It’s time for the guys to take a well-deserved break following their fantastic performance at Sanremo. Their performances of Capolavoro and Who Wants to Live Forever, were phenomenal. Our journey with them through town, attending interviews, and witnessing amazing moments was truly exhilarating.

The beginning of this remarkable journey didn’t begin a year and a half ago when the song was written, and the decision to participate in Sanremo was made. It began15 years ago April 25, 2009.

I know everyone who knows Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca knows that their story really begins in episode four of Ti Lascio Una Canzone. So, I will just briefly tell you what happened for those who don’t know.

It is the fourth episode of Ti Lascio Una Canzone the boys are given the music for O Sole Mio. They walked out on the stage, sang O Sole Mio and walked off stars! 

Alone in his apartment, Michele Torpedine was sitting on his sofa with the volume off on his TV. The show he was watching was Ti Lascio Una Canzone. He keeps looking at the screen and he suddenly thinks Ignazio reminds him of Luciano Pavaroti, Gianluca seemed similar to Jose Carreras and Piero is similar to Placido Domingo. He still had not heard them sing. Out of curiosity, he raised the volume and Michele says, “Here I am aware of another element, that is even more important than the first. The three casually put together to sing a song of the program possess an incredible vocality for their age.”

At this point Michele’s head is spinning. He’s thinking these guys are good and again repeats it to himself, they’re good! He thinks, “What if I try to put them together seriously? A trio, he tells himself.”

The rest is history!

So, let’s step off the stage of Ti Lascio Una Canzone and follow The Long and Winding Road to Sanremo 2024.

After winning Ti Lascio Una Canzone, their parents negotiated a contract with Universal Studios which Piero commented about saying, “yesterday I was working at my uncle’s body shop and the following day I signed a millionaire’s contract with Universal.” Can we even begin to imagine what Jimmy Iovine was thinking? All he heard was a recording of O Sole Mio and he gave them a million-dollar contract!

This is how amazing they were and still are. This was so unique because the American music industry opened its door to three, unknown, Italian teenage boys. They were the first Italian artists in history to sign a contract directly with a major American music label. Unheard of!

Following the signing of the contract with Universal, a musical journey began!

Their music was Operatic pop or popera. What was this new movement? It’s singing Opera in a more classical style. While opera is very strict and regimented, popera is more ethereal it has a lighter feeling, and it moves freely. It takes away the hard edges of opera and replaces it with a more ethereal feel while still presenting the drama and the high notes of the opera.

This along with the classical Neapolitan songs became a big draw. Why did it work? One reason is three amazing voices! If the voice wasn’t there, the song wasn’t going to sell.

I think a lot about this today, as the guys are going through a transition with their music, they still realize that the reason they were and still are so successful with their concerts is their bel canto. Times change they change but bel canto lives on! Only now, they give us so much more with their individual personalities and songs! Can’t wait for the new album!

Going back to the beginning, as I’m writing this piece, I’m thinking about where I came into the picture.

For me, the magic began one morning when I was walking to work on the west side of New York. ABC Studios was a few blocks from my office on 47^th. On this particular morning there was a large crowd standing outside and in the middle of the group were three teenage boys. I stopped to listen; I was amazed. Who are they and how do I get to see them perform. Well over the next few days they were everywhere!  On all the day shows! On all the night shows! And then the real magic began when, about six months later, I turned on PBS and there they were! And I fell in LOVE!

Back to the guy’s journey through America.

Coming to America was exciting for them. It was new it was different they couldn’t believe their eyes. They couldn’t believe this other world that they were in. A world so different from Italy!

 

In 2010, they joined Quincy Jones’ “We are The World for Haiti” a charity event. They performed alongside 80 other international artists including Celine Dion, Bono, Lady Gaga, Barbra Streisand, Usher, Natalie Cole, and more. Il Volo were the only Italian artists to be invited. The three voices from the background caused such a sensation that everyone was asking, “Who was that?” They couldn’t believe what they were hearing but, “Who were they?” Soon they would find out!

In May 2010 their first album was released.

Their first album was self-titled Il Volo. It received platinum certification in Italy and the Spanish edition of the album received a nomination for Best Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 12^th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2011. The album also debuted at number 1 on the US Top Classical Albums Chart.

And so, the awards begin!

In April 2013 they released a Spanish version of We Are Love, titled Más Que Amor, which includes a duet with Mexican singer Belinda. The album débuted at number 1 on the Billboard Latin Pop Albums. Más Que Amor was certified “Gold” in Mexico and Argentina. And this catapulted them into the Latin market. From that day on they took the Latin market by storm. This is unheard of! Three Italian kids taking over the Latin market!

In February 2014, they receive two nominations at the 2014 Latin Billboard Music Awards, as “Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Duo or Group” and “Latin Pop Albums Artist of the Year, Duo or Group.” At the awards show they were awarded as “Best Group of the Year in the Latin Pop Album” category and they won “El Pulso Social Award,” as the artist who dominated interactions on social networking sites during the Billboard Awards.

On February 14, 2015, they won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015 with Grande Amore winning 39.05% of the total vote over the 2 leading challengers. This is the top award in the Music Industry in Italy. With this win the guys really came home. They were finally recognized by the Italian people.

This win gave them the opportunity to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. As Italy is a member of the Big Five, the group went straight into the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Vienna on May 23, 2015. Grande Amore came in 3^rd with 292 points but, they won the televote with 366 points and won the Marcel Bezencon Press Award, as best song according to the collective voting of the accredited press. The extended play Sanremo Grande Amore was released in Italy on February 20, 2015, and it was certified triple platinum by FIMI.

