Francesco Galtieri

Il Divo ([il ˈdiːvo]) is a multi-national classical crossover vocal group. The male quartet originated in the United Kingdom in December 2003, bringing together singers Urs Bühler (Switzerland), Carlos Marín (Spain), David Miller (USA), and Sébastien Izambard (France). The group was created and promoted by music producer Simon Cowell for the label Syco Music (a subsidiary of Sony Music). Although it is unclear how the group's name came about, "Il Divo" is translated from Italian as "divine performer."

As of 2018, the group has released ten albums: Il Divo (2004), Ancora (2005), Siempre (2006), The Promise (2008), Wicked Game (2011), A Musical Affair (2013), Amor & Pasión (2015) and Timeless (2018) ; a compilation album The Greatest Hits (2012); special Christmas songs album The Christmas Collection (2005). Two other albums – An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona (2009) and Live in Japan (2014) – presented recordings of live concerts. Additionally, they have collaborated with other artists.

Since its inception, Il Divo has enjoyed success worldwide, selling well over 30 million copies of its albums worldwide. With 160 certified gold and platinum hits in 35 countries, it pioneered the genre of operatic pop, or "popera", in classical crossover music.

Il Divo's live concerts sold over two million concert tickets worldwide just from their first four albums. In their first world tour, concerts in 69 cities in 18 countries were sold out.

Il Divo is composed of four singers, three of whom are classically trained, from four countries: German-born Spanish baritone Carlos Marín (b. 1968), two classically trained tenors Swiss Urs Bühler (b. 1971) and American David Miller, (b. 1973), and French pop singer-songwriter Sébastien Izambard (b. 1973).

Conception and name

The idea behind Il Divo came when Simon Cowell, inspired after listening to the Three Tenors, decided to form a multinational quartet of talented young singers to recreate the quality of Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. Cowell conducted a worldwide search for young singers who were willing to embark on the project, a search that lasted nearly three years, from 21 January 2001, until 16 December 2003, when the fourth member, American tenor David Miller, was signed. Prior to Il Divo, Miller and his European counterparts Spanish baritone, Carlos Marín, Swiss tenor Urs Bühler and French pop singer, Sébastien Izambard were each enjoying moderate success in their own right.

Career

First decade: 2004–2014

Release

The first album Il Divo, was recorded in February 2004 in Sweden, with the Quiz and Larossi, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger producers, and in Rockstone Studios in the UK with producer Steve Mac, with record label Syco Music. The album was released on 1 November 2004 in just three countries; UK, Norway and Ireland. In the first weeks they had already achieved double platinum in Norway and Ireland and the UK reached a historical fact as "Regresa a mí" was the first song sung in Spanish which reached No.1 on the British country. On 19 April 2005 it was released in the United States, Spain and elsewhere.

In December 2004, as their debut to society and to promote their first studio material, they offered their first concert at Gotham Hall in New York, representing five songs from the album live. It quoted concert was released as the first DVD of the group, entitled "Live at Gotham Hall".

Il Divo was launched in fall 2004 with the single "Regresa a mí", debuting with the first album of the same name. They filmed the music video of the song in Slovenia. The video, which is fictionalised, show the members leaving their various occupations and previous lives to become one group.

Il Divo debuted with "Regresa a mí", which thus became a worldwide success in 2004. Singing primarily in Spanish, English, Italian, and French,

On 23 May 2005, they released the DVD "Mama", which contains the second official video of the song "Mama" recorded in the city of Tropea, Italy, with exclusive footage of the making of the video, a live recording of Mama, live in New York, along with a photo gallery.

24 January 2006, Sony BMG released the DVD "Encore"; a concert at the Roman Theatre in Mérida, Spain, recorded on 7 October 2005, a documentary containing interviews with the artists and images of casting made to form the group.;

25 October 2005 goes on sale in just seven countries, United States, Canada, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland, studio album entitled "The Christmas Collection".

