Il Divo

Record executive, TV personality, and entrepreneur Simon Cowell had the idea of forming a popular/classical crossover group of operatic singers. He spent two years scouring the world before finalizing the line-up in December 2003: Carlos Marín (Spain), Urs Bühler (Switzerland), Sébastien Izambard (France), and David Miller (United States). Cowell gave the quartet an Italian name – Il Divo - and fashioned their image as a younger, sexier version of The Three Tenors. Singing in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin, they released their self-titled debut album in 2004, becoming an international phenomenon in the process. The debut album knocked British superstar Robbie Williams from the top of the UK Albums Chart and went to number 1 in a dozen other countries. Il Divo’s second album, Ancora (2005), included a Céline Dion duet and topped the US charts. Subsequent albums included The Christmas Collection (2005), Voices (2006), Siempre (2006), The Promise (2008), Wicked Game (2011), A Musical Affair (2013), Amor & Pasión (2015), and Timeless (2018). The group’s albums were extremely successful, selling over 30 million copies and leading to many awards including Artist of the Decade at the Classic Brit Awards in 2011. Il Divo has performed all around the world and have undertaken 15 successful tours. In 2021, they released the album For Once in My Life: A Celebration of Motown, an album filled with their unique versions of songs taken from the legendary Motown Records’ catalog. On December 7, 2021, Carlos Marín – who had released solo material before and during Il Divo’s formation – was hospitalized in Manchester, England after contracting COVID-19. After being put into a medically induced coma to try to save his life, he died on December 19, 2021, at the age of 53. In tribute to their fallen bandmate, the remaining three members did a Greatest Hits tour in 2022, where they were joined by Mexican American vocalist Steven Labrie, who was not made an official member of Il Divo until August 2023. The group announced their 10th album, XX, which was to be released in February 2024. The album – released to coincide with their 20th anniversary - is their first with Steven Labrie.