Bocelli to get star on Walk of Fame Singer's spot to be unveiled in March

» 2009-06-18 16:00 Bocelli to get star on Walk of Fame Singer's spot to be unveiled in March (ANSA) - Los Angeles, June 18 - Andrea Bocelli is to get a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. The pop-classical tenor will make his mark on the famed sidewalk next March along with Ringo Starr, Bryan Adams, Van Morrison, Russell Crowe, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth and James Cameron, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced.Bocelli's star will be unveiled on March 2 during the seventh edition of the 'Los Angeles-Italia' Film Festival, a week before the Oscars. Bocelli, 50, has sold 65 million albums worldwide and has performed at some of the world's top music venues with the likes of Sarah Brightman, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera and Laura Pausini. He won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination with Dion in 1999 for the song The Prayer from the film Quest for Camelot, and has two Grammy nominations to his credit. Bocelli's last performance was at last month's Champions League Final in Rome where he sang Honour Him from the film Gladiator.

2010 Walk of Fame honorees revealed

Russell Crowe, Adam Sandler, Bill Maher among names

Staff report

June 17, 2009, 09:37 PM ET

Russell Crowe, Adam Sandler, Bill Maher and Ringo Starr are among the entertainers who will have their names added to Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday that next year's Walk honorees from the world of motion pictures will be Crowe, Sandler, James Cameron, John Cusack, Colin Firth, Gale Anne Hurd, Alan Menken, Randy Newman, Emma Thompson and Mark Wahlberg. TV honorees are Maher, Chris Berman, Jon Cryer, Peter Graves, Jimmy Kimmel, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Sam Waterston. Recording artists to be recognized are Starr, Bryan Adams, the Funk Brothers, Alan Jackson, Chaka Khan, Van Morrison, Marco Antonio Solis, ZZ Top and the late Roy Orbison. Andrea Bocelli and the Cirque du Soleil's Guy Liberte will represent live performance and theater.

Andrea Bocelli wants to be remembered alongside Caruso, Pavarotti

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, June 13, 2009

By PRESTON JONES / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Andrea Bocelli's tenor, smooth and potent, is one of the world's most famous voices.

He has sold more than 65 million albums, lugged home dozens of industry awards and endeared himself to an adoring fan base while nonetheless incurring the wrath of numerous classical-music critics.

But criticism has never deterred Bocelli, who despite dabbling in song during his formative years and losing his sight to glaucoma at age 12, initially bypassed professional singing for a stint in law school.

"I have never abandoned music; music has never abandoned me," Bocelli said through an interpreter. "We were always close and went side by side. Even during that period of law school, music was always there."

Bocelli's latest studio album, Incanto, reaches back to his years growing up on his family's farm in Tuscany. Italian staples such as "Mamma" and "Funiculì Funiculà" are brought to robust life, as Bocelli relies on traditional instrumentation, avoiding pop gloss.

Incanto is about "memories of beautiful days, my house, my family when I was very, very young," Bocelli said. "Incanto is a selection of some of the most beautiful songs for tenors. These are songs I've loved since I was a child."

In support of Incanto, Bocelli will embark upon a six-date tour of the U.S. that brings him to American Airlines Center tonight. For this short tour, Bocelli said fans can expect a carefully selected set list – and perhaps a few surprises.

"The material for the concerts will be the typical material but in the repertoire of an Italian tenor," Bocelli said. "There will be pieces from opera, there will be songs from the Incanto album, and there will be some important guests as well."

Most people probably know of Bocelli, either from his appearances on PBS (he has released 11 concerts on DVD, most of which have been aired on public television) or his lone smash single, "Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)", a duet performed with fellow superstar Sarah Brightman.

Those who simply file him under the "pop" heading might be surprised to learn that the 50-year-old Bocelli is intent on staking a claim as one of Italy's premier operatic tenors, fighting for a place alongside all-time greats such as Enrico Caruso and Luciano Pavarotti.

"I very much like the idea of keeping [pop and opera] separate because they're like two languages that need to keep their own purity," Bocelli said. "When you sing opera or pop, the beauty in either of those is like speaking two different languages. The great attraction is being able to speak both of those languages with the right accent."

He's tackled everything from Puccini's La bohème and Tosca to Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Bizet's Carmen, although the classical establishment has been less than charitable in its assessment.

"The critic's duty is to report that Mr. Bocelli is not a very good singer," wrote Bernard Holland in a 2006 New York Times review. "The tone is rasping, thin and, in general, poorly supported. Even the most modest upward movement thins it even more, signaling what appears to be the onset of strangulation."

Bocelli takes the criticism in stride, continuing to follow his muse, wherever it may lead. (Being one of the world's best-selling artists, in any genre, can't hurt.)

"If you're talking about particular pieces of music, particular operas, there are plenty of them I haven't yet tried – plenty of those challenges yet," he said. "In general terms, I think that reality has far exceeded all my dreams, so I can consider myself extremely satisfied."

While he may be content on the surface, ask Bocelli what drives him, and the answer is at once succinct and slightly sappy.

"It's really the passion I have for music. Music, for me, is like a really powerful magnet, and it draws me toward that sound. It's the music that does it."Plan your life.