On 7 November 2005, Il Divo launched in Europe its second studio album entitled "Ancora". In the United States and Latin America it was released on 24 January 2006. It debuted at number one on Billboard 200 in its first week of release in the United States.

On 9 June 2006, Il Divo performed the 2006 FIFA World Cup official song, "The Time of Our Lives", with R&B singer Toni Braxton live, at half-time, during the opening match between Germany and Costa Rica and again a month later at 9 July closing ceremony. The song is available exclusively on the Voices from the FIFA World Cup compilation album and on the European reissue of Braxton's album Libra but not on any Il Divo album.

Late in 2006, they released yet another DVD Il Divo - Live at the Greek, a recording of their concert in Griffith park, Los Angeles directed by Lawrence Johnson

Il Divo have been on several world tours and have received 50 gold and platinum awards. Their last tour in 2014 covered five continents and over 33 countries. Having just completed a six-month tour of America, Australia, and Europe, Il Divo then participated in all 20 concerts by Barbra Streisand in her North American tour as her special guests. Streisand: The Tour with Il Divo was ranked second for all tours during 2006, generating $92.5 million in gross sales. They also accompanied her in her Europe concerts.

Since it went on sale "Ancora", the group has been almost half of their time at the top of the best sellers within the borders of Europe getting ratify the success already achieved with their first self-titled album. No one can achieve the quartet at No.1 place. Throughout the Christmas period in 2006, Il Divo held the top spot in the list of best-selling albums.

Il Divo was named the Most Multinational UK No.1 Album Group in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

The massive success and consecration

27 November 2006 published his third studio album, recorded during the previous world tour, which titled "Siempre" with Steve Mac, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger in production.

16 January 2007 Il Divo started the tour to promote his fourth album Siempre in Asia, Australia and then passing first by touring Latin America Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela in seven concerts that were a resounding success. On 7 November 2006 the public was first compilation Il Divo Collezione. A box with three CDs and a DVD that includes three studio albums: Il Divo, Ancora to which is added the song "The Time of Our Lives" and The Christmas Collection DVD and Encore along with a 20-page booklet with rare photos and a poster of each member of the quartet signed and dedicated to their fanes.

21 November 2006 "Live at the Greek Theater" DVD containing the live concert held on 22 June 2006 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, as part of his world tour 2006. This recording captures all the songs that have established the group's popularity and an unedited version of the iconic song "Somewhere".

Il Divo became the most successful international group in recent years in the history of classical crossover music, selling over 20 million records in just the first five years of the group. Conquering fanes and lists of all countries of the world. The quartet won over 150 gold and platinum discs in 33 countries in their first four albums and achieved 50 positions # 1 on the album charts worldwide, including the No. 1 US debut of "Ancora", the only classical crossover album has entered history at number No. 1 on the Billboard 200. In his first album, the debut album by a British group, entered the top lists of the United States and with the album "'The Promise" broke the American record sales in the first week.

Il Divo also began performing on stages around the world with great success; They sold more than two million tickets in the concerts of their first four albums. In his first world tour they sold out, reaching 69 cities in 18 countries and this was followed by a more extensive tour in 2007 in which the group received standing ovations continuously in 30 countries.

On 11 November 2008 was released the group's fourth album under the label of "The Promise" produced by Steve Mac. The presentation of the album was held at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya on 30 October, where Il Divo performed at the end of dinner five songs from the new album accompanied by an orchestra of 50 musicians.

On 8 November 2008 was published the DVD At the Coliseum. Il Divo concert at the Roman Colosseum in Pula, Croatia, which includes a 30-minute interview in depth titled "The Promise, Il Divo in conversation".

On 12 December 2008, Il Divo performed at the final of Idol 2008 in the Stockholm Globe Arena. 20 January 2009 they performed at Purple Heart Inauguration Ball in Washington DC for President of the United States Barack Obama. His tour "An Evening with Il Divo" spanned the world's largest tour in 2009, visiting six continents, with more than 130 dates, covering 81 cities and 31 countries. This earned them the Billboard Breakthrough Award for being the highest-grossing tour of the year.

