Andreea Bocelli 1dp31

Made by: Dobre Valeriu Stefan Lascau Ionut Sebastian Nedelcu Cristian Soaca Marian

• Andrea Bocelli,  (born in 22 September 1958) is an Italian classical crossover  tenor, recording artist, and singer-songwriter. Born with poor eyesight, he became permanently blind at the age of 12 following a football accident. • Bocelli has recorded fourteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 80 million records worldwide. He has had success as a crossover performer bringing classical music to the top of international pop charts.

• In 1998, he was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. "The Prayer", his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. With the release of his classical album, Sacred Arias, Bocelli captured a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, as he simultaneously held the top three positions on the US Classical Albums charts. Seven of his albums have since reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200, and a record-setting ten have topped the classical crossover albums charts in the United States.

•With five million units sold worldwide, Sacred Arias became the biggest-selling classical crossover album by a solo artist of all time, and with over twenty million copies sold worldwide, his 1997 pop album Romanza became the best-selling album by an Italian artist of any genre in history, as well as the best-selling album by a foreign artist in Canada and a number of countries in Europe and Latin America. The album's first single, "Time to Say Goodbye" was a duet with Sarah Brightman that topped charts across Europe, including , where it stayed at the top of the charts for fourteen consecutive weeks, breaking the all-time sales record, with over three million copies sold in the country. The single went on to sell over twelve million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006 and, on 2 March 2010, was honoured with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Live Theater.

Childhood and education •

Bocelli was born to Alessandro and Edi Bocelli, even though they were advised to abort him. He has stated that his mother's decision to give birth to him and overrule the doctor's advice was the inspiration for him to hold a pro-life view towards abortion. They lived on the family farm, selling farm machinery and making wine in the small village of La Sterza, a frazione of Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy, about 40 km (25 mi) south of Pisa. Bocelli's mother and younger brother Alberto still live in the family home. Bocelli's father died in 2000.

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As a young boy, Bocelli showed a great ion for music. His mother has said that music was the only thing that would comfort him. At the age of six, he started piano lessons, and later, also learned to play the flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar and drums. Then, when his nanny, Oriana, gave him the first record of Franco Corelli, he realized that pursuing the career of a tenor was his destiny. By seven, he was able to recognize the famous voices of the time and tried to emulate the great interpreters.

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Bocelli also spent time singing during his childhood. He gave his first concert in a small village not far from where he was born. At the age of 14, he won his first song competition, the Margherita d'Oro in Viareggio with "'O sole mio". After finishing secondary school in 1980,

Loss of sight • Doctors had advised Bocelli's parents to abort Andrea before birth as they predicted based on studies, that Bocelli would be born with a disability. The Bocellis declined and gave birth to Andrea. It was evident at birth that Bocelli had numerous problems with his sight, and after visits to many doctors, he was diagnosed with  congenital glaucoma  In 1970, at the age of 12, he lost his sight completely following an accident during a football game. He was hit in the eye playing goalkeeper during a match and suffered a  brain hemorrhage. Doctors resorted to leeches  in a desperate lastditch effort to save his sight, but they were unsuccessful, and he remained blind.