Luciano Pavarotti Passed Away at 71
September 6th 2007 01:20 am
Picture from Yahoo News. Luciano Pavarotti, dead at 71.
Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti, hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, his manager Terri Robson said.
“The great tenor Luciano Pavarotti died today at 5 a.m. (11 p.m. Wednesday EDT) at his home in Modena,” Robson said in a statement. He was 71.
“The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life.
“In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.”
The rotund, black-bearded tenor known as “Big Luciano” helped bring opera to the masses and performed to vast stadium audiences round the world.
He shot to fame with a stand-in appearance at London’s Covent Garden in 1963 and had soon had critics gushing about his voluminous voice.
His last public singing performance was at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006, singing Puccini’s aria “Nessun Dorma.”
In July last year, Pavarotti underwent surgery in New York for pancreatic cancer and retreated to his villa in Modena. He had to cancel his first planned public reappearance a few months later.
The world of opera has lost a very important figure. I am no opera fan but I loved how Pavarotti could incorporate his powerful vocals with contemporary music. One of those guys that you feel like he’s going to last forever. Guess not.
RIP, Pavarotti!
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