Luciano Pavarotti
1935 – 2007 · Italy
Known for: The greatest tenor of the modern age
“People think I'm disciplined. It is not discipline. It is devotion.”
Biography
The son of a Modena baker, Luciano Pavarotti had a voice so pure and powerful it seemed to belong to another century, and he used it to drag opera out of the elite and into stadiums. His nine high Cs in a single aria made him a legend; his role in the Three Tenors concerts, launched at the 1990 World Cup, sold opera to tens of millions who had never bought a ticket.
His Nessun Dorma became the sound of triumph itself, and his Pavarotti & Friends concerts raised fortunes for refugees and children. When he died, his hometown filled its cathedral and its square: the baker's son who had given the world a voice it will never forget.