Blind opera singer Andrea Bocelli. Andrea Bocelli: I spend my life in singing, but I prefer silence

“I was born on September 22, 1958 in the Tuscan village of Lajatico, near Volterra. Under the influence of religious principles, and also inspired by the example of my parents, I learned not to submit to the blows of fate, but to try to strengthen my strength in resisting them.
As far as I can remember, absolutely every moment of my life was filled with a passionate love for music. The greatest tenors in Italy - among them Del Monaco, Gigli, and to a greater extent Corelli - always aroused great admiration in me and inspired me when I was very young. Burning with love for opera, I devoted my whole life to the dream of becoming a great tenor.
Despite the fact that I live in a changing world, I calmly perceive everything that life presents me: I enjoy the most simple things and willingly accept any challenge of fate. I always try to remain optimistic, following the true meaning of the statement. French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “We only truly see with our hearts. The essence of things is invisible to our eyes.

Andrea Bocelli

Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958 in the Italian province of Pisa, in Lajatico. His family owned a small vineyard and Andrea's father made a small amount of wine each year, Chianti Bocelli. Already in early childhood Andrea started playing the church organ.
One day, Andrea's parents, Edie and Alessandro, noticed that their child had something wrong with his eyes, and went to the doctor, who discovered Andrea had hereditary glaucoma, which in the future could develop into complete blindness. Andrea has undergone numerous eye surgeries that have helped to slightly delay the progression of the disease.
It was in Senora's hospital that Edie noticed that classical music had a calming effect on her baby, and the whole family began to acquire records of classical and opera performers, from which Andrea's love for opera began, a lifelong love. His parents prepared him for his final blindness by sending him to a school for the blind, where he learned the alphabet for the blind and learned to play the flute. Andrea has always been an active and playful child, and it was here, at the school for the blind while playing football, that he received that ill-fated ball in the eye, which led to complete blindness.
Parents supported their son and always encouraged him to do what he loved. He was not allowed to feel disabled. The boy rode, cycled, swam and played with other children. He took piano lessons and his younger brother Alberto took violin lessons. But most of all, Andrea loved singing, and everyone liked the way he sang. He left school for the blind and studied at two more schools, then trained as a lawyer at the University of Pisa, and began his career at the Palazzo Giustizia in Pisa. While still at university, Andrea started earning money by playing the piano and singing in bars.
As a teenager, Andrea wins several vocal competitions and also becomes a soloist in the school choir. After graduation, he studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pisa, receives a law degree.
For Bocelli, absorbed opera music, the dream and goal of all life was the desire to be a great tenor. Franco Corelli takes young man into students. It takes place in Turin, where Andrea arrives in search of a dream come true. This ended her career as a lawyer. Thus the young tenor begins serious vocal training during the day, and at night earns his living by performing in restaurants.
1992 becomes a decisive year for the young tenor. Andrea successfully auditions for the Italian "rock star" Zucchero. The demo recording of the song hits Luciano Pavarotti. In 1994, Bocelli made a successful debut at the San Remo Music Festival. In September, Pavarotti personally invites the young tenor to participate in concert program in his hometown— Modena. In the same year, on Christmas Eve, Andrea Bocelli was honored to address the Pope.
One night, playing in a bar under open sky"Boschetto" in Chianni, Andrea met 17-year-old Enrica Cenzatti. Before that, he had no shortage of girlfriends, but it was real love. Their wedding took place on June 27, 1992, and later Enrica gave Andrea two sons, Amos and Matteo. For reasons known only to Andrea and Enrique, they officially filed for divorce in early 2002. After the divorce, Andrea met new love- Veronica Berti, a woman who shares many of his interests, including a love of opera, daughter of the Italian baritone Ivano Berti, now working impresario Bocelli. At the end of August 2011, the couple announced Veronica's pregnancy, for her it will be the first child, for Andrea the third. The addition is expected in March 2012. A wedding is not expected at the moment. On March 21, 2012, Veronica Berti gave birth to a child to her husband, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The newborn girl was named Virginia.
When you listen to the recordings of Andrea Bocelli, you are amazed at the amazing energy of his voice and manner of performance. It seemed that the singer again and again lives the moments of melodramatic and romantic stories about which his musical repertoire tells. Bocelli's voice literally makes you die and resurrect from love, soar above the earth and become part of it magical music. Not to mention that most powerful stream of vital energy that makes the listener simply love life.
Everyone likes the Italian, whose voice is able to mix melodrama with a song from San Remo. In Germany, the country that discovered it in 1996, it is constantly on the charts. In the US, he is a cult object: there is something human or too human about him that reconciles the housewife with the system of "stars", from Steven Spielberg and Kevin Costner to the vice president's wife. President Bill Clinton, "Bill the Saxophone" who knows by heart the music for the film "Kansas City", declares himself among the admirers of Bocelli. And he wished that Bocelli sang in the White House and at the meeting of the Democrats. Now Papa Wojtyła has intervened. The Holy Father recently received Bocelli at his summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, to hear him sing the 2000 Jubilee anthem. And released this hymn into the light with a blessing. And let it not be said that Bocelli owes his success to the widespread good nature and desire to protect him, caused by his blindness. Of course, handicap plays a part in this story. But the fact remains: I like his voice.

