As the world-famous New York Times wrote about IL DIVO:
“These four guys sing and sound like a full-fledged opera troupe. They are this "Queen"but without the guitars.
Indeed, the group IL DIVO (Il Divo) is considered one of the most popular projects in the world of pop music, but with vocals in a classical style. They conquered the most famous concert halls in the world, won the love of millions of listeners, proved that classical vocals can be mega-popular.
In 2006, IL DIVO was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most successful international commercial project in the history of music.
History of group creation
In 2002, the famous British producer Simon Covell came up with the idea to create an international pop group. He was inspired after watching a video of a joint performance by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.
The producer had the following idea - to find four singers from different countries who would be distinguished by their expressive appearance and possess unsurpassed voices. Covell spent almost two years looking for ideal candidates - he was looking for suitable ones, one might say, all over the world. But, as he himself claims, the time was not wasted.
The group included, indeed, the best singers. In Spain, the producer found a talented baritone Carlos Marin. Tenor Urs Buhler sang in Switzerland before the creation of the project, the popular pop singer Sebastien Izambard was invited from France, another tenor, David Miller, from the United States of America.
All four looked like models, and the joint sound of their voices simply mesmerized the listeners. Ironically, only Sibastien Izambard had no musical education. But before the project, he was the most popular of the four.
Already after a year of work, in 2004 the group released their first album. He immediately becomes top in all international music ratings. In 2005, IL DIVO pleases fans with the release of a disc called "Ancora". In terms of sales and popularity, it beats all ratings in the US and Britain.
Glory and popularity of IL DIVO
No wonder Simon Covell is considered to be the best producer. His projects are really the most rated and profitable. He specifically took multilingual singers into the IL DIVO team - as a result, the group easily performs songs in English, Spanish, Italian, French and even Latin.
The very name of the group is translated from Italian as "a performer from God." This immediately makes it clear that the four is the best of its kind. Plus, Covell did not go the easy way and chose a special, non-standard direction for the guys - they sing, combining pop music and opera singing. Such an original symbiosis was to the taste of both the young and the mature generation. The target audience of the group, one might say, has no boundaries and numbers hundreds of millions around the world.
In 2006 she herself Celine Dion invited the quartet to record a joint number. In the same year, they performed the anthem of the World Cup with the legendary singer Toni Braxton. Barbara Streisand invites IL DIVO as guests of honor on her North American tour. It brings a huge income - more than 92 million dollars.
The group's next albums bring wild popularity and huge incomes. The team tours all over the world, concert schedules are scheduled for several years in advance. World celebrities dream to sing with them. Their photographs fill the World Wide Web, and all the famous glossies are trying to record interviews with them.
Composition IL DIVO
The voices of all four members of the group are unique in themselves, and sounding together, they complement each other perfectly. But each member of the team has its own long path to fame, its own character, hobbies and life priorities.
David Miller is a Native American native of Ohio. He is the best graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory - bachelor in vocal and master of opera singing. After the conservatory he moved to New York. From 2000 to 2003 he successfully sang in opera productions, performing more than forty parts in three years. He actively tours with the troupe in Europe and North America. His most famous work before IL DIVO is the part of the protagonist Rodolfo in Baz Luhrmann's production of La bohème.
Urs Buhler
The artist is originally from Switzerland, was born in the city of Lucerne. He started playing music at a young age. The guy's first performances began at the age of 17. But his direction was far from opera singing and pop - he sang exclusively in the style of hard rock.
By coincidence, the singer ended up in Holland, where he had a unique opportunity to study vocals at the National Conservatory in Amsterdam. In parallel, the guy takes lessons from famous opera singers Christian Papiss and Gest Winberg. The musician's talent was noticed, and he was soon invited to solo at the National Opera of the Netherlands. And already there Simon Covell finds him and offers to work at IL DIVO.
Sebastien Izambard
Soloist without a conservatory education. But this did not prevent him from becoming famous long before the project. He gave successful piano concerts in France, took part in music shows, played in musicals. It was in the musical "The Little Prince" that he was noticed by a British producer.
But here Covell had to resort to the skill of persuasion. The fact is that Izambar was actively involved in the creation of a solo project and did not want to leave everything halfway, and even more so, move to another country. Now the singer does not regret a bit that he succumbed to the persuasion of the British producer.
The Spaniard Carlos Martin already at the age of 8 released his first album called "Little Caruso", and at 16 he became the winner of the music competition "Young People", then his activity was closely connected with opera and the main parts in popular performances. He is familiar and often sang on the same stage with world-class opera singers. But, oddly enough, at the peak of fame, he accepts an offer to work in the new IL DIVO project and remains there to this day.
IL DIVO today
The group does not slow down and works as actively as at the beginning of its work. Over the years of musical activity, the guys have already been on world tours more than once. They released 9 studio albums, which sold over 4 million copies. IL DIVO has many awards for participating in various competitions. Today, the group continues to tour successfully, continuing to amaze fans with new hits.
The Il Divo quartet was reduced to a trio. We regret to inform you that on December 19, 2021, Carlos Marin passed away due to complications caused by the coronavirus infection.
Recall that the last album in the original line-up was the disc For Once in My Life: A Celebration of Motown, released in the summer of 2021. The collection is dedicated to the hits of American music, recorded at the Motown Records studio.
