Andrea Bocelli, an Italian tenor, rose to fame in 1994 by winning the 44th Sanremo Music Festival. Since then, Bocelli has recorded fifteen solo studio albums for both pop and classical music, three Greatest Hits albums, and nine complete operas. Currently, over 75 million albums from Andrea Bocelli have been sold, and his career is still thriving. His album “Romanza” is one of the best-selling recordings of all time, and one of his classical albums, “Sacred Arias,” remains the best-selling classical album in history. Similarly, his Christmas album “My Christmas” was the best-selling holiday album in 2009, and continues to hold high rankings in the United States. Also, Andrea Bocelli’s song “Con te partiro” is a best-selling single.
In 1998, Bocelli dueted with the Canadian singer, Celine Dion, on the song “The Prayer,” which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 1999, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. Since then, Bocelli has won over 20 Grammy awards for his miraculous voice, and he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010. Bocelli is also known for his romantic love songs. For example, “Fall on Me” was released in 2018 by Andrea Bocelli and recorded with his son, Matteo Bocelli. Another song, “Because We Believe,” was co-written by multiple Grammy-winner David Foster. Foster and Bocelli performed this song for the closing ceremony at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Last but not least, “Return to Love” was written by Andrea Bocelli and Elli Goulding, an English singer-songwriter, and they also performed this song together as a very beautiful duet. Many people recognize Bocelli’s voice as the most beautiful voice of all time.
Bocelli was born in 1958 in a small Italian village, La Sterza, where he grew up on his family’s farm. At the age of six, he started taking piano lessons, and he also later learned how to play the flute, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, guitar, and drums. Throughout his childhood, Bocelli loved listening to music, and sometimes, it was the only thing that could comfort him when he struggled with his health. Bocelli was born with congenital glaucoma, resulting in visual impairment in both of his eyes. Then, at the age of twelve, he was hit in the face with a soccer ball and became completely blind. His blindness inspired him to sing, and at fourteen, he won his first song competition with “Old sole mio.” After finishing high school in 1980, he continued his studies at law school at the University of Pisa and worked as a court-appointed lawyer for two years. He accomplished all of this while being blind, and to earn money during his studies, he sang evenings at bars.
Andrea Bocelli is one of the most successful classical artists of all time. Despite his blindness, he has sung for popes, presidents, royalty, and has performed in many of the greatest concert and opera halls.
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Work Cited:
Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, January 17). Andrea Bocelli. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Bocelli
Bocelli is amazing! HE’s Blind? I never knew that! You should hear him sing “Amazing Grace”!