Honor” – a mélange of electronic, rock, classical strings and excerpts from the Alfredo Catalani opera “La Wally”.[34] The song and the video were introduced at the World Boxing Championship match between Germany's Henry Maske and Graciano Rocchigiani.
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"Time to Say Goodbye", taken from the album Timeless, released in 1997, was the second song Brightman debuted for Maske, this time at his retirement match. This duet with tenor Andrea Bocelli became an international hit and sold more than 3 million copies in Germany alone,[35] became Germany's best-selling single, and was successful in numerous other countries; the album eventually sold over 12 million copies worldwide. It is regarded as one of Brightman's and Bocelli's, signature songs.
In March 1998, her own PBS special, Sarah Brightman: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, marked the point when she crossed from Billboard's Top Heat seekers chart to the Billboard 200 chart, with Time to Say Goodbye.[36] The same year, Brightman starred A Gala Christmas in Vienna along side Placido Domingo, Helmut Lottie and Riccardo Cocciante singing traditional Christmas carols.[37] On 7 April 1998 she was one of the guest stars in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday Celebration singing Hossanaa with Dennis O'Neill, Pie Jesu, Phantom of the Opera with Antonio Banderas, All I Ask of You with Michael Ball and Music of the Night.[38]
With the success of Timeless, Brightman felt freer to put herself into her next endeavour. Brightman released her next album, Eden in 1998. She hand-selected each song and convinced the Academy Award-winning Italian composer Ennio Morricone to let her set lyrics to one of his film compositions, “Gabriel’s Oboe” from the film “The Mission” resulting in the now legendary “Nella Fantasia”.
The release of Eden also led to a concert tour of the same name, Brightman’s first world tour and a huge success. Eden reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Classical Crossover chart and No. 65 on the Billboard 200 charts and was certified Gold.
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Next came the album La Luna. For this album, Brightman chose songs drawing on influences as diverse as pop, vintage jazz, and high opera, in homages to Dvorak, Beethoven and Billie Holliday. La Luna also reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Top Internet Albums and peaked at No. 17, with 900.000 US sales reaching Gold.[12] In 2000 Brightman’s PBS La Luna concert, she sang There for Me in a duet with an up and coming star, Josh Groban. At the end of 2001, Billboard magazine noted Brightman as the most important classical crossover artist from the UK.[39]
In 2000, Brightman sold more records than Elton John and the Rolling Stones, becoming America's highest-selling and top touring British artist.[40]
Brightman ventured for the first time into film acting in 2000 when she was part of the cast of the German film "Zeit der Erkenntnis", based on Rosamunde Pilcher book.[41]
In 2001, Brightman released Classics, an anthology including highlights from three of Brightman's chart-topping releases along with seven new tracks; this was released worldwide except Europe. In the US the album peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard's 200 charts and promptly went Gold.[42] It reached No. 2 on Billboard's Classical Crossover charts.
Her 2003 album Harem represented another departure: a Middle Eastern-themed album influenced by dance music. On Harem, Brightman collaborated with artists such as Ofra Haza and Iraqi singer Kazem al-Saher. Nigel Kennedy contributed violin tracks to the songs "Free" and "The War is Over", and Jaz Coleman contributed arrangements.[27]
The album peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 charts,[43] No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart, No. 1 on the Swedish Album Chart, and yielded a No. 1 dance/club single with the remix of the title track. Some time later, another single from the album (the ballad "Free", cowritten with Sophie B. Hawkins) became a second Top-10 hit on this chart. A year later of the album's release, Harem was referred as a multi-million seller in EMI's annual music sales report.[44]
The albums Eden, La Luna and Harem were accompanied by live world tours which incorporated the theatricality of her stage origins. In both 2000 and 2001, Brightman was among the top 10 most popular British performers in the US, with concert sales grossing $7.2 million from 34 shows in 2000 and over $5 million from 21 shows in 2001.[45] In 2004 the Harem tour grossed $60 million and sold 800,000 tickets.[27]
Brightman released a DVD collection of her music videos on 3 October 2006 under the title of Diva: The Video Collection. The Singles Collection is the accompanying CD, released on the same date. The album marked the first time Brightman has released a greatest hits album in the United States; it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Crossover chart. Her other reflective offerings for Europe were The Very Best of 1990-2000 and Classics: The Best of Sarah Brightman.
During this time, subsequent appearances include the Concert for Diana in July 2007, where she sang "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera with Josh Groban. Around 15 million people from across the UK watched Concert for Diana at home, and it was broadcast to over 500 million homes in 140 countries; On 7 July 2007 Brightman performed four songs ("Nessun Dorma", "La Luna", "Nella Fantasia" and "Time to Say Goodbye") and debuted her single "Running" at the 2007 IAAF Championships in Osaka, Japan on 25 August.[46] She also participated at the 2007 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where she performed "The Journey Home" on the Jolly Polly Pirate Ship.[47] She recorded a duet with Anne Murray singing "Snowbird" on Murray's 2007 album Anne Murray Duets: Friends and Legends.[48]
On May 2007, Brightman was invited along with Lesley Garrett to sing at the Wembley Stadium in London the anthem " Abide With Me before the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United.[49]
At a dinner held at The Mansion House, on 10 September 2008, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales highlighted the urgent need for action to halt tropical deforestation. The Prince invited Brightman to sing at the event they hosted to engage the financial community in the task of finding a solution to the problem of making rainforests worth more alive than dead. The music performed was Nella Fantasia (used in the soundtrack of the movie The Mission) and further declared a Hymn to the rainforests.[50]
On 29 January 2008, Brightman released her first album in five years: Symphony, influenced by gothic music.[51] In the United States, it became Brightman's most successful chart entry and also her highest ranked album on Billboard's "Top 200 Albums". It was also a No. 1 album on two other Billboard's charts: "Top Internet Albums" and "Top Classical Crossover Albums". The album moved there 32,033 copies in first week,[52] according to Nielsen Soundscan. The album was a Multi-Platinum and a top 5 release in China, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Poland, and a top 20 across Europe.[53][54]
Featured on the album were artists Andrea Bocelli, Fernando Lima, and KISS vocalist Paul Stanley, who duets with Brightman on "I Will Be with You", the album version of the theme song to the 10th Pocket Monsters motion picture, Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai (Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai).[55] On 16 January 2008, she also appeared in concert at Vienna’s Stephansdom Cathedral, performing songs from her new album. Special guests who sang duets with Brightman include Italian tenor Alessandro Safina, Argentinean countertenor Fernando Lima, and British singer Chris Thompson.