On 1 December 2009 the first live album of Il Divo is public, a set of CD + DVD recorded at the Palau Sant Jordi concert An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona. The DVD + CD includes two new songs in the repertoire of Il Divo "Bridge Over Trouble Water", the classic Simon & Garfunkel, and "The Impossible Dream" from the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. The live album is a journey through the songs of their first five studio albums that debuted at No.1 in nine countries, including Spain, and sold over three million copies in just two months, 500,000 of them in UK establishing be a concert tour and reference for the group.

They closed 2009 with his first Christmas special intimate show entitled Celebrate Christmas with Il Divo, which included a traditional repertoire of favourite songs of the holiday season with an orchestra and special guests in the United Kingdom, USA and Canada.

They started with two concerts at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on 7 and 8 December with guest artists; violinist Vanessa-Mae and Camilla Kerslake, ending in the United States offering six more concerts.

19 October 2010, Sony Music released the DVD The Yule Log: The Christmas Collection containing a choice of three moving nativity scenes with Il Divo, after Celebrate Christmas with Il Divo tour.

Artist of the Decade

11 May 2011, were invited to the Classic Brit Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London to receive the award for "Artist of the Decade". The award recognises the massive impact the operatic group has had in the classical genre, selling over 25 million albums, from 2004 to 2011, worldwide.

8 November 2011, published the fifth album Wicked Game, three years after the release of their previous album. The album was produced by Per Magnusson and David Kreuger with the additional collaboration of Richard "Biff" Stannard. The tour to promote the album Wicked Game throughout the entire 2012, led them to visit more than 130 cities in countries like Britain, Spain, South Africa, Australia, United States, Japan, Mexico and London. The creative director of the concerts the tour was Biran Burke, head of the most important shows of the city of Las Vegas. During the concerts, Il Divo was accompanied by the orchestra in each city in which he acted. During the direct of the tour, the song "Senza Parole" was interpreted with a new different from that published in the studio album version as Sébastien sang the chorus, adding extra song's original lyrics: "(..) senza one lacrima, vedrai vedrai (fa male ma che vedrai passerà) capirai (one giorno che anche your t'innamorerai) (..)".

20 December 2011, in Paraguay, the quartet performed the concert with more capacity of people who had never been in the Defensores del Chaco stadium for 33,900 people, closing the Bicentennial of the Independence of Paraguay. On 13 May 2012 Il Divo performed the song "Caruso" during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II at Windsor for the entire royal family and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. On 27 July 2012, Il Divo performed at the Olympic torch handover party and official closing ceremony in the 2012 Summer Olympicsin London.

The DVD "Live in London", published in mid-2011. A 90-minute DVD Il Divo concert at the London Coliseum with extras in a documentary recording "Wicked Game" in their promotional tours in rehearsals for the concert and evening of the show, recorded in the Coliseum Theatre in London on 2 August 2011.

"Il Divo & Orchestra in Concert World Tour" was a worldwide tour of the six continents between May and September 2012. In each concert on the tour was featured selections of songs from the album "Wicked Game", and other topics of his previous albums chosen by his followers/as. The show was designed by creative director Brian Burke, who says that "Il Divo is the perfect modern fusion of opera, theater and concert. It is a privilege as a director to create a visual landscape inviting the audience on a theatrical journey of their music", along with producer AEG Live.

On 6 September 2012, it was announced that Il Divo would release a "The Greatest Hits" album. The album was produced by Alberto Quintero and featured songs spanning Il Divo's successful eight-year career to date, as well as four new songs including My Heart Will Go On, I Will Always Love You, Can't Help Falling in Love and Alone.

Il Divo on Broadway

5 November 2013 goes on sale the sixthsixth album A Musical Affair produced and arranged by Alberto Quintero that shows the distinctive and romantic and emotional interpretation of classical music Il Divo. Songs with new arrangements tailored to their distinguished voices. To present the album, they made a series of six unique concerts at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway from 7 to 13 November 2013, called Il Divo – A Musical Affair: The Greatest Songs of Broadway.