FAMILY BUSINESS
At home in Lajatico, in the province of Pisa, on their family estate, Andrea and his brother Alberto, who is directly involved in this, work, according to family tradition, to improve the quality of their own wines. As Andrea says, they do this in memory of their father, Alessandro, who at one time gave all his strength to the processing of vineyards planted by his grandfather in the lands of Tuscany to make the famous Chianti.

The wine, mostly red, is called "Le Terre di Sandro" ("Sandro's Land"), in memory of his father, and this year it gave its first harvest. "My brother and I decided to try to make real wine, and the first results exceeded all expectations," says Andrea. The first vintage is not meant to be sold, as the quantity is very small, less than 3,000 bottles.
"We kept it only for ourselves," the singer said. - "But we are planning to expand production. In the future we will send some bottles to the American market. We do this in memory of the babbo (father) who carried on the work of his ancestors so passionately. Wine is a universal remedy for fatigue when we are overcome by problems. We we call it "bottles of joy."

FEARLESS TENOR
In one of his interviews, Andrea Bocelli, answering a journalist's question, says: "It is always necessary to maintain the tone of the body and spirit, you should always strive to spend your leisure time with benefit in order to make full use of the time that we have. Movement, active life, sports have always attracted me. Mostly before I started my musical career. When I have to be chained to an airplane seat, it is one of the most unbearable moments of my life."
In addition to riding, Andrea Bocelli loves to ride a bike, not embarrassed by the presence of traffic on the road. As the singer admits, he completely trusts Italian drivers.
Andrea Bocelli plays billiards well. And even often wins, despite the blindness. "It's a matter of habit, you just have to try again and again, as in any other business," says the singer.

Alpine skiing Andrea made his first descent with Tomba, during a holiday in the mountains (Apennines). Since the descent was not difficult, the singer easily rolled down the mountain twice. But when his companion suggested switching to a more difficult descent, Andrea refused: "I passed this test with honor and reached the finish line on my feet. Why tempt your fate?"

When asked if he was afraid at the same time, Andrea Bocelli said: “For me, sport has never been a challenge to anyone or anything. I did what I wanted to do, I think that in general you need to understand what you have an interest in, and then develop it, because it helps to enjoy life and fight boredom.The biggest fear I experience when going on stage.It's not just fear, it's nervous tension. But the fear of physical risk was never really known to me, especially in my younger years.

However, Andrea Bocelli survived the most dangerous moment by making a parachute jump. "Once I was at the airfield near my house, there were some young people practicing skydiving. They asked me if I would like to jump. I said - I'm free all day today, of course I'll try. It was the only one in times of my life. My father was with me. Obviously, he had a different opinion on what I was going to do. My wife did not know anything. Otherwise, she no doubt forbade me to jump."

The singer does not believe that by doing this kind of sport, he is at greater risk due to blindness. "The risk is the same for everyone, regardless of physical characteristics. The risk lies in whether your parachute opens or not ... There is no more risk in this than crossing carriageway or take an airplane flight.

Albums

Studio albums

• 1994: Il Mare Calmo della Sera
• 1995: Bocelli
• 1997: Viaggio Italiano
• 1998: Aria—the opera album
• 1999: Sogno
• 1999: Sacred Arias
• 2000: La Boheme (Puccini)
• 2000: Verdi
• 2001: Cieli di Tuscany
• 2002: Sentimento
• 2003: Tosca (Puccini)
• 2004: Andrea
• 2004: Il Trovatore (Verdi)
• 2005: Massenet (Werther)
• 2006: Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
• 2006: amore
• 2007: Under The Desert Sky
• 2007: Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni)
• 2007: Vivere. Live in Tuscany
• 2008: Carmen
• 2008: Incanto
• 2009: My Christmas
• 2010: Andrea Chenier Umberto Giordano
• 2011: Notte Illuminata
• 2011: Andrea Bocelli

