Andrea Bocelli Concerts Setlist

Andrea Bocelli is an Italian singer. He was born on September 22, 1958 in Lajatico, Italy. Bocelli was born with impaired vision. At age 12, he sadly went completely blind after a brain injury he suffered while playing goalkeeper in a football match with his friends. Thankfully, his passion for music stayed with him even after the tragic incident. As a young child, he learnt to play a whole slew of instruments, including the piano, flute and saxophone. He also trained his singing voice a lot.

Bocelli’s singing talent was evident from the get-go. At age 14, he won a talent contest with his performance of “O sole mio”. While he was playing with the idea of becoming a professional singer, he earned a law degree from the University of Pisa after high school. While in college, he was also making money by performing the earliest versions of an Andrea Bocelli concert at local bars as a pianist-singer.

In 1992, Italian rock star Zucchero was searching for a tenor voice for the demo tape of his upcoming single “Miserere”. Tenor is the highest male voice male voice type. Originally, famed tenor Luciano Pavarotti was supposed to be featured on the track, and Bocelli’s vocals were meant to be a placeholder in the production process. However, after Pavarotti heard Bocelli sing, he convinced Zucchero to keep him on the final version of the song. It worked, Miserere became an international hit in Europe. As a result, Bocelli was signed by the Italian record label Sugar Music.

Later that year, he won a competition in the prestigious Sanremo Music Festival, then made his debut at a classical Andrea Bocelli concert. In April 1994, he released his debut album titled “Il Mare Calmo della Sera” (which translates to "The Calm Evening Sea” in English). It was a moderate success.

However, his second album, the self-titled “Bocelli” from November 1995, was an absolute smash hit. It topped the charts in many European markets, including Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Interestingly, in his home country of Italy, it “only” peaked at the #8 spot on the FIMI chart. The song “Con te partirò” (“Time to Say Goodbye”) subsequently became one of the best selling singles of all time. Bocelli has released a total of 17 studio albums during his long career, the latest new Andrea Bocelli album being “Believe”, which came out in November 2020.

Andrea Bocelli’s biggest hits to date are the aforementioned “Con te partirò” (1995, “Time to Say Goodbye”), “Vivo per lei” (also 1995, “I Live for Her") featuring Marta Sanchez, and “The Prayer” (1998) featuring Céline Dion. He was also featured on the 2017 hit pop song by Ed Sheeran, “Perfect Symphony”.