The world tour began in Japan in February 2014 and travelled around the world, culminating on 1 November 2014 at The O2 Arena in Greenwich, London. As part of his tour, 19 July 2014, Il Divo hung the sign sold out in the iconic Edinburgh Castle, in the event that moved the audience after playing the hymn "Amazing Grace".

24 November 2014 a special edition of the sixth album A Musical Affair. French version produced and arranged by Alberto Quintero with new songs with French singers, partially or fully interpreted in French. 1 December 2014, second album is public quartet live, a set of CD + DVD of the concert Live in Japan, which contains a show tour "A Musical Affair" filmed at the Nippon Budokan Theater in Tokyo 11 March 2014.The Japanese version includes the songs "Will Flowers Bloom" and "Furusato".

Today: 2015 – Present

In 2014, on the 10th anniversary of the publication of his first album they had sold over 28 million albums worldwide, achieving more than 50 number one sales and receiving 160 gold records and platinum in over 33 countries.

On 23 March 2015, it was announced that Il Divo was the winner of the 2015 Silver Clef Award, giving them the coveted Classic PPL Nordoff Robbins Classical Award. The gala award ceremony took place on 3 July at the Grosvenor House, a five-star hotel in London.

Reinventing Il Divo

During the first decade of the group, in its first six studio albums published until 2014 ("Il Divo", "Ancora", "Siempre", "The Promise", "Wicked Game" and "A Musical Affair") Il Divo had interpreted lyrical and classical music genre fused with pop, ballads, church music, folk music or the musical genre songs. But the genre of bolero has never been done by them. Therefore their seventh studio album will consist of mainly this genre.

Through Syco Music, the 6 November 2015 in Europa, 27 November in America and 25 October in Japan, is released seventh studio album "Amor & Pasión" (love and passion), produced by Colombian Julio Reyes Copello and mixed by Alberto Quintero, of work spanning a century of traditional tangos, smouldering boleros and classic mambos. The flavours and sultry rhythms of Spain and Cuba, Argentina and Mexico give a nod to the quartet's beginnings. Previously, in July 2015, they initiated the photographic campaign for his eighth album and recording a new video on the streets of the town of Tepoztlan in Mexico, under the production of CTT Exp & Rentals.

To promote the album, a month before its release, the song "Por una cabeza" is heard on the radio around the world, as in the BBC Radio 2 English. On 21 October, Il Divo performed the first public appearance to promote the sixth album in the program Despierta America, the US network Univision, from Miami, playing his first single "Si Voy A Perderte (Don't Wanna Lose You)". Then, they continue their advocacy for land in Japan, performing the song "Bésame mucho". They started the month of November in London, where the 2nd acted Music Industry Trusts Award.

With its publication, the album Love & passion debuts in the first week at No. 1 on the Latin Albums Chart list, with 5 thousand copies sold in America in the first week, according to the magazine Billboard. In Spain, debuted in first week of release, in the tenth position Spanish sales of Top 100 Álbumes.

Notable performances

• On 12 December 2008, Il Divo performed their new song at the Swedish Idol 2008 finale in the Globen Arena in Stockholm.
• 20 January 2009 they performed at The Purple Inauguration Ball in Washington DC for President of the United States Barack Obama.
• The Paraguay show was Il Divo's biggest capacity performance to date and took place on 20 December 2011, at the Defensores del Chaco Stadium in Asuncion, for 33,900 people.
• 13 May 2012 Il Divo performed the song Caruso with a staging of riding the rhythm of the song during the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II at Windsor for the entire royal family and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• 27 July 2012, Il Divo performed at the official closing ceremony of the route of the Olympic torch in 2012 on his arrival at the Olympic Stadium in London in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
• On 19 July 2014, Il Divo performed before a capacity crowd at Edinburgh Castle esplanade where a pop festival took place ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The group performed Amazing Grace.
• On 5 July 2015, while recording its eighth album Latin boleros, Il Divo sang in the Astana Concert Hall to give a concert in Astana, Kazakhstan, in honour of the 17th anniversary of the Day of Capital. After the concert, they initiated the photographic campaign for his eighth album and recording a new video on the streets of the town of Tepoztlan in Mexico.

