Johnny_Big
Starting XI
ROME: Celebrated Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti has died.
Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment last month.
His manager Terri Robson told AP in an email statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5am local time today.
"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.
His family and close friends were at the home with the opera star.
For serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti's voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory, especially in the 1960s and '70s when he first achieved stardom.
For millions more, his charismatic performances of standards like Nessun dorma, from Puccini's Turandot, came to represent what opera is all about.
Instantly recognisable by his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras - his partners in the Three Tenors concerts - never quite could.
The Daily Telegraph Online
RIP, damn...