She performed two songs, "Pie Jesu" and "There You'll Be", at the United States Memorial Day concert on 25 May 2008 held on the west lawn of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.. The top-rated show was broadcast live on PBS before a concert audience of 300,000 and millions more at home, as well as to American troops serving around the world on the American Forces Radio and Television Network.[56][57] Brightman made her feature film debut as Blind Mag in the rock musical film Repo! The Genetic Opera which was released on 7 November 2008.[58][59][60] Brightman was cast in the film at the last minute after the original actress who was cast for the role was dropped.[60] On 8 August 2008, Brightman was honoured to sing the Olympic theme song, "You and Me", with Chinese star Liu Huan in both Mandarin and English at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. The event appeased the already established supreme popularity and recognition of Brightman in the Asian country. The performance was broadcast to over five billion viewers. In the 26 hours after the performance, "You and Me" was downloaded 5.7 million times.[61][62]
On 4 November 2008, Brightman released her first holiday album, entitled A Winter Symphony, the album debuted at number No. 38 on the Billboard Top 200 and scored a number six in the Top Holiday Albums, being the first entry for Brightman on this chart.[63] To accompany Symphony and A Winter Symphony, Brightman embarked on a tour in Autumn 2008; "The Symphony World Tour" featured new and groundbreaking technology, with virtual and holographic stage sets that had never been seen before in any touring concert production.[64]
Following her performance at the Beijing Olympics, Brightman was appointed as the Shanghai 2010 World Expo Promotion Ambassador in Britain. In anticipation of the Expo, she launched "Shanghai Week in London", which showcases the city's heritage and culture.[65]
In response to persistent calls for a global release of the Symphony: Live in Vienna concert, EMI Music launched worldwide the PBS special which features Brightman's landmark performance at Vienna’s St. Stephen's Cathedral on 16 January 2008, in both audio and visual formats. The Symphony – Live in Vienna television special debuted on PBS in March 2008 during the network’s spring pledge drive and aired throughout the month. The album broke all-time records of sales in Taiwan and experienced success in certain Latin American markets.[66]
The music of Brightman was featured in the movie Amarufi: Megami no hôshû (international title: Amalfi: Rewards of the Goddess), which was a special production to mark Fuji Television's 50th anniversary. The first Japanese movie to be shot entirely on location in Italy. In conjunction with the release of the movie Amalfi, Brightman released only in Japan an album titled Amalfi - Sarah Brightman Love Songs which reached Gold status in the aforementioned country.[67][68]
Autumn 2009 saw Brightman starting a new concert tour called Sarah Brightman In Concert covering Latin America with 13 sold-out performances in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. The last venue of the tour, "The Concert of the Pyramid" featured Brightman performing a concert at the archaeological site of Chichen Itza, an UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.[69]
The year closed as Symphony: Live in Vienna was listed as the thirteenth best-selling album of the year in Mexico.[70] (In 2008 she also had 2 top-selling albums in the country: Symphony and A Winter Symphony in the 29 and 83 spots respectively)[71]
Given the increasing popularity of Brightman in Asia, the artist toured there in late 2010 with 5 gigs in Tokyo alone, followed by presentations on Kanazawa, Nagoya, Osaka in Japan, Macau in China and Seoul in South Korea. The singer headed to perform in private events in Canada and Ukraine as well as part of the tour.[72][73][74]
On 3 November 2010, Brightman was invited to sing at the Tōdai-ji Buddhist temple complex located in the city of Nara, Japan. The temple is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site as "Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara".[75][76] The concert was recorded and later broadcasted nationwide by TBS network.[77]
On 27 January 2011 Hunan Broadcasting System, China's second biggest television network after China Central Television (CCTV) invited Brightman to participate in their Spring Festival, analogous celebration to the New Year's celebrations in the Western countries. She sang Scarborough Fair -Brightman's evergreen song in China- and Nessun Dorma.[78] For the first time it was revealed that Brightman charges an average of US$ 150,000 for interpretation in such events as Chinese media remarked.[79] When announcing the arrival of Brightman in their country, local press took the opportunity to mention China's appreciation and gratitude for the singer by her donations for the development of that area of China after the Wenchuan earthquake.[80]
Her popularity continues to rise remarkably in Asia, with high profile appearances and sales. Brightman was South Korea's best-selling international artist of 2010 with her album Diva: The Singles Collection charting the almost the whole year in the No. 1 spot ahead Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, Eminem, among others. The album was released in 2006, but charted again in both 2009 and 2010 when Brightman toured there with the Symphony World Tour and Sarah Brightman In Concert With Orchestra. Diva was certified Double Platinum in South Korea. Also, her digital single "Nella Fantasia" has sold 2 million copies in the country.[81]
In Argentina she dominates the charts and holds with her albums the #1,#2,#3,#4,#7,#8 and No. 11 positions on the country's top 20's list of the best-selling classical records of the year.[82]
While receiving the UNESCO Artist for Peace Award, Brightman announced that she is recording a new studio album set for a late 2012 release and will embark on another World Tour in 2013.
Since January 2010, Brightman is Panasonic's global Brand Ambassador. Together they launched the song "Shall Be Done" at Panasonic's Olympic Pavilion at Live City Yaletown, the official celebration site of the 2010 Winter Games held in Vancouver, Canada. The lyrics of the song express Panasonic's vision for the next generation as well as Brightman's vision, infusing the spirit of 'ideas for life' of contribution for a sustainable society. The song has been used in a wide range of global promotional activities including stores, advertising, exhibitions and other events.
On February 8, 2012 Brightman accepted the UNESCO nomination to be an “Artist For Peace” Ambassador.[83] Additionally, she is actively engaged in Panasonic's UNESCO World Heritage Centre endeavors, and stars in their The World Heritage Special campaign.
Back in the United States she appeared on America's Got Talent's on September 2010 finale episode before that season's winner was revealed. Brightman was the celebrity guest duetting with ten year old contestant Jackie Evancho. [84]
On October 1 & 2 2011, she made a special appearance during the finale of The Phantom of the Opera at The Albert Hall; a fully staged production performed at the famous London venue - marking 25 years since the musical received its world premiere. Introduced as his "Angel of Music" by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Brightman performed the title song backed by five past, present and future Phantoms. The production front of an audience of 5,500 was broadcast live into cinemas around the globe including in the U.S, around Europe, Canada, Japan and Australia.[85]
Sarah Brightman has received over 180 Gold and Platinum sales awards in over 40 different countries around the world including United States, Australia, Japan, UK, China, Mexico, Canada and Germany.[86]
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Andrea Bocelli OMRI OMDSM |
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Bocelli rehearsing for his Under the Desert Sky concert in Lake Las Vegas, 2006 |
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Background information | |
Born | Pisa, Toscana, Italy |
22 September 1958
Genres | Adult contemporary, classical, easy listening, Latin pop, opera, operatic pop, pop, vocal |
Occupations | Musician, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist |
Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, harp, harmonica, guitar, drums, melodica |
Years active | 1992–present |
Labels | Universal, Philips, PolyGram, Decca, Sugar |
Website | Andrea Bocelli |
Andrea Bocelli, OMRI, OMDSM (Italian pronunciation: [anˈdrɛːa boˈtʃɛlli]; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist.[1][2][3] Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a football accident.[4][5]
Since winning the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival in 1994,[6] Bocelli has recorded thirteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, two greatest hits albums, and eight complete operas, selling over 75 million records worldwide.[7][8][9][10] Thus, he is the biggest-selling solo artist in the history of classical music and has caused core classical repertoire to "cross over" to the top of international pop charts and into previously uncharted territory in popular culture.[1][11][12][13][14][15]
In 1998, he was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.[4] In 1999, his nomination for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards marked the first, and so far only time a classical artist had been nominated in the category, since Leontyne Price, in 1961.[1][16] The Prayer, his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film The Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.[1][16] With the release of his classical album, Sacred Arias, Bocelli captured a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, as he simultaneously held the top 3 positions on the US classical albums charts.[1][16] Six of his albums have since reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200,[17] and a record-setting 8, have topped the classical albums charts in the United States.[18][19]
With 5 million units sold worldwide,[20] Sacred Arias became the biggest-selling classical album by a solo artist of all time,[1][16] and with over 20 million copies sold worldwide,[20][21] his 1997 pop album, Romanza, became the best-selling album by an Italian artist of any genre in history,[20] as well as the best-selling album by a foreign artist in Canada,[22][23][24] and a number of other countries in Europe and Latin America.[16] The album's first single, "Time to Say Goodbye", topped charts all across Europe, including Germany, where it stayed at the top of the charts for fourteen consecutive weeks, breaking the all-time sales record, with over 3 million copies sold in the country.[1][16] The single went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.[21][25][26]
Widely regarded as both the most popular Italian and classical singer in the world,[27] Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006,[28][29] and on March 2, 2010, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Live Theater.[30][31]
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Bocelli was born in 1958 to Alessandro and Edi Bocelli. They lived on the family farm, selling farm machinery and making wine in the small village of La Sterza, a frazione of Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy, which is about 40 km south of Pisa. Bocelli's mother and younger brother Alberto still live in the family home. Bocelli's father died in 2000.
As a young boy, Bocelli showed a great passion for music. His mother has said that music was the only thing that would comfort him. At the age of six, he started piano lessons, and later also learned to play the flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, harp, guitar and drums.
Bocelli would also spend time singing during his childhood.[32] At the age of 14 he won his first song competition, the Margherita d'Oro in Viareggio with O sole mio.[32]
After finishing secondary school in 1980, he studied law at the University of Pisa.[32] To earn money Bocelli performed evenings in piano bars. He completed law school and spent one year as a court-appointed lawyer. It was there, in 1987, that he met his future wife, Enrica.
It was evident at birth that Bocelli had problems with his sight, and after visits to many doctors, he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma. In 1970, at the age of 12, he lost his sight completely following an accident during a football game.[4][5] He was accidentally hit on the head during a match and suffered a brain haemorrhage. Doctors resorted to leeches in a desperate last-ditch effort to save his sight, but they were unsuccessful, and he remained blind.[33]
In 1992, Italian rock star Zucchero held auditions for tenors to make a demo tape with of the song Miserere from his album of the same name, to send to Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti. After hearing Bocelli on tape, Pavarotti urged Zucchero to use Bocelli instead of him. The demo tape was from Caterina Caselli, who had discovered Bocelli. Caselli is Bocelli's current manager and producer.
Zucchero eventually persuaded Pavarotti to record the song with him, and it became a hit throughout Europe. In Zucchero's European concert tour in 1993, it was Bocelli who accompanied him to sing the duet, and he was also given solo sets in the concerts, singing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot.[34] Bocelli signed with the Sugar Music label in Milan after the group's president heard Bocelli sing Miserere and "Nessun Dorma" at a birthday party for Zucchero.