Collaborations

• In 2005, they performed a duet English-French with Canadian Céline Dion titled "I Believe in You (Je crois en toi)".
• In 2009, they performed the song "Sortilegio de amor" for the soundtrack of the telenovela entitled Sortilegio written by Brazilian singer Denisse de Kalafe, theme for which they were nominated and subsequently winners of Mexico TvyNovelas Awards for Best Musical Theme for the song "Sortilegio".
• In 2013 they recorded a duet with British singer Engelbert Humperdinck entitled "Spanish Eyes", produced by Alberto Quintero, included on the Engelbert Calling album released 30 September 2014. The song was written by the German composer Bert Kaempfert as "Moon Over Naples".
• In 2015 Il Divo recorded a duet with Mexican singer Juan Gabriel entitled "Amor Eterno" (Eternal Love), one of the songs of the singer emblem. The recording material is included on the disk Los Dúos. The disc deluxe edition is accompanied by a DVD with images of Il Divo during recording.
• In December 2015, the version of the "Himno de la alegría (Ode to Joy)", played by Il Divo, is chosen to be the main theme of the soundtrack of the 2016 Japanese film Everest.

Tours

• 2004: Il Divo Tour
• 2006: Streisand The Tour
• 2006: Il Divo 2006 World Tour, Ancora
• 2007: Il Divo World Tour
• 2008: Il Divo Global Tour
• 2009: An Evening with Il Divo – World Tour
• 2009: Celebrate Christmas with Il Divo
• 2011:Il Divo Tour, Wicked Game
• 2012: Il Divo & Orchestra in Concert – World Tour
• 2013: A Musical Affair en el Teatro Marquis de Broadway
• 2014: A Musical Affair Tour
• 2014: The Best of Il Divo – World Tour
• 2016: Amor & Pasión Tour
• 2017: A Night with the Best of Il Divo
• 2018: Timeless Tour

Registration Voices

The vocal tone and voice tessitura of each component of Il Divo is different and is subordinated to the independent paths in the world of opera, the classical crossover musical training, the voice formed and physiology of each.

David and Urs are tenors, along with the baritone Carlos, they have long careers in the world of opera and classical music start from early vocal training. In contrast, Sébastien has not had any prior professional musical training (was self-taught), and is a tenor voice which the group classes as vox populi due to his pop tone.

• Urs, Tenor, most likely a Heldentenor. As its name implies, the heldentenor vocal fach features in the German romantic operatic repertoire. The heldentenor is the German equivalent of the tenore drammatico, however with a more baritonal quality. Therefore, the heldentenor voice might or might not have facility up to high B or C. The repertoire, however, rarely calls for such high notes. This seems to be evident in Il Divo's repertoire: the extent of his range evident in Il Divo's recordings shows he can sing from G2 up to C5. However, Buhler himself once revealed from a video chat with fans that he could sing from C2 up to G5.
• Sébastien, popular melody or voix populi to a loud, so it has a tenor tessitura phonic. The tessitura of this voice type will be typical of a common tenor, albeit with a lighter tone sans operatic training. Sébastien's voice is distinguished by its clear and bright timbre, the pectoral resonance and firmness in voice projection. The extent of his range evident in Il Divo's recordings shows he can sing from G2 up to B4.
• Carlos, Verdi baritone. Incorporating the deep tones that a bass has, while having an upper range approaching that of a tenor, Carlos' voice type is high even for a usual baritone. A Verdi baritone refers to a voice capable of singing consistently and with ease in the highest part of the baritone range, up to A4, sometimes even up to the B♭4. The extent of his range evident in Il Divo's recordings shows he can sing from G♭2 up to B♭4. The *unofficial* sheet music for their first album claims he sings down to a D2, however this is atypical of a baritone. Most basses would not even be required to sing such notes. During the Live at The Greek Theatre concert, he hit B4 singing I Believe in You.
• David, lyric tenor. The lyric tenor is a warm graceful voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra. Lyric tenors have a range from approximately the C one octave below middle C (C3) to the D one octave above middle C (D5). The extent of his range evident in Il Divo's recordings shows he can sing from C3 up to E5. A very quick, falsettoed E5 can be heard on their first album in the song Hoy Que Ya No Estas Aqui.

