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Il Divo
From left to right, Sébastien Izambard, Carlos Marín, David Miller and Urs Bühler.
Background information
Genre(s)	Operatic pop
Years active	2004–present
Label(s)	Sony BMG 2004-present
Associated acts	Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Toni Braxton
Website	www.ildivo.com
Members
Urs Bühler Sébastien Izambard David Miller Carlos Marín

Il Divo, Italian for "divine male (performer)", is a multinational operatic pop vocal group created by pop impresario Simon Cowell, and signed to the Sony BMG music label. Il Divo is formed by singers Carlos Marín, Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard.

Band history

Concert in Singapore on January 2007

The idea behind Il Divo's creation came to Cowell after listening to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman's rendition of Con te partirò. Aware of this new appreciation for lyrical voices and classical music, he decided to form a multinational quartet (the members hail from Spain, Switzerland, France and the United States) that tried to sound like The Three Tenors.

Simon Cowell conducted a worldwide search for young singers who were willing to embark on the Il Divo project which lasted two years, from 2001 until December 2003, when the fourth member of Il Divo, American tenor David Miller, was signed. The well-established formation of Il Divo comprises a renowned Spanish opera and Spanish baritone, Carlos Marín; two classically trained tenors, Swiss Urs Bühler and American David Miller; and a French pop singer, Sébastien Izambard.

Il Divo sings in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Latin. Il Divo was named the Most Multinational UK No.1 Album Group in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. A star located in the Ursa Major constellation located at RA11h39m35.62s DEC+37.27479 MAG11.02. has been named "Il Divo" after this musical quartet.^{citation needed}

On 25 April 2007 Il Divo performed on American Idol in one of the "Idol Gives Back" episodes which raised money for children in the U.S. and Africa. For every vote cast during that show, Idol sponsors Coca-Cola, AT&T and others donated money to Charity Projects Entertainment Fund (CPEF) and other groups such as Save the Children and America's Second Harvest. ¹

As Barbra Streisand's guests

Having just completed a six-month tour of America, Australia and Europe, Il Divo then participated in all 20 concerts by Barbra Streisand in her North American tour as her special guests. "Streisand: The Tour" with Il Divo was ranked second for all tours for 2006, generating $92.5 million in gross sales.

2006 World Cup

On 9 June 2006 Il Divo performed the 2006 FIFA World Cup official song "Time of Our Lives" with R&B singer Toni Braxton live at half time during the opening match between Germany and Costa Rica and again a month later at the 9 July closing ceremony. ²³ The song is available exclusively on the Voices album and Toni Braxton's album Libra, but not on any Il Divo album.

Discography

Il Divo (2004)

Main article: Il Divo (album)

Recording started in the first half of 2004 in Sweden, with producers Quiz & Larossi, Per Magnusson & David Kreuger and in the UK with producer Steve Mac. This self-titled album contained the Spanish renditions of Toni Braxton's hit "Unbreak My Heart" (Regresa A Mí), which in turn was recorded by Braxton under the guidance of Il Divo; their second single and first original song "Mama"; Sinatra's "My Way" (A Mi Manera); an adaptation of Ennio Morricone's "Gabriel's Oboe" from the movie " The Mission (film) ", titled "Nella Fantasia" and 1994's San Remo Festival winner "Passerà".

The album hit the #1 slot on both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com after a career-defining appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show on 5 April 2005, where they performed "Regresa a Mi".

In the United Kingdom, the Il Divo album knocked Robbie Williams of the number 1 spot in the UK charts, Williams allegedly said to them at the "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" film premiere, “So you are the four idiots who have forced me off my number one spot!”⁴.

This multiplatinum-selling CD became number one in the charts in a total of 13 countries around the world, and achieved top 5 placing in 25 countries.

Ancora (2005)

Main article: Ancora

This was recorded in both Sweden and London with producers Per Magnusson, David Kreuger and Steve Mac, who were also the producers of their first album. Released on 7 November 2005 in the UK, it hit number one both in the UK and Australia within one week. Ancora was released in the US on 24 January 2006. It entered the Billboard albums chart at number 1, selling more than 150,000 copies during its first week of sales.

Highlights include "Isabel", "I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi)", a duet with Céline Dion, a Spanish version of Secret Garden's "You Raise Me Up" (Por Ti Seré), and a Spanish cover of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself". Two of the tracks on the UK and Australia release of this CD, "O Holy Night" and a version of Schubert's "Ave Maria", appear on the 2005 US-only release, The Christmas Collection.

The Christmas Collection (2005)

Recorded in 2005, the album is a collection of Christmas and holiday-inspired songs.