In December Bocelli entered the preliminary round of the Sanremo Music Festival in the category of Giovani, performing both parts of the duet Miserere. He won the preliminary competition with the highest marks ever recorded in the Newcomers section. On 28 December, he debuted in the classical world in a concert at the Teatro Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilia.[34]
In February 1994 he entered the main Sanremo Festival competition with "Il mare calmo della sera", and he won the "Newcomers" section, again with a record score. His debut album, of the same name, was released and immediately entered the Italian Top Ten, going platinum within weeks.[34]
In May he toured with Italian pop singer Gerardina Trovato.[34] In September he sang at Pavarotti's annual Charity Gala concert, Pavarotti International in Modena, where he sang Ruggiero Leoncavallo's "Mattinata" and sang a duet with Pavarotti, Maurizio Morante's Notte e Piscatore. He also sang "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata in the finale, along with Nancy Gustafson, Giorgia, Andreas Vollenweider and Bryan Adams; and also Adams' song All for Love.[34]
In September he made his opera debut as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa.[35] Bocelli had been an agnostic, but around 1994, partly as a result of immersing himself in the works of Tolstoy, he returned to the practice of the Catholic faith.[36] He performed the hymn, "Adeste Fideles" in Rome before Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica at Christmas.[34]
As winner of the 1994 Newcomers section at the Sanremo Festival, he was invited to return the following year, entering the main competition with "Con te partirò" and finishing in fourth place.[37]
The song was included in his album Bocelli which was produced by Mauro Malavasi and released in the spring. His third album, Viaggio Italiano, was released in autumn.[37] Bocelli sang "Miserere" and "Funiculì, Funiculà" with guitarist John Miles.[37] In Belgium, "Con te partirò" became the best-selling single of all time.[38]
In 1996, Bocelli was invited to sing a duet with English soprano Sarah Brightman at the final bout of German IBF World Light-Heavyweight boxing champion Henry Maske. Brightman, a friend of Maske, approached Bocelli after she heard him singing "Con te partirò" whilst she was dining in a restaurant. Changing the title lyric of the song to "Time to Say Goodbye", they re-recorded it as a duet with members of the London Symphony Orchestra and sang it as a farewell for Maske. The single debuted atop the German charts, where it stayed for fourteen weeks. With sales nearing three million copies, and a sextuple platinum award, "Time to Say Goodbye" eclipsed the previous best-selling single by more than one million copies.[37] He topped the Spanish singles chart in 1996 with a duet with Marta Sanchez, "Vivo Por Ella", the Spanish version of "Vivo per lei", recorded with Giorgia for the Romanza album. He also recorded a Portuguese version of the song with Sandy Leah.
The same year, Bocelli recorded "Je vis pour elle", the French version of "Vivo per lei", as a duet with French singer Hélène Ségara. Released in December 1997, the song became a hit in Belgium (Wallonia) and France, where it reached #1 on the charts. To date, it is the best-selling single for Ségara, and the second for Bocelli after "Time to Say Goodbye". On 3 March he appeared in Hamburg, Germany, with Sarah Brightman to receive the ECHO music award for "Best Single of the Year".[37]
In August, Bocelli appeared at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Italy, and then at the World Youth Festival in Paris, where he again sang in the presence of the Pope. In the summer, he gave 22 open air concerts in Germany, as well as an indoor concert in Oberhausen on 31 August. In September he performed in concert at the Piazza dei Cavalieri in Pisa for the home video A Night in Tuscany (Italian: una notte nella Toscana) with guests Nuccia Focile, Sarah Brightman and Zucchero. The concert was also Bocelli's first concert to air on PBS. On 14 September in Munich, Germany, he received an ECHO Klassik "Best seller of the year" award for his album, Viaggio Italiano.[37][39]
Back in Italy in Bologna on 27 September, he yet again sang before the Pope at the International Eucharistic Congress. On 19 October, he sang at the TeleFood benefit concert held in the Vatican City, and organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization to raise awareness about world hunger. On 25 October he received a Bambi award, an annual television and media prize awarded by the German media company Hubert Burda Media, in the Klassik category in Cologne, Germany.[37]
Bocelli made his debut in a major operatic role in 1998 when he played Rodolfo in a production of La bohème at the Teatro Comunale in Cagliari from 18 February to 25 February. His fifth album Aria - The Opera Album was released in March.[40] On 19 April Bocelli entered the United States (US) market with a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., followed the next day by a reception at the White House with then US President Bill Clinton.[40] On 5 May, he appeared in Monte Carlo, winning two World Music Awards, one in the category "Best Italian Singer", and one for "Best Classical Interpretation".[40][41] He was also named one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people of 1998.[4]
In June, July, and August, he toured North and South America. Bocelli's final concert of the tour which was also his debut at Madison Square Garden on August 6, 1998, was sold out. In September, he received his next Echo Klassik award, this time for "Best selling classical album" with Aria - the opera album.[40] On Thanksgiving Eve Bocelli appeared as a guest on Céline Dion's Television special These Are Special Times in which he joined Dion with their hit The Prayer from Dion's album These Are Special Times and he also sang Ave Maria solo. Dion introduced him by saying, "I heard someone say – If God had a singing voice, he would sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli." As a result of his appearance on the show, his popularity in the US further increased.[40] Dion's album containing The Prayer was released in 1998 and re-issued with the DVD of the TV special in 2007. The song appeared on the Quest for Camelot soundtrack in 1998 and on Bocelli's album, Sogno, the following year.
At the New Year, he performed two concerts at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas. The hotel used Con te partirò in its advertisements, further increasing his popularity in the US.[40] He also performed the first Internet live-opera broadcast in its entirety from the Detroit Opera House, with Denyce Graves.[citation needed] At the 56th Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on 24 January, The Prayer won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from the film Quest for Camelot.[42] At the 41st Grammy Awards ceremony held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on 24 February, Bocelli was nominated in the Best New Artist category which was won by Lauryn Hill. Bocelli and Dion received a standing ovation after singing The Prayer.[42] The song was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and performed by Bocelli and Dion at the ceremony held at the Los Angeles Music Center on 21 March.[42]
From 11 April to 24 April, he toured the West coast of North America from San Diego to Vancouver, with a final performance before over 18,000 spectators at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Actress Elizabeth Taylor stood by his side on the stage during the encore, while he sang The Prayer.[42]
At the invitation of Steven Spielberg, Bocelli sang in Los Angeles on 15 May before Bill Clinton at an event on behalf of the Democratic Party. At the end of May he toured Portugal and Spain and sang with the Portuguese Fado singer Dulce Pontes. On 27 June he took part in the Michael Jackson benefit concert for suffering children in Munich's Olympic Stadium.[42]
From 10 July to 27 August, he appeared in a guest role at seven performances of The Merry Widow at the Verona Arena in Rome.[35][42] As the "Tenor Conte Andrea" he performed three arias: "La donna è mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto; "Tu, che m' hai preso il cuor" from Franz Lehár's Land des Laechelns and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from Verdi's La traviata, again receiving standing ovations.[42]
On 10 September, together with soprano Daniela Dessi and two Polish singers, he performed at the Great Theatre of Łódź in Poland. From 7 October to 19 November, he made his United States operatic debut in Jules Massenet's Werther at the Detroit Opera House with the Michigan Opera Theater.[35] He was cheered by the audiences, but criticized by the press.[42]
He also performed at Rodeo Drive in Hollywood and gave further concerts in Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago, and made an appearance on Jay Leno's first installment of The Tonight Show. Then Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani gave him the Crystal Apple, a gift to celebrated personalities from New York City. His seventh album Sacred Arias, which contains exclusively sacred music, was released worldwide on 8 November, and two weeks later reached first place in the US Classic Billboard charts – making Bocelli the first vocalist to hold all top three places on the chart, with Aria, the opera album in second place, and Viaggio Italiano in third place. The album also included the hymn of the Holy Year 2000 which was chosen as the official version by the Vatican in October.[42] To promote "Sacred Arias", Bocelli recorded his second PBS concert of the same name at the Roman church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, in Rome, in 1999, with an orchestra conducted by Myung-whun Chung, singing most of the songs from the album. The special was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program during the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
Immediately after his return to Italy, Bocelli sang in Florence at a meeting of the centre-left Heads of State. Invited by Queen Elizabeth II, he performed at the annual Royal Variety Performance in Birmingham, UK, on 29 November. On 30 November, his book La musica del silenzio, an autobiographical novel, was released in Italy.[42]
From 12 December to 21 December he performed six concerts in Barcelona, Strasbourg, Lisbon, Zagreb, Budapest and Messina, directed by Lorin Maazel, some of which were broadcast on local television. He also performed on German television; Wetten, dass..? on 11 December and the José Carreras Gala in Leipzig on 17 December. On 31 December, he finished a marathon twenty-four concerts in thirty days, with a concert at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New York in front of 8,000 people, welcoming in the new millennium.[42]