operas

• - La bohème (G. Puccini), conductor Zubin Meta (Rodolf)
• - "Tosca" (G. Puccini), conductor Zubin Meta (Cavaradossi)
• — Il trovatore (Verdi), conductor Stephen Mercurio (Manrico)
• - "Werther" (Massene), conductor Yves Abel (Werther)
• — Carmen (Bizet), conductor Chung Myung Hoon
• — Pagliacci (Leoncavallo), conductor Stephen Mercurio (Canio)
• - "Rural Honor" (Mascagni), conductor Stephen Mercurio (Turiddu)
• — Andre Chenier (Giordano), conductor Marco Armigliato (Andre Chenier)

Singles

Duets 1995: "Vivo per lei" (with Giorgia) 1996: "Vivo per lei/Vivo por ella" (with Marta Sánchez) 1996: "Con te partirò/Time to Say Goodbye" (with

Italian Opera singer Andrea Bocelli was born in 1958 in Lajatico in the province of Tuscany. Despite his blindness, he became one of the most memorable voices contemporary opera and pop music. Bocelli is equally good at performing classical repertoire and pop ballads. He recorded duets with Celine Dion, Sarah Brightman, Eros Ramazzotti and Al Jarreau. The last to sing "The Night Of Proms" with him in November 1995, said of Bocelli "I had the honor of singing with the most beautiful voice in the world"".
Andrea Bocelli grew up on a farm in the small village of Lajatico. At the age of 6 he began to learn to play the piano, and later mastered the flute and saxophone. Suffering from poor eyesight, he became completely blind at the age of 12 after an accident. Despite the obvious musical talents, Bocelli did not consider music as his further career until he graduated from the law faculty of the University of Pisa, and received a doctorate. Only then did Bocelli begin to seriously study his voice with the famous tenor Franco Gorelli, along the way earning money for piano lessons in various groups.
Bocelli's first breakthrough as a singer came in 1992 when Zucchero (Adelmo Fornaciari) was looking for a tenor to record a demo with the song "Miserere" which he co-wrote with U2's Bono. Having successfully passed the selection, Bocelli recorded the composition in a duet with Luciano Pavarotti. After a worldwide tour with Fornaciari in 1993, Bocelli performed at the charity "Pavarotti International Festival" held in Modena in September 1994. Besides Luciano Pavarotti, Bocelli has also sung with Bryan Adams, Andreas Vollenweider and Nancy Gustavson. In November 1995, Bocelli traveled to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain and France with a production of "Night Of Proms" which also featured Bryan Ferry, Al Jarreau, Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and John Mays.
Bocelli's first two albums ""Andrea Bocelli"" (1994) and Bocelli (1996) presented only his operatic singing, while the third disc Viaggio Italiano famous opera arias and traditional Neapolitan songs. Although the CD was only released in Italy, it sold over 300,000 copies there. The fourth album, Romanza (1997), featured pop material, including the hit ""Time To Say Goodbye"", a duet with Sarah Brightman, which was a great success. After that, Bocelli continued to develop a profitable pop direction, releasing his fifth album Sogno in 1999, which included a duet with Celine Dion "The Prayer". Released as a single, this song sold 10 million copies in the US alone, and for its performance, Bocelli received the Golden Globe Awards, and was nominated for a Grammy in the "Best New Artist" category.

Among the fans lyric tenor Andrea Bocelli - President Clinton and the Pope, Cindy Crawford, teenagers and housewives, and in 1987 he was named among the most charming men in the world. The singer was mercilessly criticized for his love of the pop genre, he sang along with Celine Dionne, Nelly Furtado, Sarah Brightman, Jennifer Lopez. At the same time, 80 million albums with the singer's recordings were purchased as connoisseurs classical genre, and people without music education. In addition, the famous tenor enjoys skiing, horseback riding and cycling. It would seem that such a biography is not uncommon for many star performers, if not for one circumstance - Andrea Bocelli lost his sight back in childhood and, according to him, perceives the beauty of the world with an inner eye.

Future star performer was born in 1958 (September 22). The Bocelli family farm was located in the Tuscan village of Lajatico, not far from Pisa. None of Andrea's relatives studied music and singing, and his father had absolutely no musical ear. However, there was a player in the house with many records, including records of opera performers, which stood by the boy's bed while he was sick.