At the Latin Billboard Awards, they dominated the social networking sites, and they won the televote and the best song according to collective voting by the accredited press. The people speak!

This was their first try at Sanremo and they won! Phenomenal.

They did return to Sanremo in 2019 and this time they won third place with Musica che resta.

This is just to mention a few of their achievements. There are so many more achievements, but they are too numerous to mention.

Moving along the journey let’s stop at the Back to Brooklyn Tour with Barbara Streisand.

In 2012, Barbara Streisand invited them to join her “Back to Brooklyn Tour,” which included twelve performances in the United States and Canada. They were not an opening act, no, they shared the stage with Barbara. To the guys this was a dream come true!

With each step that they took along the journey they became more and more popular.

 

The Christmas Concert at the Italian Senate December 21, 2014, was a highlight in their career.  Ignazio wrote in their book: “We want to talk about the thrill of singing in front of the highest offices of state! What twenty-year-old boy has something like that happen? It happened to us, and it seems to me a beautiful result, an honor. You cannot imagine the emotional feeling to be called “guests of honor” inside the Senate. We were accompanied by the fantastic Filarmonia Orchestra Veneta conducted by Diego Basso. Half the beauty of the song is in the orchestra.

The most exciting moments? Everyone! But the hymn of Mameli was the heart-pounding one, the first song, singing in that place, with everyone singing along with us, including Giorgio Napolitano, (President) and Pietro Grasso (President of the Senate). It is one thing that I cannot explain.

And then, of course, the pleasure of shaking hands with the President of the Republic and of feeling that he knows Marsala, he has been there.”

Piazza Santa Croce in Florence, July 1, 2016 “Notte Magica” – 2016-2017 were the years dedicated to the “Notte Magica” project, the tribute to the 1990 event where the Three Tenors, Josè Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, enchanted the whole world from the stage of the Baths of Caracalla. On July 1^st in Piazza Santa Croce in Florence Il Volo presented on stage “Notte Magica – A Tribute to the Three Tenors,” which was broadcast in prime time on Canale 5.  The guys were joined by Placido Domingo who conducted the orchestra. This marked the beginning of the world tour of “Notte Magica – A Tribute to The Three Tenors” which debuted on March 4, 2017 at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. The show was sold out. After 15 stops in the United States, all sold out, the tour is extended to Europe from May 5, 2017 for 29 performances and from September it extended to Latin America. The concert “Notte Magica – Tribute to the Three Tenors” was filmed and broadcast in the United States by the national television network PBS, and in Italy by Canale 5 and, starting in June, it was broadcast in over 500 cinemas in Italy and around the world.

World Youth Day Jan 27, 2019 – If you ask the guys after winning Sanremo, which truly brought them home, “What was your greatest performance,” they would probably answer, there were two. Singing for the Holy Father at World Youth Day was one of the most amazing events in their life!

So much has happened since World Youth Day. But the most important event going forward was the guys presenting their individuality.

So, let’s see how they express this Individuality….

Elton Johns’ lyrics to Your Song expresses the romantic thoughts of an innocent person. Gianluca brings the song to another dimension. He is very romantic and everything he sings turns into a love song. His warm beautiful voice expresses the thoughts behind Elton John’s  words.

The beautiful words of this song certainly express Gianluca’s feelings for his mother, Eleonora, who he is singing too and who has been at his side throughout his career.

His beautiful rendition of this song would make Elton John praise his performance. Gianluca got a well-deserved standing ovation! Just phenomenal!

What can I say about Piero singing No Puede Ser? It’s my favorite aria that Piero sings. He takes my breath away. No one, and I have heard many tenors sing No Puede Ser, no one sings it like Piero.

Always a showstopper, always a highlight, a splendid moment in the concert. I wait for you at La Scala!  A Phenomenal performance!

Ignazio sings Beyonce’s beautiful song Listen. It’s a song that expresses how many people are feeling.

You are right Ignazio, it’s time to find your own voices. Ignazio knocks it out of the box with this song. His voice goes to unreal heights.  Not only does he express how we are all feeling but he gives us a beautiful version of the song that fills our souls with emotion. And, little Julian adds to the moment with his phenomenal saxophone accompaniment. As I said before, guys, Julian is all of you at 8 years old. Now you know how people felt when they experienced your voices at such a young age!

So, this was the beginning of a new era for Il Volo. The beginning of expression! Their own expression. Their own feelings. Feelings they wanted to share with us.

We all know what the true magic of Il Volo is. The magic of Il Volo is on the stage, in the concert halls, in Arenas and Amphitheaters, on TV, in videos and CD’s but the true magic of Il Volo is in our hearts.

When we leave the concerts, we don’t leave them behind! No, we take them with us! They’re with us in our homes, in cars, on trains and on planes. How many of you out there can say that you ever felt that way about a singer or a group at any other time in your life? I’ll answer for you! Never! Because no other group in history has ever been so open, so sincere and so forthcoming with their fans.

And these past weeks, the guys shared some remarkable moments with us. They were the shining light at Sanremo 2024. The press can say what they want but we know what we want. We want the guys who have brought us happiness these last 15 years. We followed them along The Long and Winding Road and we enjoyed every minute of it. And, we plan to follow them through their celebrations this year and to continue down this road with them.

Join me next week as I go back Through the Fields of My Mind and bring to you the next exciting adventure of Il Volo.

Capolavoro is available on all digital platforms including Spotify and Amazon Music.

Who Wants to Live Forever is available on all digital platforms including Spotify and Amazon Music

If you would like to share a story with me, please email:  susan.flightcrew@yahoo.com

To read more Il Volo stories visit us at http://www.ilvoloflightcrw.com and don’t forget to visit the Archives.

Credit to owners of photo and videos.