At the 42nd Grammy Awards on 23 February, Bocelli was nominated twice. The Prayer was nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Bocelli performed it with Dion at the ceremony. His "World Tour 2000" started on 31 March. In May his Sacred Arias album was voted album of the year by listeners of the Classic FM radio station in the UK. His world tour continued from 12 May to 14 May with four concerts in Japan and South Korea. At the end of the UEFA European Football Championship he performed with Valery Gergiev and Renée Fleming at a concert on the River Maas in Rotterdam. On 6 July he performed at the Statue of Liberty in New York City for his third PBS special. The concert was a dedication to his father, who died in the beginning of 2000. He was accompanied by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Steven Mercurio with special guest Soprano Ana Maria Martinez and a surprise appearance by Sarah Brightman to sing with Bocelli on "Time To Say Goodbye." For the final encore he dedicated "Sogno" to his late Father. On 17 August, he performed in Giuseppi Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the Verona Arena in Rome. His seventh album Verdi was released on 11 September. In September he also performed three concerts in Australia. He received another Echo Klassik award for "Bestseller of the year" for Sacred Arias. In November his first complete opera recording, La Bohème was released. In December he received another award in Germany, the Goldene Europa for classical music.[43]
In January 2001, Bocelli portrayed the main character in Pietro Mascagni's opera L'amico Fritz at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona and again performed the tenor part in Verdi's Requiem. On 19 March the Requiem album was released with Bocelli as tenor. From 22 March to 6 April he toured North America accompanied by Cecilia Gasdia and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. On 17 June he performed at the re-opening of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In July he performed two concerts in Dublin with Ana María Martínez and the New Symphony Orchestra. At the Scuola Grande di San Rocco in Venice on 4 October he presented his new album Cieli di Toscana and was recognised for having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. In October he opened the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sicilian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini in Catania. On 28 October, he sang Franz Schubert's Ellens dritter Gesang as a representative of the Roman Catholic faith, during a memorial concert at Ground Zero in New York City for the victims of the September 11 attacks there. In November he received the Platinum Europe Award for one million sales of the album Cieli di Toscana, and at the Italian Music Awards he was given a special award from the Federation of the Italian Music Industry for his merits as an "Ambassador of Italian music in the world". He performed seven more concerts in the US accompanied by Ana María Martínez, and on 23 December, in front of the President of Italy and other guests of honour, he sang the Italian national anthem as well as works of Bellini and Verdi at the traditional Christmas concert in the Italian Senate, which was broadcast live on television for the first time.[44]
In Berlin on 5 February he received a Goldene Kamera award in the "Music & Entertainment" category. On 6 March he received two World Music Awards in Monte Carlo: "World best selling classical artist" and "Best selling Italian artist". On 11 March, he gave a concert for peace at the Basilica di San Marco a Venezia in Venice, accompanied by the orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice and conducted by Lorin Maazel. On 15 March he took part in the opening of Walt Disney Studios Park in Marne-la-Vallée France. On 7 May Bocelli and Tony Renis received a Telegatto Italian Television award for the soundtrack of the series Cuore. On 23 May he received the 2002 Classical BRIT Award for "Outstanding Contribution to Music".[45] On 27 May he performed at the Villa Madama in Rome in front of US president George W. Bush and Italian president Silvio Berlusconi. On 28 May he took part in "Pavarotti & Friends" charity concert in Modena in aid of Angola. In June he again toured the US, then on 26 July and 3 August he portrayed Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at the 48th Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago. On 14 October he and Lorin Maazel presented his new album Sentimento to a worldwide audience. Further presentations took place in Milan and New York, and the album was released on 4 November, selling over two million copies in 40 days. On 24 October he started his Sentimento tour in Zürich which took in large arenas in several European and North American cities.[46]
In February 2003, Bocelli performed Madama Butterfly in an exclusive Monte Carlo concert, which was attended by Caroline, Princess of Hanover. In March for the first time he appeared as a producer, at the Sanremo Festival, where the young artists Allunati and Jacqueline Ferry sang for his new record label, Clacksong.[47] In May his second complete opera, Tosca, was released. At a private benefit gala for the Royal National Institute of Blind People, Bocelli sang in front of the British Royal Family.[47] A day later he received two awards for Sentimento at the 2003 Classical BRIT Award held at the Royal Albert Hall in London – "Best selling classical album" and "Album of the year".[48] On 24 May he performed in a benefit concert for the Arpa Foundation for Film, Music and Art in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, with sopranos Maria Luigia Borsi and Lucia Dessanti, baritone Soo Kyung Ahn, and violinist Ruth Rogers, accompanied by Marcello Rota and the Orchestra Città di Pisa. Three days later he was again invited to perform at "Pavarotti & Friends" in Modena and sang a medley of Neapolitan songs together with Pavarotti. In June he continued his Sentimento tour in Athens and Cyprus. In September he took part in a concert for the Justice ministers and Interior ministers of the European Union at the Parco della Musica in Rome. He then resumed his tour, accompanied by Maria Luigia Borsi, Ruth Rogers and Marcello Rota.[47]
Bocelli won the "Favourite Specialist Performer" award at the UK National Music Awards in October 2003.[49] In November he once again toured in the United States, this time accompanied by Ana Maria Martinez, Kallen Esperian and Steven Mercurio. In December he gave his first concert in China and at the end of the month, sang Gounod's Ave Maria at Pavarotti's wedding in Modena.[47]
In Bologna in January he performed as Werther in four performances of the opera of the same name. In April and May he toured Asia again, visiting Manila, Hong Kong and Singapore. In May he took part in a concert at Circo Massimo in Rome organised by Quincy Jones to launch the "We are the Future" project. In June his third complete opera Il trovatore was released. In July he played the part of Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca at the 50th Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, and he took part in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) global campaign for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.[50]
In September he performed his "Once in a Lifetime" tour in Australia with concerts in Sydney and Melbourne and one concert in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he was joined on stage by New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra.[51]
On 15 October he performed at the People Conference Hall in Beijing, China, and on 17 October at the Great Hall in Shanghai.[52]
During early 2005 Bocelli was on tour including performances in Madeira, Hungary, Norway, US, UK, Italy and Germany.[53] He also appeared in Sesame Street singing "Time to Say Goodnight" a parody of Time to Say Goodbye as a lullaby to Elmo.[54] On 21 March he performed on the Music for Asia benefit concert in Rome, televised on Italia 1, in aid of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake appeal.[55]
In June he performed at the Deutsche Opera in Berlin. On 2 July he performed at the Paris concert as part of the Live 8 event. Also during the second part of the year, he performed in Croatia, Serbia, Italy, the US, Dubai, Switzerland and finally in Scandinavia.[53] On 28 August he performed at the Faenol Festival held in Vaynol, Wales and organised by Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel.[55] In December his first contemporary music concert took place at a Lake Las Vegas village resort in Nevada, US, which was recorded for PBS and released as the Under the Desert Sky DVD. He also took part in the Royal Christmas Show, which took place in several cities in the US in December. The album Werther was released in December. During 2005 he was invited by Pope Benedict XVI, George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth II to perform at special events.[53]
On 18 February he sang at the Toyota Center in Houston during the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2006 All-Star Weekend, and broadcast live on the TNT Cable television network.[56]
On 26 February Bocelli sang "Because We Believe" from his Amore album in the Carnevale section of the closing ceremony of the Torino Olympics with a worldwide television audience.[29] He also began another tour with a concert at the Piazza di Castello in Turin.[57] In March he was honoured by the Italian state with a Grande Ufficiale Italian Order of Merit (Grand Officer of the Italian Republic), given to him by then President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi for his worldwide work for his country as a singer. The award was presented to him at the Sanremo Festival where he performed a duet with American singer Christina Aguilera on 4 March.[28][29] From 31 March to 2 April he took part in the Maggio Musicale in Florence where he sang the Canto di pace (Canto of peace) by Marco Tutino[58] and the tenor part from Gioachino Rossini's Messa di Gloria and in Naples where he took part in Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle.[29][57]
In April 2006, he featured as a guest coach on American Idol helping the finalists sing the week's themed songs, "Greatest Love Songs." He also performed on that week's results show.[59] American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee performed at three of Bocelli's concerts in California from 9 June to 11 June singing duets of Somos Novios and The Prayer with Bocelli. They also performed on 'J. C. Penney Jam: The Concert for America's Kids[60] and recorded duet versions of Somos Novios for the resulting album, and also Can't Help Falling in Love on the CD of the Under the Desert Sky DVD.
In June he sang the Italian duet version of "Because We Believe", "Ama, credi e vai", with Gianna Nannini at the "großen Fan Party" at the opening of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in Berlin in front of billions of worldwide television viewers.