At the age of six, Andrea could independently pick up a melody on the piano, then he mastered the flute and saxophone, sang in school and church choir. Unfortunately, he had great vision problems, and numerous operations did not bring results. At the age of 12, the irreparable happened - while playing football, Andrea got hit on the head with a ball, after which he completely lost his sight. Someone else might have withdrawn in their misfortune, but Andrea, by his own admission, was fascinated by music. He continued to study music, took singing lessons from Luciano Bettarini, participated in various competitions, and in 1971 became the first in the regional singing competition.

After graduation, the young man entered the University of Pisa, combining his studies with performances in restaurants and bars. He became interested in French chanson, Sinatra songs, although at the same time most of earnings went to pay for the master classes of the famous "prince of tenors" Franco Kore

li. During his studies, the young man met his future wife Enrika. In 1992, when Andrea was already married and received a law degree, but had not yet begun professional activity and continued his vocal lessons, a significant event took place in his life. The restaurant performer was cast by rock singer Zuccherini to record a demo version of his famous composition"Miserere". When Luciano Pavarotti heard this recording, he could not believe that the performer was not a professional tenor.

The following year, Andrea, after performing at private party, met with the head of the music company "Zugar" Katarina Zugar, who invited him to perform new composition"Il mare calmo della sera". With this song, which became the title in his debut album, Bocelli triumphantly won the Sanremo Festival (1994), after which he was invited to perform in the Pavarotti concerto, and then in the Christmas concert in the Vatican. Throughout 1995, despite the birth of his first son Amos, Andrea Bocelli spent on tour in Europe. He sang in the capitals and big cities of Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, together with famous choirs and symphony orchestras, his vocal partners were John Miles, Bryan Ferry, Ali Jarreau. Of the hits performed by Andrea different genre the album "Bocelli" was compiled, which became platinum in many

several countries, with a double platinum rating in Italy and six times platinum in Belgium. The following year, Andrea Bocelli released two more albums: "Romanza", which was based on his duet with Sarah Brightman in the composition "It's time to say goodbye", and "Viaggio". the most popular arias from Italian operas, as well as famous Neapolitan songs performed in the traditional manner. Despite this characteristic, in just a few months, 300 thousand records of "Viaggio" were sold.

The singer repeatedly toured the United States, where he enjoyed great success: the price of a ticket for his performance reached $ 500, and in 2010 Bocelli was awarded his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. No less successful was the recording of the opera "La Boheme" (1995), where the popular tenor sang the part of Rudolf, as well as his album of opera classics "Aria" (1998). The glory of the international artist was further strengthened for Bocelli when he, along with Celine Dionne, performed the song "The Prayer", which formed the basis of the album "Sogno", released in 1999 and brought him the Golden Globe Award. The release of the album and single was again accompanied by recordings of new collections of classics - "Arie sacre" (1999) and "Verdi" (2000), and the album "Cieli di Toscana" (2001) consisted of pop

ardent Italian songs and compositions. To reproaches for being addicted to "pop" Andrea replied that the main thing in a song is that it pleases the soul, and continued to choose a repertoire of a mixed style.

A large number of performances led to discord in the family - in 2002, Enrica Bocelli, despite the fact that the family was already younger son Matteo (born 1997) filed for divorce, while the children stayed with their father. In the same year, the singer began to appear in the company of 18-year-old Veronica Berti, the daughter of the singer Ivano Berti, who became his impresario. Bocelli's success continued to grow - sold out at concerts, recordings of "Tosca" (2001), "Troubadour" (2003), "Werther" (2004), "Carmen" (2005), "Pagliatsev" (2006), "Country Honor" ( 2010). At the same time, new pop music albums were released - "Andrea" (2004), "Amore" (2005), etc.

In 2007, Andrea Bocelli toured Russia for the first time, then his performances were repeated in 2011, 2013 and 2014. The last album of the great singer to date was "Cinema" (2015), and the last recorded opera - "Manon Lescaut". In 2012, Veronica and Andrea had a daughter, Virginia, and in March 2014 they legalized their relationship. The story of the famous tenor would be incomplete without mentioning his charitable foundation, which is dedicated to helping the visually impaired, as well as subsidizing new technologies to empower them.

Despite serious health problems, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli managed to achieve real heights and become famous all over the world. He is considered one of the most talented opera performers of our time. So how did a boy from a simple family manage to achieve such dizzying success? Read this article!

Andrea Bocelli: biography

Andrea was born in September 1958, in the small village of Lajatico, located in Tuscany. To date, the performer is sixty years old.

