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Who is Luciano Pavarotti?  
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Tags: Luciano, Pavarotti, tenor, singer, opera, famous, celeb, Three Tenors, 3, performer, biography, life, summary

A quick, concise summary of the life of Luciano Pavarotti (October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007), an Italian tenor and one of the most popular contemporary vocal performers in the world of opera and across multiple musical genres. Known for his televised concerts, and as one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti was also noted for his award-winning charity work for raising money on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross.

	Luciano Pavarotti was born on the outskirts of Modena in north-central Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and singer, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment.
	According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness.
	World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943.
	For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighboring countryside, where young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.
	Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day — Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso.
	At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.
	Also in his youth he had a few voice lessons with a Professor Dondi and his wife, but he ascribed little significance to them.
	After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports — in Pavarotti's case football (soccer) above all — he graduated from the Schola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice.
	He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional soccer player, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher.
	He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out.
	Recognizing the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly, the agreement being that Pavarotti would be given free room and board until age 30, after which time, if he had not succeeded, he would earn a living by any means that he could.
	Pavarotti began serious study in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who, aware of the family's indigence, offered to teach without remuneration.
	Not until commencing study with Pola was Pavarotti aware that he had perfect pitch. At about this time Pavarotti met Adua Veroni, who also was an opera singer; the couple married in 1961.
	When Pola moved to Japan 2½ years later, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, the now well-known soprano Mirella Freni.
	During his years of study Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to help sustain himself — first as an elementary school teacher and then, when he failed at that, as an insurance salesman.
	The first six years of study resulted in nothing more tangible than a few recitals, all in small towns and all without pay.
	When a nodule developed on his vocal chords causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing.
	Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision.
	Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve."
	Pavarotti made his opera début in the role of Rodolfo in La bohème on April 29, 1961 in the town of Reggio Emilia.
	He made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February, 1965 singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami.
	The tenor scheduled to perform that night was ill and had no understudy.
	As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.
	His major breakthrough in the United States came on February 17, 1972, in a production of Donizetti's La fille du régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record 17 curtain calls.
	From then on he began to make frequent television performances, such as in his role as Rodolfo (La bohème) in the first Live From The Met telecast in March of 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera.
	He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances.
	In addition to the previously listed titles, his La favorita with Fiorenza Cossotto and his I puritani with Sutherland stand out.
	He made his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri in 1973 as part of the college’s Fine Arts Program.
	Perspiring before the debut, he asked for a handkerchief and was given a white dinner napkin. The prop was a signature part of his act ever since.
	On February 10, 2006, Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Turin, Italy. The final act of the opening ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd.
	Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006 and required emergency surgery to remove the tumor.
	Luciano Pavarotti died in the early morning of September 6, 2007 at home in Modena, Italy where he was surrounded by his wife and three older daughters. In an email statement, his manager wrote, "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."

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