On 1 July 2007, Bocelli performed "The Music of the Night" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in a special musicals medley during the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London, England.[61] Bocelli returned to his home town for a triumphant concert at the newly created Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico on 5 July 2007, with guest appearance by Kenny G, Heather Headley, Lang Lang, Elisa, Sarah Brightman and Laura Pausini. The concert was later released as Vivere Live in Tuscany. In September he debuted at the Avery Fisher Hall, in New York, with four concerts. October saw the release of the opera album of Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with Bocelli singing the role of Canio. In November he won the "Best Italian Artist" and "World's Best-selling Classical Artist" awards at the World Music Awards. In December he finished his 2006 tour with more concerts in North America and Europe.[29]
Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's duet version of "Con te partirò" was used in the 2007 film Blades of Glory, as an ice skating song. K-1 mixed martial arts fighter, Akiyama Yoshihiro started using "Con te partirò" as his ring entrance music. On 8 September Bocelli sang an arrangement of Mozart's Ave verum corpus at the funeral of Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, Italy.
On 21 October 2007, he sang "Con te partirò" with Katherine Jenkins on the UK television series Strictly Come Dancing results show, and on 30 October, he sang "The Prayer" with Céline Dion during an ITV Special An Audience with Céline Dion. The show was broadcast on 23 December. Alongside fellow Italian singer Laura Pausini, he sang Vive Ya during the 2007 Latin Grammy Awards. The song, originally released in 1997 as a duet in Italian between Bocelli and Italian singer-songwriter Trovatto on Bocelli's Romanza, was also released in English on his 2007 album, The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere, as Dare to Live. The album, Vivere, sold over 3 million copies.
On 20 January 2008, Bocelli received the Italian TV award Telegatto in platinum for Italian music in the world, in Rome. He sang "La voce del silenzio" – "The voice of silence" – and "Dare to Live" during the ceremony.[62]
To promote the album, he performed "Canto della Terra" at The Alan Titchmarsh Show on the BBC in London on 1 February; was interviewed by Fabio Fazio on the Italian talk show Che tempo che fa on RAI 3 in Italy; and performed "Canto della terra", "A te" and "Besame mucho" from the album, as well as "My way" on 2 February; and made an appearance on The South Bank Show in London, where he sang the French aria "Pour mon âme" on 3 February. Then on 10 February, he performed "The Prayer" at the 50th Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles, with Josh Groban in a tribute to Luciano Pavarotti, and sang "Dare to live" with Heather Headley the following day on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[62]
In April he toured in Asia with performances in Tokyo, Taichung, Taiwan, and Seoul. Each concert was attended by over 15,000 people.[63]
On 7 May 2008, he sang at Steel Aréna in Košice, Slovakia, in front of 8,000 people.[64] Then 13 May he sang at the "Teatro delle Muse" in Ancona, Italy, for a charity concert for "Francesca Rava – N.P.H. Italia Onlus", a foundation that helps poor and disabled children around the world.[64]
On 23 May 2008 he sang The Prayer with Katharine McPhee in a Las Vegas tribute concert for Canadian producer and songwriter David Foster. Bocelli later praised Filipina teen-aged singer Charice, whom he had first heard perform at that concert.[65][66]
On 2 June 2008 he performed at the Piazza del Duomo, Milan in front of 80,000 people during a concert celebrating the anniversary of the Republic of Italy's formation.[64]
From June 17 to June 28, Bocelli played the role of Don José on stage, opposite Hungarian mezzo-soprano Ildiko Komlosi as Carmen, in Georges Bizet's opera at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, in Rome, for four nights.[67][68][69] Bocelli released the complete opera recording of Carmen in Italy in the same year, which he recorded in 2005. Myung-whun Chung conducted the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Chœur de Radio France for the recording, and Welsh Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, was part of the Ensemble.[70] The recording was not released internationally, until March 2010.[71] Carmen: Duets & Arias, a single-disc collection of some of the arias and duets of the recording, was also released in 2010.[72]
On 20 July, Bocelli held his third concert at the Teatro del Silenzio in Lajatico, his hometown. The concert was a tribute to the cinema of Italy. Its performers included Italian composer and musician Nicola Piovani, Italian ballet dancer Roberto Bolle, Israeli singer Noa, and Charice.[73] Then on 31 July, he performed at a concert in Vingis Park in Vilnius, Lithuania, in front of more than 18,000 people.[74] Australian singer Tina Arena performed two duets with Bocelli – "Canto Della Terra" and "The Prayer" – at the closing stages of the concert.[75]
On 7 August 2008, he held a benefit concert at Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina, and was accompanied by Czech National Symphony Orchestra.[74] Then, during the rest of August, he was on tour in Australia and New Zealand—for the third time—with performances at Vector Arena, Auckland, on the 20th; Entertainment Centre, Brisbane on the 22nd; Acer Arena, Sydney, on the 24th, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, on the 27th; and Burswood Dome, Perth, on the 30th. His fiancée and both of his sons accompanied him on the tour.[74] Tina Arena performed again with him in all 5 concerts during the tour.[76]
On 26 September 2008, during the 2008 Veneto Festival, he held a concert in the Church of the Eremitani in Padova, Italy, in front of about 1000 people. He was accompanied by the I Solisti Veneti orchestra, celebrating its 50th birthday and conducted by Claudio Scimone, and by the Wiener Singakademie choir. The concert was a celebration of Giacomo Puccini's 150th birthday.[77]
On 10 October and 11 he performed at Petra, singing "Dare to live" with Laura Pausini, as well as performing E Lucevan le Stelle from Tosca. On 19 October he sang "O Surdato 'Nnamurato" and a duet of "Non Ti Scordar Di Me" with Cecilia Bartoli, both from the Incanto album, during the ECHO Awards in Germany; and later presented the soprano with an ECHO award. On 24 October, he performed at Piazza del Plebiscito in Naples, as a tribute to the city, where he celebrated the Italian release of Incanto. Performing with him were flautist Andrea Griminelli, Italian pop singer Massimo Ranieri and soprano Cecilia Bartoli, with Steven Mercurio conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.[78] On 31 October, he performed a solo version of "The Prayer", as well as "Because", a song from Incanto, live on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[79]
On 21 November and 22, Bocelli was amongst a quartet of soloists (soprano Sabina Cvilak, mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich and bass Alexander Vinogradov) to sing Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, conducted by Plácido Domingo, at the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C.[80] Bocelli sang twice in the piece and later the two famous tenors sang The Pearl Fishers duet which would be the first aria they had ever sang together.[81] On 25 November and 26 he starred alongside soprano Verónica Villarroel in an opera in concert of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana at the "Municipal Auditorium" in San Antonio, Texas.[81] He later held a concert at "Atrio de la Catedral" in Campeche, Mexico, on 28 November, where he sang songs from Incanto as well as some of his Spanish hits, including Besame Mucho, Somos Novios, Amapola and Por ti Volare – the Spanish version of Con te Partiro.[81]
On May 27, 2009, Bocelli sang "Il Gladiatore", from the Gladiator soundtrack, followed by the UEFA Champions League Anthem, which is based on "Zadok the Priest" by G.F. Handel, during the opening ceremony of the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final, in the Stadio Olimpico, in Rome.
On November 3, My Christmas, his first Holiday album, produced by David Foster, was released and went on to become the best-selling Holiday album of the year.
The Andrea Bocelli & David Foster Christmas Special, the PBS special of the album, first aired on Thanksgiving night in the United States, and continued to be broadcast in the United States and Canada throughout the month of December. In late November, the program was broadcast in Mexico and in the UK; it later aired, December 15 and 25, on Italia 1, in Italy, December 19, on TVE2 and TROS, in Spain and the Netherlands, and Christmas Eve, on vtm and RTL-TVI, in Belgium and Luxembourg.
On November 3, during the World Premiere of Disney's A Christmas Carol, in Leicester Square, London, following the switching on of the annual Oxford Street and Regent Street Christmas lights, Bocelli led the St Paul's Cathedral Choir, and more than 14,000 people across the capital, as they broke the Official Guinness World Record for the biggest ever Christmas Carol sing-along, singing "Silent Night". He completed his performance in Leicester Square with, "God Bless Us Everyone", the closing song of the movie, which he provided the vocals for in English, Italian and Spanish.[82][83] He returned to the United Kingdom, December 16, for an appearance on The One Show, broadcast live by BBC One, and on The Alan Titchmarsh Show which aired December 18, on ITV1.
