Il Divo

Blending operatic technique with pop appeal, the four-member vocal ensemble Il Divo reached listeners worldwide through their culturally varied backgrounds and polished romantic interpretations that merged classical repertoire with contemporary material. Assembled by former American Idol judge and music executive Simon Cowell, the group surfaced in the early 2000s with an immaculate synthesis of opera, crossover classical, and pop. Their first collection, the 2005 release Il Divo, broke through commercially to earn multi-platinum certification and establish them as international headliners; continued chart presence and extensive touring followed, sustained by recordings in multiple languages and an expansive stylistic range of repertoire.

After an exhaustive nearly three-year search, the lineup that convened in late 2003 consisted of American tenor David Miller, popular French singer Sébastien Izambard, Swiss tenor Urs Buhler, and Spanish baritone Carlos Marin. Their self-titled debut appeared in April 2005 and mixed an eclectic selection of material that encompassed a version of the Toni Braxton hit “Unbreak My Heart,” the Frank Sinatra standard “My Way,” and “Nella Fantasia,” a vocal adaptation of “Gabriel’s Oboe” drawn from Ennio Morricone’s score for The Mission. The album scored an immediate global success, prompting the quartet’s swift return later that year with the ten-track Ancora, which included the duet “I Believe in You” alongside Celine Dion. The similarly oriented Siempre followed in 2006 and Promise arrived in 2008.

Their sixth studio effort, 2011’s Wicked Game, presented ten fresh recordings such as “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” “Come What May (Te Amore),” and a reinterpretation of the Chris Isaak-penned title track. A first Greatest Hits anthology emerged in 2012, accompanied by a European and North American tour, while 2013 brought the show-tunes collection A Musical Affair. Following those performances and a brief respite, the members reconvened in 2015 for the seventh album Amor & Pasión, which centered on Spanish-language themes and prompted another world tour. Timeless surfaced in 2018 under the production of Alberto Quintero and spotlighted beloved romantic soundtrack selections spanning several decades; the concert recording Live at the Budokan 2018 appeared the next year. Carlos Marin succumbed to COVID-19 on December 19, 2021, after which baritone Steven Labrie joined the remaining members for their 2022 Greatest Hits Tour.