As music filled the room, Andrea Bocelli stopped sobbing.
It was 1959 and Bocelli, the future star Italian tenor, was just eight months old.
He had undergone his first eye surgery, the first of many. During his hospital stay he had been unsettled. Then a classical record played and it soothed him. An indelible bond was formed.
Today, Bocelli is one of the greatest living music icons. He has overcome many obstacles in life, not the least health issues and a childhood accident that left him blind.
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Bocelli was born on September 22, 1958, the eldest of two sons to mother Edi and father Alessandro. They lived on the family farm in the small village of La Sterzain Tuscany.
Bocelli was born with a congenital glaucoma diagnosis, which affected his vision and required surgery. As an infant doctors saved 10 per cent of sight in one eye.
After the surgery, his mother said he stopped sobbing when a Russian child in the hospital played a classical record.
At age six, Bocelli embraced his love of music, taking up piano and flute lessons. A year later he began learning the saxophone.
Despite his then limited sight, he remained a daring child, riding horses and bikes alongside his brother Alberto.
Then, aged 12 tragedy struck while playing football.
“I was hit violently in the face with a ball on my right eye, the only one which I could see light and colour with,” he said.
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The impact caused him to suffer a brain haemorrhage.
“The doctors tried to cure me with various operations […] but there was nothing that could be done,” he said.
The incident left him legally blind. Yet, the ambitious Bocelli wouldn’t be held back.
He continued to ride horses and learned to play the piano using Braille.
A beach holiday with his family soon showcased his vocal talents after his uncle Pietro signed him up for a local singing competition.
“It was my first pageant, got my first standing ovation,” Bocelli wrote in 2021.
“And from that day half a century ago, in my heart I began to conceive certain dreams, certain fantasies about a future made of music and theater, lyrical heroes to dress up and stages to walk on… I don’t know that reality would have exceeded even the pinkest fantasies of that child back then.”
After graduating from school, Bocelli studied law.
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In 1987 he met fellow student, Enrica Cenzatti, in a piano bar in Pisa.
After five years of dating, the pair married in 1992 and share two sons Amos and Matteo.
His first big break came in 1992 when Italian singer and songwriter Zucchero Fornaciari asked Bocelli to record a demo of a song he’d written for the late Luciano Pavarotti.
Pavarotti had made the request for Bocelli’s involvement.
“Thank you for writing such a wonderful song. Yet you do not need me to sing it – let Andrea sing ‘Miserere’ with you, for there is no one finer,” Luciano told Zucchero.
Bocelli and Pavorotti performed together at three of Pavorotti’s charity concerts.
The younger tenor was also invited into Pavorotti’s inner circle.
“Pavarotti loved me. He called me [to perform] at his wedding and his wife called me again for his funeral,” he told The Telegraph in 2015.
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By 1995, Bocelli’s name was gaining traction among classical music fans.
He would go on to win a local TV competition and ink a recording contract. His first single, a performance of ‘Con te partirò’, topped the charts in Belgium and France.
A year later British soprano, Sarah Brightman, approached Bocelli to sing a duet.
The talent and reach of Bocelli has also seen him perform with pop singers, including the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson and power ballad Queen, Celine Dion.
He has also performed mega star singer songwriters Ed Sheeran and Ariana Grande.
As his professional career continued to soar, Bocelli’s personal life crumbled.
He and Cenzatti separated in 2002.
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That same year Bocelli met Veronica Berti.
They struck up a friendship, with Berti becoming his manager. Their friendship soon blossomed into something more.
After dating for 12 years, the couple married in 2014. They share a daughter, Virginia.
Today, at 65, Bocelli continues to pursuit his passion in music.
He also embraces his adventurous spirit, refusing to let his lack of sight limit him.
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During his 30-year career, Bocelli has released 15 studio albums.
He has sold more than 75 million copies.
To mark his career milestone, Bocelli performed in London‘s Hyde Park.
He was joined for the occasion by a special guest – his 12-year-old daughter.
“Virginia, welcome, are you ready?” he asked his daughter.
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“We will do the song that we both do at home, OK? But now it’s more important to sing well.”
The youngster, clad in a hot pink dress with ruffles along the bodice, stood sweetly beside her dad, who had a guitar in hand, as they performed Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
The pair performed as part of Bocelli’s headlining act of the British Summer Time concert series. It also featured Bocelli’s son, Matteo.
The event was labelled “the largest classical concert to take place in Europe this century”.
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