On November 21, a segment of Leute Heute, a German tabloid-program on ZDF, was about My Christmas and Bocelli's meeting in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI and 250 other artists, an event which was broadcasted live earlier that day in Italy, by Rai Uno. Bocelli was also joined by the Piccolo Coro dell'Antoniano, in his home in Forte dei Marmi, where they sang "Caro Gesù Bambino", a song from My Christmas which was originally recorded by the choir in 1960. Rai Uno also broadcast the performance later that day, during the Zecchino d'Oro Festival. The following day, Bocelli was among Fabio Fazio's guests, on his popular Italian talk-show, Che tempo che fa, broadcast on Rai Tre. During the program Bocelli talked about his album and performed "The Lord's Prayer", "White Christmas", and "Silent Night". It was also announced that Bocelli would return to the show on December 20 and give a live concert of My Christmas. Bocelli also took part in the annual 2009 José Carreras Gala, on December 17, where he sang Adeste Fideles, before singing "White Christmas" with José Carreras for the very first time; this was broadcast live, by Das Erste, in Germany. He then returning to Italy, for a concert in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, on December 19, which was broadcast directly after the Urbi et Orbi blessing of Pope Benedict XVI, December 25, on Rai Uno.
In North America, Bocelli gave 6 concerts. On November 28, he performed in the BankAtlantic Center, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He later performed in the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto, Canada, in the Izod Center, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the William Saroyan Theatre, in Fresno, California (changed from the much larger Save Mart Center due to scheduling conflicts), in the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, and finally in the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California, on December 3, 5, 8, 12, and 13. His last three arena concerts alone grossed a total of over 5,6 million dollars, placing him third on Billboard Magazine's week's Hot Tours ranking, behind the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Il Divo, who both held over 5 times more concerts worldwide, compared to Bocelli's three in the United States, explaining their better showings.[84]
In the United States, Bocelli made a number of high profile TV appearances. He first performed "White Christmas" at the 83rd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast live on NBC, November 26. He performed the song again on November 30 during The Today Show also live. His appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show during her Holiday Music Extravaganza, where he sang "What Child Is This", with Mary J. Blige, and later closed the show with Adeste Fideles, was also aired the same day, and was later rebroadcast on December 23. Bocelli also sang "Adeste Fideles" and was interviewed by Barbara Walters and Joy Behar on The View, which aired December 2, on ABC. On December 8, he performed "Jingle Bells" with The Muppets on NBC's The Jay Leno Show. He also performed a number of songs from the album, including "The Christmas Song" with Natalie Cole, during a dinner at David Foster's mansion in Malibu, which was featured on The Dr. Phil Show, on December 10. Bocelli also performed "White Christmas" and "Silent Night", on the Larry King Live and Fox & Friends holiday-specials, broadcast December 23, on CNN, and December 19, 24 and 25, on Fox News.
In Brasil, following the success of the South American leg of the Incanto tour, were over 100,000 people attended his free concert at the São Paulo's "Parque Indipendencia", earlier in the year,[85] it was announced that Bocelli would hold another Open-Air, entrance free, concert in Florianópolis, on December 28, where a crowd of about a million people was expected to attend. However, due to financial and political reasons, the concert was later canceled on short notice, along with all the other events scheduled for Christmas in the city.
On January 31, 2010, during the 52nd Grammy Awards, Bocelli, Mary J. Blige and David Foster joined forces again, singing "Bridge over Troubled Water" to raise awareness for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.[86][87][88] The three had previously made an appearance on CNN's Larry King Live, January 28, 2010, to announce the performance.[88][89]
On March 2, he was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Live Theater, at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Roosevelt Hotel.[30][31] The previous day, Bocelli, along with David Foster, were honored by L.A. Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest during a ceremony at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood, where "The Story Behind The Voice", a documentary about Bocelli's life and career was shown.[90][91]
On March 12, Bocelli made an appearance on Skavlan, in Oslo, Norway, to promote his upcoming Scandinavian tour, giving a rare interview to the show's host Fredrik Skavlan, and later performing "Voglio Vivere Cosi", from his 2008 album Incanto, with Norwegian Boys' choir, Sølvguttene.[88][92]
In April, he returned to Scandinavia, for a concert in Telenor Arena, in Oslo, Norway, on April 8, a concert in Forum Copenhagen, in Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 9, and finally a concert in the Ericsson Globe, in Stockholm, Sweden, on April 11. He was joined by Tony Award winner Heather Headley and 120 musicians from the Stockholm Concert Orchestra, in all three concerts, and by Swedish mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman in his Swedish concert.[93][94][95]
On April 30, Bocelli sang "Nessun Dorma" during the opening ceremony of the Expo 2010, in Shanghai, China, in front of twenty heads of state and government, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.[96][97][98] The following day, on May 1, he held a concert, titled Charming China, at Shanghai Stadium, in front of an audience of 80,000 people, along with Chinese singers Song Zuying and Jay Chou, and Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang; the China Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied them under the direction of its artistic director Yu Long.[99][100] The concert was later broadcasted by Shanghai TV, and by CCTV channels throughout mainland China.
The two appearances coincided with Bocelli's Asian tour, consisting of a concert in Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, on April 28,[101][102][103] a concert in Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea, on May 2,[104] a concert in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Hong Kong, on May 4,[105][106] a concert in Taipei Arena, Taipei, Taiwan, on May 6,[105][106] and finally a free concert, organized by the YTL Corporation, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, in Singapore, on May 8, attended by over 12,000 people, picked via public ballot, as well as prominent figures in the region, such as, the president of Singapore, S. R. Nathan and his wife, Malaysian billionaire and founder of the YTL Corporation, Yeoh Tiong Lay and his eldest son Francis Yeoh, actress Michelle Yeoh, and founder of Jimmy Choo Ltd, Jimmy Choo.[107][108][109] The concert was later broadcasted, in its entirety, by Channel NewsAsia, on May 28 and 29, and by Okto, on May 30, in Singapore. An orchid in the Botanic Gardens' National Orchid Garden was also named after Bocelli in response to the concert.[110] Australian pop singer Delta Goodrem performed again with Bocelli in all five concerts, after supporting him in his United States My Christmas 2009 winter tour.[111]
On May 18, during the 2010 World Music Awards, Bocelli performed ""Un Amore Cosi Grande" from his 2008 album, Incanto, and received his seventh World Music Award, for "Best Classical Artist".[112][113]
On July 5, Bocelli gave a concert at the opening of the Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center, in Astana, on the occasion of Kazakhstan's president, Nursultan Nazarbayev's 70th birthday.[114][115] Among the guests were, the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, the President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, the President of Tajikistan, Emomalii Rahmon, the President of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, the Crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the King of Jordan, Abdullah II.[116][117][118]
On July 9, Bocelli headlined the "Celebrate Africa: The Grand Finale" Concert of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, at the Coca-Cola Dome, in Johannesburg, South Africa, to mark the end of the World Cup, two days before the World Cup final.[119][120] During the concert, Bocelli was joined by Canadian rock star, Bryan Adams, Italian flautist, Andrea Griminelli, and South African singers, Nianell and Pretty Yende.[121][122] FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, South Africain president, Jacob Zuma, and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, were among the 12,000 in attendance.[122][123]
On July 13, Montenegrin Statehood Day, Bocelli gave a concert at the seaside resort of Sveti Stefan, in western Montenegro, to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Sveti Stefan Hotel.[124] During the hour-long show, on a stage right in front of the island-hotel's perimeter wall, Bocelli sang well-known arias, as well as some of his more popular hits, to the assembled dignitaries, including Montenegro's top officials, representatives of the diplomatic corps and many faces from cultural, political and public life, as well as many current and former tourist entrepreneurs who had contributed to the development of Montenegrin tourism.[124]
On July 14, Bocelli gave a concert at the European Parliament's Espace Léopold, in Brussels, Belgium, during "Rome in the heart of the future", an event hosted by the Vice President of the European Parliament for the seventh parliament, MEP, Roberta Angelilli, "to highlight the city of Rome as the capital of international tourism through an important and ambitious project in Europe."[125][126] A screening of the film Homage to Rome, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, who was present during the event, and starring Bocelli, in his cinematographic debut, and Italian fashion model, Monica Bellucci, was shown prior to the special concert.[125][127] The event was also attended by the President of the European Parliament, MEP, Jerzy Buzek, European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, the Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, the President of Lazio, Renata Polverini.[125][128]
On July 25, Bocelli held the fifth and final edition of the Teatro del Silenzio, in his hometown of Lajatico, Tuscany, to an audience of 10,000, double the amount of the first edition of the annual Festival, held in 2006. After performing with Spanish tenor, Plácido Domingo and Welsh Mezzo-soprano, Katherine Jenkins on the previous edition of the Festival, in 2009, Bocelli's guests included the only other surviving member of The Three Tenors, Spanish Catalan tenor, José Carreras, and Italian rock singer, Zucchero. Sculptures by Swiss artist Kurt Laurenz Metzler, who attended the concert, were exhibited during this year's edition. The Teatro del Silenzio has in past incorporated sculptures by artists such as Arnaldo Pomodoro and Igor Mitoraj. Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, who was also in attendance, donated a Bronze statue she had made of Bocelli, to the city of Lajatico, in the afternoon just before the concert. Bocelli was also awarded the Pisano Doc, during the dress rehearsal for the concert, on July 24, "in recognition for a great citizen, who with his extraordinary art and his humanity brings great prestige, honor and respect to the city of Pisa", and received, the 2010 Premio Lunezia nel mondo, during a private ceremony held on July 21, for "the musical-literary quality of his songs."