An important moment in the biography of Andrea Bocelli in the photo: he was awarded a Hollywood star on the Walk of Fame.

Health problems

Even in early childhood, Bocelli was diagnosed with a serious eye disease. The boy's vision was deteriorating. incredible speed, he was forced to constantly undergo operations.

During rehabilitation from sadness, Andrea was rescued by a player with records of Italian operas. The boy could listen to them for hours on end, imperceptibly for himself, starting to hum melodies and memorize them. Over time, Bocelli mastered the piano, flute and even learned to play the saxophone.

At the age of twelve, Andrea suffered a head injury while playing ball. The diagnosis was disappointing: a complication of glaucoma that made the boy completely blind.

Childhood and youth

Andrea Bocelli's family was never into music or anything else creative professions. His parents ran their own household - they kept a farm with a vineyard.

Despite his illness, Bocelli was not going to retreat and stubbornly pursued his dream. The problems only spurred the boy on and convinced him that he wanted to connect his life with music. Despite the blindness, Andrea continued to lead a normal life, no different from the life of his peers.

While studying at the University of Law, the young man simultaneously took music lessons from Luciano Bettarini and, under his strict guidance, participated in music competitions. Trying to earn money for education, Andrea combined classes at the university and singing in various cafes and restaurants. Also on creative way Bocelli was helped by another teacher - Franco Corelli.

Personal life

Family in the biography of Andrea Bocelli plays an important role. Andrea met his first wife, Enrica Cenzatti, while still studying at the Law Academy. Five years after their meeting, in 1992, the lovers legalized their relationship by tying the knot.

Children in the family appeared just at the time of the growth of Andrea's popularity. Constant performances, tours and filming on television made it impossible to lead a calm and measured family life Therefore, after some time, the wife filed for divorce.

However, the bachelor life of the Italian singer did not last long. Soon in the biography of Andrea Bocelli and his wife appeared - he met the eighteen-year-old beauty Veronica Berti, who is the daughter of maestro Ivano Berti. A spark ran between them, and after a short time the couple began to live together. Veronica became for Bocelli not only his wife, but also his director.

The personal biography of Andrea Bocelli is no less important than the history of his creative career. Over time, the older children moved into the family of Andrea and Veronica, and in 2012 Virginia Bocelli, the daughter of Veronica and Andrea, was born.

creative career

The turning point in the biography of Andrea Bocelli occurred in 1992. The recording of the song "Miserere" by the Italian artist was heard by Luciano Pavarotti, the most famous opera singer of the twentieth century. Luciano was amazed at the skill of a non-professional performer, and since then Andrea Bocelli's career has skyrocketed.

Literally a year later, he received his first prize in the "Discovery of the Year" category at the festival held in San Remo. Through one more Bocelli got into the top performers of Italy with musical composition Il mare calmo della sera, which later became a hit on his first album. At home, Andrea's album was sold out in a million copies in record time.

The second album, called Bocelli, also went platinum. He was appreciated by listeners all over Europe, and Andrea was invited to concerts in Germany, France, the Netherlands. In 1995, the performer spoke to the Pope in the Vatican and received his blessing.

In Andrea's first albums, you can only find classical opera songs, while during the writing of the third disc, Neapolitan compositions began to appear in the singer's repertoire.

As befits a professional in his field, Andrea has a subtle flair for beautiful melodies and voices. In 1999, together with the world famous singer Celine Dion, he performed the hit The Prayer, for which he was awarded the Golden Globe Awards. In a duet with Lara Fabian, called by critics "the owner of an angelic voice", Bocelli sang the song Vivo per lei.

However, despite its popularity, italian singer performs in duets not only with international famous stars stage. Andrea Bocelli presented his composition Con te partiro to French performer Gregory Lemarchal, who suffered from cystic fibrosis. This talented singer died before reaching his twenty-fourth birthday.

Three years ago, in October 2015, Andrea recorded the song E Più Ti Penso with American pop star Ariana Grande. Subsequently, the video for this song gained more than thirty-four million views on YouTube video hosting.

Andrea in Russia

In our country, the work of Italian performers has always been loved, and Andrea Bocelli was no exception. The Russians really liked the singer's tenor, Andrea got great amount friends in Moscow.

The first concerts of the artist in Russia took place in 2007, they were held in Moscow and St. Petersburg. A few more years later, Andrea accepted with pleasure the invitation of Gazprom to speak at a celebration in honor of the anniversary of a large company.

