60 Fun Facts About Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti was an operatic tenor from which country?

He was born in a public housing block in the north of the country.

What nickname did Pavarotti earn for his brilliant top notes?

It came after he hit the top notes in a Donizetti comedy at the Met in 1972.

Which aria became Pavarotti's trademark song after the BBC used it for the 1990 World Cup?

It comes from the final act of a Puccini opera set in ancient Peking.

Which two singers joined Pavarotti in the Three Tenors?

Their first concert on 7 July 1990 was watched by around 800 million people.

Where was the first Three Tenors concert held on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final?

Zubin Mehta conducted; the recording became the best-selling classical album ever.

The first Three Tenors concert partly welcomed which singer back after leukaemia treatment?

It raised money for his International Leukemia Foundation.

Which Puccini opera features the unknown prince Calaf, whose name must be guessed by dawn?

It is sung by Calaf, the unknown prince, who has answered the princess's three riddles.

In which year was Pavarotti born?

His mother worked in a cigar factory and the family of four shared two rooms.

What was Pavarotti's father's trade?

He had a fine tenor voice himself but was too nervous to sing professionally.

What sporting career did the young Pavarotti dream of before choosing music?

His mother persuaded him to train as a teacher instead.

Which singer did Pavarotti name as his favourite tenor and idol?

He later made his Covent Garden debut replacing that very singer, who was indisposed.

Which Hollywood singer did the teenage Pavarotti imitate in the mirror after seeing his movies?

He also grew up on his father's records of Gigli, Martinelli, Schipa and Caruso.

What job did Pavarotti hold for two years before committing to music?

He later also sold insurance to support his studies.

Who was Pavarotti's first serious voice teacher, who taught him for free from 1954?

When that teacher moved to Japan, Pavarotti studied with Ettore Campogalliani.

Pavarotti's first singing success came in 1955 when his Modena male choir won first prize where?

He called it the most important experience of his life.

Which soprano from Modena shared a voice teacher with Pavarotti and later sang Mimì opposite him?

Their mothers had worked together in the cigar factory.

What made Pavarotti decide to quit singing early in his training, before his voice came together?

He attributed the immediate improvement to the psychological release of quitting.

In which role did Pavarotti make his professional debut in Reggio Emilia in April 1961?

His first known recording of Che gelida manina comes from that performance.

Which soprano recommended Pavarotti as a last-minute replacement for his American debut in Miami in 1965?

He credited her with the breathing and diaphragm technique that sustained his career.

Which conductor requested Pavarotti for his La Scala debut in La bohème in 1965?

His childhood friend sang Mimì in the Zeffirelli production.

How many performances did Pavarotti sing on the 1965 Australian tour with Joan Sutherland?

She and her conductor husband had wanted a tall tenor for the trip.

In which Donizetti opera did Pavarotti famously deliver nine high Cs in the aria Ah! mes amis?

He was the first tenor to sing all of them naturally, at Covent Garden in 1966.

How many curtain calls did Pavarotti take after his 1972 Metropolitan Opera breakthrough?

That night's nine top notes earned him his famous nickname.

Why did Pavarotti first carry the handkerchief that became his trademark prop?

It debuted at his 1973 recital at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.

Which conductor, husband of the soprano who took him to Australia, claimed Pavarotti never learned to read music?

Pavarotti later told Jeremy Paxman he could read music but not orchestral scores.

How many high Cs earned Pavarotti a standing ovation at his 1986 Beijing concert?

He performed before 10,000 people to close a China tour with his competition winners.

Which company banned Pavarotti for life in 1989 after he cancelled 26 of 41 scheduled appearances?

General director Ardis Krainik ended a 15-year relationship, earning him the tag King of Cancellations.

Roughly how many people attended Pavarotti's free 1993 concert on the Great Lawn of Central Park?

His Hyde Park concert had drawn a record 150,000 two years earlier.

Pavarotti was the first opera singer to perform on which American TV show, in December 1998?

He sang alongside Vanessa L. Williams.

On which 1995 U2 song did Pavarotti sing?

He also sang with Mercedes Sosa at Boca Juniors' stadium in Buenos Aires in 1999.

