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Andrea Bocelli is a classically trained Italian opera singer born in 1958. Widely regarded as one of the great tenors alongside peers such as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, he has found success in the fields of both classical and crossover opera.
Bocelli delayed his entry into the musical arena, in spite of his obvious talent, until he had secured a Doctorate in Law. His break came in 1992 when he successfully auditioned for the Italian rock star Zucchero Fornaciari who was seeking singers to record "Miserere", a song he had penned with Bono. Bocelli went on to record the song with Pavarotti and Zucchero invited Bocelli to join him on tour. By 1994 he was appearing on the "Night of the Proms" tour across Europe with many other notable singers. Bocelli released his first album, Andrea Bocelli, in 1994 and by his fourth, Romanza, he shifted from the traditional operatic style towards pop ballads. The album included the hit "Time to Say Goodbye", a duet with Sarah Brightman, and for his following album he chose to duet with Celine Dion on the song "The Prayer". The album it came from, Sogno (1999), was extremely successful, selling in excess of ten million copies and earning Bocelli a Grammy.
More recently Bocelli's recorded output has tended to move away from the pop ballads of his earlier albums and finds him concentrating on mainstream opera. However he continues to perform in concerts and on television around the world.
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