In September 2010, Bocelli held a concert at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, in Athens, Greece. The concert was attended by George Papandreou, the prime minister of Greece and Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, among others. All proceeds were donated to help cure cancer. Bocelli also gave concerts in Cairo, Egypt, in front of the pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza, as well as a fundraising concert inside the famous Duomo di Milano to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake.
As part of the 2010 leg of the My Christmas Tour, Bocelli gave two concerts in the two largest indoor arenas of the United Kingdom, The O2 Arena, in London, and The M.E.N Arena, in Manchester, and a concert in the largest indoor arena in Ireland, The O2, in Dublin, in late November 2010.[129][130][131] His sold out concert at the O2 in London, was the most attended show in the venue's history, with 16,500 people attending the event.[132] In early December, Bocelli gave 6 concerts in the United States. He performed in Madison Square Garden, in New York City, Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey, TD Garden, in Boston, Toyota Center, in Houston, Staples Center, in Los Angeles, and the MGM Grand's Garden Arena, in the Las Vegas Strip.[133] The Toyota Center concert, in Houston, was attended by former president George Bush, Sr. and first lady Barbara Bush.
Bocelli also took part in the Christmas in Washington special on December 12, in the presence of president Barack Obama and the first lady.[12][134][135] On December 19, Bocelli gave a concert, conducted by Claudio Scimone, in the Italian Senate.[136] The concert was attended by Italy's top officials including Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano, Renato Schifani, the president of the Italian Senate, Gianfranco Fini, the president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Secretary of State of the Holy See.[137]
In January, Bocelli gave three concerts in Germany. The concerts in Munich, Berlin, and Hamburg were all part of the Notte Illuminata Tour, launched in Pisa, at the Teatro Verdi, December 2010. In February, Bocelli made his Metropolitan Opera debut, performing a recital, as part of the tour.[138]
In late March, early April, as part of the 2011 Latin Leg of his Incanto Tour, Bocelli gave concerts in Buenos Aires, Bogotá, and Panama City.
In May 2011, Bocelli held 5 concerts in East and Southeast Asia, and was joined by New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra during the Tour.[139] He first gave a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, his first visit to the country. The concert was attended by Indonesia's top political personalities, including Golkar Party chairman, billionaire Aburizal Bakrie, PDI-P chairwoman and daughter of former president Sukarno, Megawati Sukarnoputri, herself a former president, and former president Suharto's second eldest daughter, Siti Hediyanti.[140] Bocelli held two other concerts in Taipei, and two concerts in Beijing.[141][142]
In June and July, Bocelli gave two open air concerts at historic sites, the first at Masada, in Israel,[143] with all proceeds dedicated to support the residents of the Israeli regions of Galilee and Negev,[144] and the second at Syracuse's ancient Greek theatre, in Sicily,[145] with all proceeds donated to the Fiamme di Solidarietà (Flames of Solidarity) organization, to raise awareness of issues concerning the poorest and most marginalized in Italy.[146]
Bocelli gave a free concert on September 15, on the Great Lawn of Central Park in New York City.[147] He was accompanied by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by its music director Alan Gilbert, and the Westminster Symphonic Choir.[148] Bocelli was joined by singers Celine Dion, Tony Bennett, Bryn Terfel, Ana María Martínez and Pretty Yende, instrumentalists Chris Botti, Andrea Griminelli and Nicola Benedetti, and producer David Foster.[148] The concert was attended by 70,000 people, including Mayor Bloomberg and Donald Trump.[149][150] The concert was broadcast throughout the United States and Canada, by PBS, and in Italy, by Rai 1. Concerto, One Night in Central Park, the live album and the DVD were released November 15.
On September 25, Bocelli led Songs of Praise' 50th anniversary celebration, alongside LeAnn Rimes and Katherine Jenkins.[151][152]
On October 15, Bocelli performed again for Pope Benedict XVI and a crowd of 8,000 people in Vatican's Audience Hall, during a meeting honoring participants from around the world, for their work in spreading the faith.[153]
On November 7, he gave his second open air free concert of the year, at Praça Rui Barbosa in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to an audience of between 80,000 and 150,000 people.[154][155][156]
On November 17, he performed at the Children In Need Rocks Manchester concert, gaining critical acclaim for receiving a standing ovation from a crowd of pop and indie music fans.
In December, Bocelli launched the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, with a mission to fight poverty and fund medical research.
Bocelli played the role of Romeo in Charles Gounod's opera Roméo et Juliette, at the Teatro Carlo Felice, for two performances in February. He cancelled a third performance with pharyngitis after suffering vocal strain throughout.[157] The conductor Fabio Luisi commended Bocelli for performing without fee in a theatre that was suffering severe financial difficulties.[158]
On April 22, Bocelli gave an open air concert at Yerevan's Liberty Square, in Armenia, dedicated to the proclamation of Yerevan as the 2012 World Book Capital. The concert was attended by Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, prime minister Tigran Sargsyan and Yerevan mayor Taron Margaryan. Bocelli was accompanied by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Marcello Rota.[159]
With the exception of the negative views of some Classical music critics, Bocelli is widely celebrated as a singer and is admired around the world.[1] His voice's timbre is as recognisable as a signature, with a versatility ranging from the Bel canto to the furore of Verismo, from the sacred repertoire to popular ballads.[160]
Franco Corelli, one of the greatest Spinto tenors of the twentieth century, praised Bocelli's voice after hearing it for the first time during a Master class in 1986, in Turin, and would later give him private lessons.[161][162][163] Another great Italian tenor who championed Bocelli's singing from the very beginning was Luciano Pavarotti. Pavarotti publicly admired Bocelli's voice and played an early part in the younger man's career.[163][164] He reportedly stated that "There is no one finer," upon hearing his voice for the very first time.[165] Bocelli would later sing during both his wedding ceremony, in 2003, and his funeral, in 2007.[161]
After conducting Bocelli in the Verdi album, in 2000, Zubin Mehta commented that "Andrea's voice is special in many ways. First of all, he has a complete control from forte to pianissimo on any note. The end of 'Celeste Aida,' he attacks the high B flat full voice and then pulls it down to nothing — hardly anybody can do that, it's also very risky on the stage at the opera. But it's not that we tried it 15 times and he got it once; he can do it every time. He can also, in the middle of a phrase, without breathing, change the color of a note, so it's a conductor's dream to ask and to get it because most people can't do that."[166] The interview where Mehta made those comments was featured in a BBC documentary about Bocelli, entitled the "Story Behind the Voice".[164] Mehta also compared Bocelli's voice to the old Italian style of singers, such as Tito Schipa.
