[55] In March, he was honoured by the Italian state with a Grande Ufficiale Italian Order of Merit (Grand Officer of the Italian Republic), given to him by then President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. Creare e celebrare la bellezza, non solo per se stessa ma per il bene dell'umanità”. Although born with sight, he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma and ultimately lost his sight completely at age 12. In March for the first time he appeared as a producer, at the Sanremo Festival, where the young artists Allunati and Jacqueline Ferry sang for his new record label, Clacksong.
On 21 November, a segment of Leute Heute, a German tabloid-program on ZDF, was about My Christmas and Bocelli's meeting in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI and 250 other artists, an event which was broadcast live earlier that day in Italy, by Rai Uno. Singer Celine Dion has said that "if God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli",[2][15] and record producer David Foster has often described Bocelli's voice as the most beautiful in the world. [162] Other fans include Albert II, Prince of Monaco, who invited the tenor to sing at his wedding, as well as Sarah, Duchess of York, and actress Isabella Rossellini. He then returning to Italy, for a concert in the Upper Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, on 19 December, which was broadcast directly after the Urbi et Orbi blessing of Pope Benedict XVI, 25 December, on Rai Uno. I always knew, even before I played in piano bars about the effect of my voice,” he told The Independent in 2013. [2][6][7] His first compilation album, Romanza, is one of the best-selling albums of all time, while Sacred Arias is the biggest selling classical album by any solo artist in history. "[164], In describing Bocelli's singing, The New York Times music critic Bernard Holland noted, "the tone is rasping, thin and, in general, poorly supported. [27], As winner of the newcomers section at the 1994 Sanremo Festival, Bocelli was invited to return the following year. He released his first studio album, ‘Il Mare Calmo della Sera’, in 1994. . The two appearances coincided with Bocelli's Asian tour, consisting of a concert in Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, on 28 April,[98][99] a concert in Jamsil Gymnasium, Seoul, South Korea, on 2 May,[100] a concert in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Hong Kong, on 4 May,[101][102] a concert in Taipei Arena, Taipei, Taiwan, on 6 May,[101][102] and finally a free concert, organized by the YTL Corporation, at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, in Singapore, on 8 May, attended by over 12,000 people, picked via public ballot.
At the 42nd Grammy Awards, Bocelli was nominated twice. On 2 July, he performed at the Paris concert as part of the Live 8 event. [37] At the invitation of Steven Spielberg, Bocelli sang in Los Angeles on 15 May before Bill Clinton at an event on behalf of the Democratic Party. He received another Echo Klassik award for "Bestseller of the year" for Sacred Arias. He was accompanied by the I Solisti Veneti orchestra, celebrating its 50th birthday and conducted by Claudio Scimone, and by the Wiener Singakademie choir. Agire, non esitare. The duet was included on Dion's album These Are Special Times (1998) and was re-issued with the DVD of the TV special in 2007. Besides his marriage, something else also occurred in 1992 that ended up altering Bocelli’s career trajectory. In April and May, he toured Asia again, visiting Manila, Hong Kong and Singapore.
[28][37] As the "Tenor Conte Andrea" he performed three arias: "La donna è mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto; "Tu, che m' hai preso il cuor" from Franz Lehár's Das Land Des Laechelns and "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" from Verdi's La traviata. [182] The couple live in Forte dei Marmi on the Mediterranean. He was accompanied by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Steven Mercurio with special guest Soprano Ana Maria Martinez and a surprise appearance by Sarah Brightman to sing with Bocelli on "Time to Say Goodbye." On 7 May, Bocelli and Tony Renis received a Telegatto Italian Television award for the soundtrack of the series Cuore.
In an interview in Pisa, he told a group of Inter fans that "My passion for Inter started during my college years, when Inter was winning everything in Italy and the world.
[1] Bocelli lives with his second wife and manager, Veronica Berti.