exploded onto the world stage.<\/p>\n
By Bob Tallent.<\/p>\n
This 54 year old Italian is a five-time Classical Brit winner and three-time Grammy nominated Italian tenor. \u00a0Since his debut album, released in 1994, after winning the newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival, with the song of the same name, to the release of his first Christmas album, \u201cMy Christmas<\/i>,\u201d the best-selling Christmas album and one of the best-selling albums of 2009, he has recorded over 20 pop and classical albums, including seven complete operas, selling over 70 million worldwide. He is widely regarded as the most popular Italian singer in the world and is a tenor, multi-instrumentalist and light classical crossover artist. Born with poor eyesight, he became totally blind at the age of twelve following a soccer accident.\u00a0 With the release of his classical album, \u201cSacred Arias,\u201d he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, as he simultaneously held the No. 1, 2 and 3 positions on the U.S. Classical albums charts.<\/p>\nI\u2019m talking about Andrea Bocelli.<\/h2>\n
Early Years<\/h2>\n
He was born Andrea Angel Bocelli on 22nd<\/sup>\u00a0September 1958 to Alessandro and Edi Bocelli in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy, about 40km south of Pisa. \u00a0Andrea lived with his family on their farm where they sold farm machinery and made wine in the small village of La Sterza, a frazione (a legal territorial sub division of a commune in Italy) of Lajatico. His mother and younger brother Alberto still live in the family home to-day while his father died in 2000.<\/p>\n When Andrea was born, it was clear that he had vision problems. \u00a0After visits to many doctors, he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma. In 1970, at the age of 12, he was accidentally hit on the head during a football match and suffered a brain haemorrhage.\u00a0 Doctors resorted to using leeches in a desperate last-ditch effort to save his sight.\u00a0 But they were unsuccessful, and he became blind.<\/p>\n His love of music came through when he was a young boy and his mother said that it was the only thing that comforted him.\u00a0 When he was six years old, he started to learn the piano, flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar and drums, in between times when he was singing.\u00a0 At the age of 14 he won his first song competition, the Margherita d’Oro in Viareggio with\u00a0O sole mio<\/i>\u00a0and he was also asked to sing at family parties.\u00a0 He said that he was “one of those children who would always be asked to sing for my relatives. I don’t think one really decides to be a singer – other people decide it for you by their reactions.”<\/p>\n In 1980, when he finished secondary school, he studied law at the University of Pisa. \u00a0To earn money he performed in the evenings in piano bars. He completed law school with a Doctor of Law degree and spent one year as a court-appointed lawyer. It was there, in 1987, that he met his wife, Enrica.<\/p>\nAndrea\u2019s music career starts<\/h2>\n
\n\n
\n \n