Bocelli also performed at the sixtieth birthday of Igor Krutoy, with whom they quickly became friends.

Andrea Bocelli now

Most recently, at the beginning of 2016, Andrea visited Russia again. During the trip, he met Zara, the star Russian stage. Bocelli appreciated her talent and professionalism and invited her to sing a duet with him at a concert in the Kremlin. Colleagues performed three songs - the world-famous singles The Prayer and Time To Say Goodbye, as well as the new duet La Grande Storia.

Today, Andrea Bocelli can be called the world's best-selling classical music performer. The artist lives on his estate not far from the city where he was born. In addition to music, the Italian singer has other passions: for example, Andrea is fond of horses, his farm even has a small horse breeding farm.

There remains a place in today's biography of Andrea Bocelli for the family and his wife, who never cease to please the performer. Youngest daughter the singer, little Virginia Bocelli, loves to sing more than anything in the world, which brings infinite happiness to her father.

Outcome

The biography of Andrea Bocelli is full of various instructive moments, every fan of his work should familiarize himself with it. The story of Bocelli motivates and inspires: hardly anyone can remain indifferent after reading it. Each of us should remember that, with talent and incomparable perseverance, you can achieve any heights and conquer any peaks. This is clearly shown in the biography of Andrea Bocelli: from ordinary boy, suffering from vision problems, the Italian became a world-famous performer of classical music and the author of a huge number of hits. Andrea is called the "golden tenor" and is considered one of the most talented opera performers of our time. It remains only to wish the singer further development careers and years life!

"FACTS" has already reported on the results of a public opinion poll conducted by the American news agency ABC, which has set itself the goal of defining the most charming person outgoing 1999. The Americans gave second place to their first lady, Hillary Clinton. The third was the richest man in the world, the founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates. And out of competition was the famous Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who was the only foreigner in the top five. Today we want to introduce our readers to this outstanding person, whose voice enchants millions of music lovers all over the world.

Until recently, Andrea Bocelli was known only to amateurs. operatic art. This 40-year-old Italian tenor has come close to the recognized stars - Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras. But in the spring of this year, Bocelli recorded the disc "Sogno", which instantly soared to the top of numerous pop music charts around the world. And the appearance of the singer at the Oscars and Grammy ceremonies only increased interest in his work and personal life.

Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958 in Pisa. His childhood was spent in the vineyards that belonged to his father. From birth he had poor eyesight. And at the age of 12, while playing football, a ball hit him in the head. From hard hit the boy is completely blind. But this did not break Andrea. He learned to play the flute, clarinet, saxophone, piano, and also studied law. Bocelli was very stubborn and paid for his studies himself, moonlighting as a pianist in bars. In 1992, he was seen by the famous Italian singer Zucchero, who introduced Andrea to Pavarotti. After that, his life changed. He got fame and money.

Bocelli is married. His wife Enrique is 27 years old. They met in one of the small nightclubs where the blind singer earned his living before becoming famous. The girl fell in love as soon as she heard his voice. She came over and took his hand. Andrea's heart skipped a beat at the touch. And he immediately knew that he was in love. Now the couple joke that it was love at first touch. They have two sons: 4-year-old Amos and Matteo, who is only a year old. They live near Pisa on the Tuscan coast, trying to lead a secluded life. Andrea loves her family very much and jealously guards them from press interference. Bocelli admits that the most happy moments he experiences when he is in the circle of his wife and children. For him, there is nothing better than returning home after a difficult concert and hearing native voices, feeling the warmth of loved ones and taking his sons in his arms.

And yet the main place in the life of an artist is occupied by music. She helped him survive a personal tragedy, and now it gives him the opportunity to support his family and live a full life. The singer prefers classical music. He collected a large collection records of opera parts and listens to them with pleasure in the morning when he prepares breakfast for the whole family. At the same time, no one should enter the kitchen. Household members are allowed when the table is fully set. This is a whole ritual in the Bocelli house.

Andrea treats pop music with disdain. He does not hide the fact that he recorded the Sogno disc, based on material considerations. Not the last role in this was played by his acquaintances with Zucchero, Eros Ramazzotti and Celine Dion. He befriended the Canadian diva last summer at a dinner party in Bologna. Within five minutes, Andrea and Celine found mutual language, and an hour later the singer offered to record a song with her. Their duet "Prayer" became the beginning of work on the future disc.

But despite the colossal success of Sogno, Bocelli intends to confine himself to operatic works. His dream is to perform in Vienna Opera. And he really wants to learn how to cope with his explosive nature.