Luciano Pavarotti

October 12, 1935 is the birthday of Luciano Pavarotti who was a very noted Italian tenor. He also sang popular music and is a hugely popular and successful globally known tenor. Pavarotti has made recordings of complete operas and gained worldwide fame for the beauty of his tone.
Pavarotti is on one of the Three Tenors and has been known for wonderful televised concerts and media programs. In 1961 he began his career as a tenor and his final professional performance of Nessun dorma was for Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy (2006). Pavarotti was wonderful in opera works like La boheme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. He was renowned for his charity work for the Red Cross. He passed away from pancreatic cancer on September 6, 2007.
Pavarotti came to America with the Greater Miami Opera in 1965 and sang Lucia di Lammermoor with Joan Sutherland. His performance in 1972 in La Fille du regiment at the Metropolitan Opera provided Pavarotti with the occasion to sing 9 high Cs in the signature aria. He achieve seventeen curtain calls.
In 1990 Pavarotti founded The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers. He brought winners of the competition to Italy for performances of La boheme. Winners in 1997 accompanied Pavarotti to Philadelphia. In 1998 he performed on Saturday Night Live where he sang with Vanessa Williams and U2 n the song Miss Sarajevo. Pavarotti was handed the Grammy Legend Award in 1998.
Pavarotti received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001 and he holds two Guinness World Records: the most curtain calls (165) and for the classical album In Concert by the Three Tenors. He released his album Ti Adoro in 2003 and was made a Commander of Monaco's Order of Cultural Merit. His final tour in 2005 when Pavarotti was 69 was performed in old and new locals. Pavarotti was honored for four decades on the stage.
Pavarotti underwent neck surgery in 2005 to repair two vertebrae. He experienced further back surgery in 2006 and contracted an infection in the hospital. Pavarotti was married on December 13, 2003 to his personal assistant Nicoletta Mantovani. They had a daughter Alice. He was married to Adua Pavarotti for 34 years and they had three daughters. He had one granddaughter at his death.