Styling

Besides music, the members of Il Divo are also known for their flawless, refined and elegant appearance, wearing almost exclusively suits by Giorgio Armani;Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani and Armani Collezioni, and costumes and accessories: William Hunt, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Tom Ford and Gucci.

Il Divo is a powerful and fascinating presence, in these years have been a great inspiration for me. I remember the first time I saw them performing live: I was impressed by their elegance and their fascinating way to communicate emotions through his music orig.

— Giorgio Armani

Il Divo's style is so elegant, it describes our music. It's a dress in the style of the Rat Pack which was composed by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin y Sammy Davis Jr.

— Carlos Marín

Musical style

Creating Il Divo created a revolution within the pure genre of opera because their musical combination of opera singing and classical music (opera), with themes of different genres, including Latin, folk, ballads, church music, bolero and pop. But his lyrical voices kept playing emblematic songs, it is not synonymous with opera, nor pop. There is talk of an intermediate term, but not of a merger between the two, since such lines that can not be merged, as David describes himself:

Pop is here, the opera is there and we (Il Divo) are in the middle.

— David Miller

We do not intend to opera, but a pop operatic overtones.

— Sébastien Izambard

Ours is romantic music.

— Carlos Marín

So we talk about a new invention of musical style, hand own quartet, called Opera-Pop o Pópera, classified in the genre of contemporary music-

Multilingual

The quartet records their songs in several languages Spanish ("Regresa A Mi", "Hasta Mi Final", "La Vida Sin Amor"), English ("Mama", "Amazing Grace", "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"), Italian ("Senza Parole", "Passera", "Notte Di Luce"), French ("Pour Que Tu M'Aimes Encore," "Le Temps des Cathedrales"), one in Latin ("Panis Angelicus") and a few in Portuguese("Volta Pra Mim") and Japanese ("Furusato"). Some songs incorporate more than one language in the same song: "The Man You Love" (Spanish & English), "Ave Maria" (Italian & Latin), "I Believe In You" (English & French) are recorded this way; whereas others are recorded in a single language, but sung live in two languages: "She" (Italian & English) and "Bring Him Home" (English & Spanish).

Most of the songs that they cover are reinterpreted from English and translated into the Spanish language, as they themselves say that "Spanish is the language of Romanticism".

Philanthropy

On 25 April 2007, Il Divo performed on American Idol in one of the "Idol Gives Back" episodes, which raised money for children in the US and Africa. For every vote cast during that show, Idol sponsors Coca-Cola, AT&T, and others donated money to Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) and other groups such as Save the Children and America's Second Harvest.

In 2011, they recorded the carol "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to raise money for the organisation Save the Children.

Il Divo is related indirectly in terms of sponsorship and help with the French NGO SMTA Assistance Médicale Toit du Monde since 2005, of which Sébastien is the international official sponsor, and with Sanfilippo Children's Foundation in which Sébastien's global ambassador.

20–30 September 2015, David Miller and Urs Bühler rode on motorbikes all in the name of charity. We are planning to ride across America on a 2800-mile journey from Miami to LA to raise funds for the brilliant Nordoff Robbins music therapy charity.

Studio albums

• Il Divo (2004)
• Ancora (2006)
• Siempre (2006)
• The Promise (2008)
• Wicked Game (2011)
• A Musical Affair (2013)
• Amor & Pasión (2015)
• Timeless (2018)