Luciano Pavarotti Artistfacts

October 12, 1935 - September 6, 2007
Luciano Pavarotti first had formal singing lessons in 1954 at the age of 19, when Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professi.onal tenor in his home town of Modena, Italy, offered to teach him without remuneration.
His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment took place at Covent Garden, London on June 2 1965. It was Pavarotti's performances of this role that earned him the nickname the "King of the High Cs."
In 1982, Pavarotti starred in the romantic comedy movie Yes, Gorgio. The film was roundly panned by the critics and his role as Giorgio earned him two Razzi nominations for Worst Actor and Worst New Star in 1983.
Pavarotti holds the world record for the most curtain calls in a single performance: He bowed 165 times at the Deutsche Opera in Berlin in February 1988, after appearing in Donizetti's opera L'Elisir D'Amore. The audience's applause lasted one hour and seven minutes.
Pavarotti became a worldwide household name in 1990 when his version of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot was used as the theme tune for the BBC TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. It subsequently reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart and the aria became his trademark song.
This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert held on the eve of the 1990 World Cup final with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. The live recording of the event became the biggest selling classical album of all time.
In 1998, Pavarotti became the first opera singer to perform on Saturday Night Live, performing alongside Vanessa L. Williams.
Pavarotti was married twice. He wed the singer Adua Veroni in 1961. They were married for 34 years and had three daughters: Lorenza, Cristina, and Giuliana. On December 13, 2003, Pavarotti married his former personal assistant, Nicoletta Mantovani, with whom he already had a daughter. A second child did not survive, because of complications at the time of birth.
Pavarotti was a keen horse rider. He would take his horse Henry for daily rides in the hills during his annual month-long summer break and organized the Pavarotti International, an international show jumping circuit competition.
During his career, Pavarotti performed a total of 379 times at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House.
Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006 and died of the disease on September 6, 2007 at his home in Modena.

(Source The Encyclopedia of Trivia.)