Andrea Bocelli

Piano lessons at six, blind at twelve after a football accident, and a law degree paid for by singing in piano bars.

Andrea Bocelli was born on 22 September 1958 in Lajatico, a village in the Tuscan hills, and grew up on the family farm. Born with congenital glaucoma, he had limited sight from the start. He began piano lessons at six, later adding flute and saxophone. At twelve, an accident during a football match brought on a brain haemorrhage, and he lost his sight completely. He carried on with his studies and took a law degree at the University of Pisa, singing in piano bars at night to pay his way.

Zucchero wrote 'Miserere' for Pavarotti. Pavarotti heard the demo and said the unknown should sing it.

After years of vocal study under Franco Corelli, Bocelli recorded a demo tape that reached the Italian rock star Zucchero Fornaciari, who had written a duet called "Miserere" with Luciano Pavarotti in mind. Pavarotti listened to the demo and reportedly told Zucchero to record it with Bocelli instead, because there was no one finer. Bocelli sang the track with Zucchero, and it became a hit across Europe.

He won the newcomers' section with 'Il mare calmo della sera'. The debut album of the same name went platinum in Italy.

Bocelli won the newcomers' section of the 1994 Sanremo Music Festival with "Il mare calmo della sera", and the debut album that carried its name went platinum in Italy. His second album, "Bocelli", followed a year later. Italy had found a tenor equally at home in the opera house and the pop charts.

More than 20 million copies sold, with 'Time to Say Goodbye' at number one across Europe.

Released in 1996, "Romanza" topped charts across Europe and went on to sell more than 20 million copies, which still makes it the best-selling album by an Italian artist. Its lead single, "Time to Say Goodbye" ("Con te partirò"), recorded with the soprano Sarah Brightman, reached number one in several countries and became one of the best-selling singles ever released.

More than five million copies, and a Guinness listing for holding the top three places on the American classical chart at once.

Recorded with the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, "Sacred Arias" sold more than five million copies, the most of any classical album by a solo artist. At one point Bocelli held the top three positions on the American classical chart at the same time, which earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records. The same year, "Sogno" entered the Billboard 200 at number four, his highest placing yet on the American pop chart.

An open-air amphitheatre in the hills above Lajatico, in use one weekend each July, with Bocelli as the headliner.

In 2006 Bocelli inaugurated the Teatro del Silenzio, an open-air amphitheatre built into the hillside above Lajatico. It hosts a short run of concerts each July, with Bocelli as the headliner, and for the rest of the year the stage area returns to a lake with a sculpture at its centre. The name means "theatre of silence", and for most of the year that is what it is.

The 2,402nd star on the Walk of Fame, and the World Cup's closing concert in Johannesburg the same summer.

On 2 March 2010 Bocelli received the 2,402nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That July he headlined "Celebrate Africa, The Grand Finale", the closing concert of the South Africa World Cup, in Johannesburg alongside Bryan Adams and the soprano Pretty Yende.

'Music for Hope' drew 2.8 million simultaneous viewers, the largest audience a classical live stream has had on YouTube.

On Easter Sunday 2020, with Italy locked down, Bocelli sang inside Milan's cathedral, the Duomo, with only the cathedral organist for company. The performance, titled "Music for Hope", streamed live on YouTube and drew 2.8 million simultaneous viewers, the largest audience for a classical live stream in the platform's history, with 28 million views inside its first day. He finished with "Amazing Grace", sung to an empty square from the cathedral steps.

Three decades after Sanremo, with more than 75 million records sold, the most of any classical solo artist.

Thirty years after the Sanremo win, Bocelli marked the anniversary with concerts across Europe and North America and a three-night run at the Teatro del Silenzio. The catalogue behind him stretches from complete operas to duets with Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa, and his records have sold more than 75 million copies, the most of any classical solo artist in history.