Main article: The Christmas Collection

Voices (2006)

Is a collection of songs released at the time of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Main article: Voices (2006)

Siempre (2006)

Main article: Siempre

Released on 21 November 2006 in the United States and one week later in the rest of the world. Three weeks after its release, it was number one in the United World Chart, above the Beatles, Eminem and U2, having sold 472,000 copies worldwide, the largest sales increase in the week previous to the Christmas Holidays of 2006.⁶

The Promise (2008)

It was announced that the new album will be released globally on November 10th, except in the US and Canada, where it is scheduled to be released November 18, Ireland where it was released on November 7th, and Japan, on 26 November. ⁷ The album reached the No.1 spot in the UK on 16th November. The album was produced by Steve Mac. It was announced on 10 September, that it will be named The Promise, although the tracklisting was at this time not yet disclosed.⁸. In messages to people registered to receive them from the official site's mailing list, it reveals that 'Il Divo return with their richest and most diverse album to date.' Also disclosed is that the album will have twelve songs. Cover songs confirmed so far are: Frankie Goes To Hollywood's The Power Of Love; 'a haunting and beautiful interpretation of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah'; the smouldering intensity of Adagio; and the fourth confirmed song thus far is ABBA's The Winner Takes It All.

On Oct. 24th 2008, Il Divo flew across the ocean overnight specially for the Oprah Winfrey Show after they had been called by Oprah on the phone on their way in the airport for a post-album recording vacation, to give a special performance on the show, where they performed the song Amazing Grace.^{citations needed}

Track listing for The Promise:

1. The Power Of Love (La Fuerza Mayor)
2. La Promessa
3. Adagio
4. Hallelujah (Aleluya)
5. L'Alba Del Mondo (Italian adaption of Ennio Morricone's "I Knew I Loved You (Deborah's Theme)"
6. Enamorado
7. Angelina
8. The Winner Takes It All (Va Todo Al Ganador)
9. La Luna
10. She
11. Amazing Grace

The Promise: Luxury Edition [CD+DVD]
DVD (Performance at Arena in Pula):
1. Amazing Grace
2. The Power Of Love (La Fuerza Mayor)
3. Hallelujah (Aleluya)
4. Interview – The Promise

Music Videos

• "Unbreak My Heart (Regresa a mi)", filmed in Slovenia, 2004 (directed by Sharon Maguire) mov
• "Mama", filmed in Italy, 2005.
• "Time of our Lives", with Toni Braxton for the FIFA World Cup, 2006 (directed by Nigel Dick).

DVDs

Mama

The Il Divo release "Mama" – The Video, which includes exclusive footage of the "Making of the Video", a live recording of "Mama – Live In New York", plus a photo gallery.

Encore

Cover of the dvd Encore

An open air "live" concert (it is debatable as to whether they are singing or miming) filmed at the Teatro Clásico in Mérida, Spain, 2005 and was released as DVD on 24 January 2006. The DVD features 8 tracks, including:

Concert

• Si Tu Me Amas
• Isabel
• O Holy Night
• Heroe
• All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez)

Extras

• Il Divo Revealed (documentary)
• Regresa A Mi (Unbreak My Heart) (Music video)
• Mama (Music video)

Live at the Greek Theater

The second official DVD release of Il Divo, this contains the full Live concert performed on 27 June 2006 at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California as part of their World Tour 2006. This recording captures all the songs that have established the group's popularity, such as their breakthrough hit "Regresa A Mi" through to their original songs such as "Mama", "Si Tu Me Amas" and the festive "Rejoice." They also performed a previously unreleased rendition of the iconic hit "Somewhere" as featured in the movie West Side Story. Most releases in the United States of America do not have "Everytime I Look At You" on it as a major music distributor bought the rights to it and contain that song as a bonus track on their release of the DVD, despite the tracklisting on the back-covers still listing the track.facts

Setlist (in order)

• Regresa A Mi
• All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez)
• Passerà
• Isabel
• Nella Fantasia
• Rejoice
• Pour Que Tu M'aimes Encore
• I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi)
• Unchained Melody (Senza Catene)
• Every Time I Look At You
• Si Tú Me Amas
• Feelings
• Mama
• Somewhere
• Hero
• My Way (A Mi Manera)

Extras

• The Time of our Lives video - performed with Toni Braxton as the official 2006 FIFA World Cup song. It features three versions in English, German and the International one.
• Up close and personal interview - which focuses on the groups refelections of their success so far.

Bibliography

The unauthorized biography.

Romancing The World (2005)

Author: Allegra Rossi
Format: Hardback 256 pages
Date of publication: 10/11/2005
Publisher: Orion
ISBN 9780752875194

Our Music, Our Journey, Our Words (2007)

Official biography front cover

Author: Il Divo
Format: Hardback 192 pages
Date of publication: 06/09/2007
Publisher: Headline Book Publishing
ISBN 9780755316571

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Il Divo

• Official website
• Spanish website
• Il Divo section on ClassicalX
• The Il Divo Ticket Exchange