Which Cranberries singer sang Schubert's Ave Maria with Pavarotti in 1995, moving Diana to tears?

Diana and Pavarotti were close friends who raised money against land mines.

What was Pavarotti's only feature film, a 1982 romantic comedy that flopped?

It still earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.

What was Pavarotti's final role at the Metropolitan Opera in March 2004?

He received a long standing ovation as the painter.

At which event did Pavarotti give his final performance, in February 2006?

Unsure of his voice, he lip-synced to a prerecording with the IOC's approval.

Of what illness did Pavarotti die in September 2007?

He died at his home in Modena at the age of 71.

Which aerobatic team flew over Pavarotti's funeral trailing green, white and red smoke?

Romano Prodi and Kofi Annan attended the service at Modena Cathedral.

How many wills did Pavarotti leave, prompting his daughters to contest the estate?

One Italian, one American and a handwritten third that reduced his wife's share.

Whom did Pavarotti marry in December 2003, 34 years his junior?

His only crossover album was described as a wedding gift to her.

Which tax haven did Pavarotti claim as his residence before an Italian court rejected the claim in 1999?

He settled with the Italian government and was acquitted of tax evasion in 2001.

Pavarotti holds a Guinness World Record for the most curtain calls. How many?

He shares a second record, for the best-selling classical album, with Domingo and Carreras.

Which UN role was Pavarotti appointed to in 1998?

In 2001 the UNHCR gave him the Nansen Medal for raising more for refugees than any other individual.

In which Bosnian city did Pavarotti finance a music centre after the war?

Sarajevo made him an honorary citizen in 2006.

What was the name of the annual charity concerts the tenor hosted in his home town with pop stars?

Guests ranged from B.B. King and James Brown to the Spice Girls and Queen.

Who directed the 2019 documentary film Pavarotti?

It drew on family archives with the estate's cooperation.

Roughly how many records did Pavarotti sell in his career?

The first Three Tenors album alone became the best-selling classical record of all time.

With which French-Armenian singer did Pavarotti perform Gounod's Ave Maria at a 1990 Bolshoi benefit?

The concert raised money to rebuild after the 1988 Armenian earthquake.

What was Pavarotti's weight at his heaviest?

He had double hip replacement and knee surgery in 1998.

Which former manager wrote the bitter 2004 memoir The King & I about Pavarotti?

It criticised his acting, his sight-reading and his personal conduct.

What was the title of Pavarotti's only crossover album, released in 2003?

Most of its 13 songs were written and produced by Michele Centonze.

Which award did the Three Tenors' Yokohama concert coincide with in 2002?

The trio sang at every World Cup final from 1990 to 2002.

Which American lifetime-achievement honour did Pavarotti receive in 2001, with a surprise visit by Kofi Annan?

Six months earlier he had held a charity concert for Afghan refugees in Modena.

Pavarotti's final public performance, in February 2006, took place in which Italian city?

He sang 'Nessun dorma' one last time, 45 years after his professional debut in Reggio Emilia.

Which conductor led the first Three Tenors concert in Rome in 1990?

A highlight was 'O sole mio', with Domingo and Carreras repeating Pavarotti's extended vocal runs note for note.

Where did Pavarotti's mother, Adele Venturi, work?

Mirella Freni's mother worked alongside her there, which is how the two future stars became childhood friends.

In March 1977 Pavarotti sang Rodolfo in the first-ever telecast of which series?

It drew one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera and launched his run of frequent TV appearances.

Whom did Pavarotti marry in 1961, the mother of his three daughters?

Their daughters Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana later contested his estate against his second wife.

Pavarotti's televised concert in London's Hyde Park drew a record crowd of roughly how many?

It was one of a string of huge outdoor shows in the 1990s, capped by half a million people in Central Park.

Winning which contest led directly to Pavarotti's 1961 professional debut?

The debut in Reggio Emilia was conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and staged by Mafalda Favero.

At which English festival did Pavarotti sing Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo in 1964?

The same year the Dublin Grand Opera Society engaged him as Rodolfo and as Alfredo in La traviata.

Who became Pavarotti's teacher after Arrigo Pola moved to Japan?

He was already teaching Mirella Freni, so the two Modena friends studied under the same master.