The same documentary also featured an interview with Spanish Catalan tenor, José Carreras. He commented that "The first time I had the possibility to listen to Andrea, he was a part of the Sanremo Festival. And I thought wow, that's a nice voice, very beautiful color, very tenor like." He proceeded by saying, "I always thought that he has a wonderful instrument, that he knows very much how to use it."[164]
Lorin Maazel, who conducted Bocelli's 2002 Classical album, Sentimento, was also featured in the documentary. In the interview he says that "Andrea Bocelli has amazing Tessitura, almost three Octaves, I would think two and a half, has excellent and very easy top notes; but he can also fill out the lower register very successfully."[164] Maazel also praised Bocelli's Musical talent and knowledge of music, and compared his voice to that of celebrated Irish tenor John McCormack, during an interview with Charlie Rose, in 2002.[167]
Similarly, during a 1999 interview on Charlie Rose, American soprano Renée Fleming praised Bocelli's voice, by saying "first of all the sound is beautiful. There is something very soulful about the way he sings and it's captured the hearts of something like, the last I've heard eleven million fans."[168] Grammy winning Puerto Rican soprano, Ana María Martínez, who regularly performs with Bocelli, also said that "More than anything, Andrea has something that is unique in that he brings this light that is always around him. And this purity of heart and beauty of sound just touches the listener. It can’t be described."[162]
French Canadian singer Celine Dion famously said while introducing him during her Christmas Special for These Are Special Times, in 1998, that "if God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli,"[1][163] and multiple Grammy Award winner David Foster, a producer of the album, often describes Bocelli's voice as the most beautiful in the world. Similarly, seven-time Grammy Award winning Jazz singer, Al Jarreau, who performed with Bocelli on the "Night of the Proms" tour in Europe, in 1995, described him as "the most beautiful voice in the world,"[165] and American talk show host, Oprah Winfrey, commented on her talk show that, "when I hear Andrea sing, I burst into tears."[161][162]
After attending Bocelli's concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009, the first time she'd been out "in months", American actress Elizabeth Taylor said, "My mind, my soul were transported by his beauty, his voice, his inner being. God has kissed this man and I thank God for it."[169] Taylor had been a passionate fan of Bocelli's since the beginning of his music career in the mid-1990s.[170] Other fans include, Prince Albert of Monaco, who invited the tenor to sing at his wedding, as well as Sarah, Duchess of York, and actress Isabella Rossellini.[165] Bocelli's voice was also a favorite of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother,[171] and Pope John Paul II,[165] for whom he sang on many occasions, and released Credo, a DVD dedicated to his life, shortly after his death, in 2006.[172]
Other world class artists from both the Pop and Opera worlds have also publicly expressed their admiration, including opera singers Plácido Domingo,[173] and Cecilia Bartoli, who collaborated with Bocelli, and conductor Myung-whun Chung,[174] who conducted Bocelli's 1999 album, Sacred Arias.[174]
Despite his worldwide popularity and praise, Bocelli's voice, more specifically his interpretation of opera, has been regularly criticized by classical music critics. These include Bernard Holland of The New York Times, and Andrew Clement of The Guardian.[175]
In 1999, The New York Times chief music critic Anthony Tommasini in his review of Bocelli's North American opera debut at the Detroit Opera House in the title role of Massenet's Werther commented, "The basic colour of Mr. Bocelli's voice is warm and pleasant, but he lacks the technique to support and project his sound. His sustained notes wobble. His soft high notes are painfully weak. Inadequate breath control often forces him to clip off notes prematurely at the end of phrases."[176] In December 2000 Tommasini again criticised Bocelli, this time for his La bohème album when he claimed that Bocelli "still has trouble with basic things, like breath support" and his voice had been "carefully recorded", "to help it match the trained voices of the other cast members in fullness and presence."[177]
In describing Bocelli's singing, New York Times music critic Bernard Holland noted, "the tone is rasping, thin and, in general, poorly supported. Even the most modest upward movement thins it even more, signalling what appears to be the onset of strangulation. To his credit, Mr Bocelli sings mostly in tune. But his phrasing tends toward carelessness and rhythmic jumble... The diction is not clear."[178] Furthermore, Holland observed that "The critic's duty is to report that Mr Bocelli is not a very good singer." The Associated Press reported "Passion? Yes. Power. No. Bocelli's voice – though robust in spirit and precisely in tune, even in the upper register – had a thin quality that never opened up."[179] Similarly, classical music critic Andrew Clement found Bocelli's studio opera recordings consistently disappointing in quality: "Bocelli's profoundly unmusical contribution, with its unvaryingly coarse tone, wayward intonation and never a phrase properly shaped, fatally undermines all their contributions."[180] Anne Midgette of The New York Times agreed, noting "a thinness of voice, oddly anemic phrasing (including shortchanging upper notes of phrases in a most untenorial manner), a curious lack of expression."[181]
In 2008, in a live performance, Bocelli was described by Baltimore Sun music critic Tim Smith thus: "as unaided by electronics, he produced an undernourished, often under-pitch tone. Top notes were strained, phrases monochromatic. Bocelli's most loyal fans presumably didn't mind any of the weaknesses, but, frankly, I found most of his singing embarrassing."[182]
During a 2009 performance in New York, the music critic Steve Smith wrote "For cognoscenti of vocal artistry the risks involved in Mr. Bocelli's undertakings, both then and now, need no explanation. Substantial technical shortcomings masked by amplification are laid bare in a more conventional classical setting. Mr. Bocelli's tone can be pleasant, and his pitch is generally secure. But his voice is small and not well supported; his phrasing, wayward and oddly inexpressive."[183]
In 2010, Joe Banno of the Washington Post gave an unfavorable review of Bocelli's Carmen recording, describing the oft-noted failings in Bocelli's vocal resources on full display in this performance: "Bocelli, to be fair, possesses an essentially lovely tenor and knows his stuff when it comes to selling a pop ballad. And Decca's close miking of his puny voice inflates his sound to near-Franco Corelli-like dimensions. But his short-breathed, clumsily phrased, interpretively blank and often pinched and strained singing makes his Don Jose a tough listen."[184]
An audio commentary by New York Times editor Anne Midgette providing a comparison of Bocelli's tone and technique with Luciano Pavarotti's appears below. According to the commentary, Bocelli's tone and technique is not as firm or full as Pavarotti's. And Bocelli's singing of the high note in the passage sounds "squeezed" as opposed to the "ringing" quality Pavarotti achieves when singing the same note in the passage.
In a 2011 review of an all-classical recital, Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times commented that Bocelli "seemed out of his element and ill at ease... listeners responded politely and pleasantly, as if fulfilling their duty, a bit puzzled by the gap between the cautious sounds they were hearing and the smooth polish of Mr. Bocelli's blockbuster recordings." Woolfe goes on to observe "If people don’t know the works on a program (and Sunday evening's selection was far from populist), the singer needs to make those works happen, to prove them. But Mr. Bocelli was too nervous and not a powerful enough artist to do that. Even the French songs that were seemingly the best fit for his delicate instrument fell flat. Demonstrating little responsiveness to text or emotional specificity — Fauré's "Lune Blanche" did have an aptly gauzy sheen — they passed in a blur. In Mr. Bocelli's conception of the canon there is little audible difference between Handel and Gounod, and little urgency to either, a bland homogeneity... Ringing Pavarotti-style high notes are difficult for Mr. Bocelli; his effect of choice is extended falsetto tones, with which he dramatically ended several numbers. The audience responded warmly to this easy tactic, keen for something, anything, it could recognize as charismatic, stylish singing."[185]
Bocelli met his first wife, Enrica Cenzatti, while singing at piano bars early in his career.[32] They were married on 27 June 1992, and had two children.[34] Their first child, Amos, was born in February 1995. Their second son, Matteo was born in October 1997.[37] The couple separated in 2002.[46] Although not yet divorced,[189] Bocelli lives with his girlfriend and manager, Veronica Berti. They met in 2002. In September 2011, the couple announced that Berti is pregnant and expecting her first and Bocelli's third child, a daughter,[190] in the spring.[191] Virginia, Bocelli's first daughter, was born March 21, 2012, on the first day of spring.[192][193] The couple live in a spacious villa, which used to be a hotel, in Forte dei Marmi on the Mediterranean, complete with recording studio. Meanwhile, Bocelli's estranged wife and two sons live in the couple's previous residence in the same comune, in Versilia.[161]
On 30 April 2000, Bocelli's father, Sandro Bocelli, died. His mother encouraged him to honour his commitments, and so he sang for the Pope, in Rome, on May 1, and immediately returned home for the funeral. At his July 5 performance, filmed for PBS as American Dream—Andrea Bocelli's Statue of Liberty Concert, Bocelli dedicated the encore Sogno (Dream), from his 1999 album Sogno, to the memory of his father.[43]
A section of the way along the beach in Jesolo, on the Italian Adriatic coast, was named after Bocelli on 11 August 2003.[47]
In 2006, Bocelli influenced the municipality of his hometown Lajatico to build an outdoor theatre, the "Teatro del Silenzio".[194] Bocelli serves as its honorary president and performs for one night only, every July, the rest of the year, the theatre remains silent.
Since the opening in 2006, Bocelli has held 5 concerts, in every July, with guests ranging from opera singers Plácido Domingo and José Carreras to classical crossover artists Sarah Brightman and Katherine Jenkins, as well as Italian rock and pop stars Zucchero, Laura Pausini, and Elisa. Bocelli's guests have also included instrumentalists Lang Lang, Chris Botti, and Kenny G. The 2007 edition of the "Teatro del Silenzio" was released on DVD in 2008.[195]
Bocelli has made a large number of contributions throughout his career. He has participated in charity benefit concerts in different countries for various charities, such as the Michael Jackson benefit concert in 1998, the Memorial Concert at Ground Zero, in New York City for the victims of the September 11 attacks, and the Music of Asia festival in 2004, for the Indian tsunami appeal.
He performed with Mary J. Blige and David Foster at the 52nd Grammy Awards to raise awareness for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. He later gave an open air concert at Masada, Israel, with the proceeds going to the residents of Galilee and Negev, and another in Sicily to support the ‘Flames of Solidarity’ charity, raising awareness concerning poverty. In Greece, he held a concert at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus to help Cancer research, and performed at the ‘Children in need rocks' in Manchester, in the UK.
In 2011, The Andrea Bocelli Foundation was launched. Its two missions are to fund medical research and fight poverty.
Studio albums[link]
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Live albums[link]
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