Albums
II mare calmo della sera (1994)
Bocelli (1995)
Viaggio Italiano (1996)
II mare calmo della sera (1996)
Romanza (1996)
Aria - The Opera Album (1997)
Hymn for the World (1997)
Viaggio italiano (199
Hymn for the World 2 (199
Sogno (1999)
Sacred Arias (1999)
Verdi (2000) #23 US,
Cieli di Toscana (2001)
Sentimento (2002) v
iaggio italiano (2003)
Andrea (2004)
Amore (2006)
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (with Ana María Martínez et al) (2006)
The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere (2007)

Singles
Time To Say Goodbye (Con Te Partirò) (Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli) (1996)
Vivo Per Lei - Ich Lebe Für Sie (1997)
Cantò Della Terra / The Prayer (Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli) (1999)
Ave Maria / Silent Night (1999)
Cantò Della Terra / The Prayer (Celine Dion & Andrea Bocelli) (2000)
Melodramma (2001)
Con te partirò (2007)
Dare to Live (Laura Pausini & Andrea Bocelli)(200

Operas
La bohème (2000)
Tosca (2003)
Il trovatore (2004)
Werther (2005)

CD/DVD packages
una notta nella Toscana (1997)
Sacred Arias (2000)
Under the Desert Sky (2006)
CELINE DION "These Are Special Times (2007) (originally aired 199
Vivere Live in Tuscany (200

Bocelli was born in Lajatico in Tuscany, Italy in 1958 and grew up on the family farm. At the age of six he started piano lessons before also learning to play the flute and saxophone. Bocelli would also spend time singing during his childhood and would later recall that he was "one of those children who would always be asked to sing for my relatives. I don't think one really decides to be a singer - other people decide it for you by their reactions."In 1970, when he was twelve years old he was blinded in an accident when he was hit in the head during a football match in Tuscany. That same year he also won his first song competition, the Margherita d'Oro in Viareggio with O sole mio.

After he finished secondary school, in 1980 began studying Law at the University of Pisa.After graduating as a Doctor of Law he spent one year as a court appointed lawyer. To pay for the fees Bocelli performed in the evenings at piano bars. Also in 1992 he attended a master-class with Italian tenor Franco Corelli, singing "Che gelida manina" from Giacomo Puccini's La bohème, who took him on as a pupil.


Career

1992-1994
In 1992, Italian rock star Zucchero held auditions for tenors to make a demo tape with him of the song Miserere from his album of the same name, to send to Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti. After hearing Bocelli on tape, Luciano Pavarotti urged Zucchero to use Bocelli instead of him, saying, "Thank you for writing such a wonderful song. Yet you do not need me to sing it. Let Andrea sing Miserere with you, for there is no one finer."

Zucchero eventually persuaded Pavarotti to record the song with him and it became a hit throughout Europe. In Zucchero's European concert tour in 1993, it was Bocelli who accompanied him to sing the duet and he was also given solo sets in the concerts, singing "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot. Bocelli signed with the Sugar Records music label in Milan after the group's President heard Bocelli sing Miserere and Nessun dorma at a birthday party for Zucchero. In November he entered the preliminary round of the Italian Sanremo Music Festival in the category of Giovani performing both parts of the duet Miserere. He won the preliminary competition with the highest marks ever recorded in the Newcomers section. On 28 December, he debuted in the classical world in a concert at the Teatro Romolo Valli in Reggio Emilia.

In February 1994 he entered the main Sanremo Festival competition with II mare calmo della sera, and he won the "Newcomers" section, again with a record score. His debut album, named after the song, was released and immediately entered the Italian Top Ten, going platinum within weeks.

In May he toured with Italian pop singer, Gerardina Trovato. In September he sang at Pavarotti's annual Charity Gala concert, Pavarotti International in Modena where he sang Ruggero Leoncavallo's "Mattinata" and sang a duet with Pavarotti, Maurizio Morante's Notte e Piscatore. He also sang "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata in the finale, along with Nancy Gustafson, Giorgia, Andreas Vollenweider and Bryan Adams and also Adams' song All for love.

In September he made his debut in an opera as Macduff in Verdi's, Macbeth at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa. He performed the hymn, Adeste Fideles in Rome before Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Basilica at Christmas.


1995-1997
As winner of the 1994 Newcomers section at the Sanremo Festival, he was invited to return the following year, entering the main competition with Con te partirò and finished in fourth place.Con te partirò was included in his album, Bocelli which was released in Spring and produced by Italian record producers, Mauro Malavasi. The album went on to achieve double platinum sales in Italy. His third album, Viaggio Italiano was releasted in autumn.

In November, Bocelli performed in Belgium and the Netherlands at the annual Night of the Proms a series of concerts which consist of a combination of po