Luciano Pavarotti

Luciano Pavarotti was an Italian operatic tenor whose six-decade career made him one of the most-iconic Italian opera figures of the 20th century — and one of the only classical-music artists to achieve substantial mainstream popular-music chart success. He was born Luciano Pavarotti on October 12, 1935, in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. His father Fernando Pavarotti was a baker and amateur tenor, and Luciano started singing in church and amateur choir performances from childhood.

His professional career began with his 1961 operatic debut as Rodolfo in Puccini's La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia. The 1960s and 1970s saw his rapid rise across major European opera houses (La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden) and American venues (the 1968 Metropolitan Opera debut). His performance came on February 17, 1972, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York — Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment, in which he hit nine consecutive high C's in the aria "Ah! Mes amis, quel jour de fête!" The performance earned him the standing ovation that anchored him as the "King of the High C's."

The 1990 "Three Tenors" concert at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome — featuring Pavarotti alongside Plácido Domingo and José Carreras — became one of the most-iconic classical-music commercial events in modern history. The accompanying live album sold over 11 million copies worldwide and remains the bestselling classical-music recording of all time. The Three Tenors continued performing at major international events including the 1994 Los Angeles Dodger Stadium concert and the 1998 Paris concert at the FIFA World Cup.

Pavarotti's continuous fundraising work for international humanitarian causes — particularly the Pavarotti & Friends concerts (1992–2003) that raised funds for War Child, the UNICEF, and other organizations — featured collaborations with Bono, Sting, Liza Minnelli, Mariah Carey, and many other major popular-music figures. He died of pancreatic cancer on September 6, 2007, at age 71, at his Modena home. His state funeral was attended by over 100,000 people.

His name Luciano is the Italian form of Lucianus, from the Latin Lucius (from lux meaning "light"). Luciano has been continuously climbing in American naming since the 2000s.