Album of the year” for “SACRED ARIAS” and he is also awarded an Echo Klassik Award (Germany) as Best Seller of the Year..

He sings Ave Maria before the smoking ruins of Ground Zero.

The astronaut Umberto Guidoni asks Nasa to be woken up in space on board the Shuttle by “Con te partirò” and Tito, the first “space tourist” Cosmonaut, to experience the wonders of the Universe from space, asks to include Andrea’s “BOCELLI” album in his 7 kilos of allowed baggage.

He plays the leading role of L’Amico Fritz by Mascagni, alongside Cecilia Gasdia, in the Philharmonic Theatre of Verona, on stage with Steven Mercurio and directed by Marco Gandini.

By now the total number of records sold throughout the world since the beginning of his career exceeds 40 million.

He carries the Olympic torch at the Sydney Olympics and takes part in the opening concert at the Sydney Opera House.

In May he receives the Classical Brits Award for ‘Album of the year” for “Sacred Arias” and he is also awarded an Echo Klassik Award (Germany) as Best Seller of the Year.

He performs at the Millennium Concert in Paris under the Eiffel Tower, under the direction of M° Seiji Ozawa, accompanied by the Toronto Symphonic Orchestra, the Paris Symphonic Orchestra with a chorus of 170 voices and a treble voice chorus of 200 children. He is also a protagonist of the closing concert of the European Football Championship of Rotterdam.

He sings for Pope John Paul II for the fourth time, in Rome before a crowd of more than 400,000 and he records the official anthem for the Jubilee Year “Gloria a te, Cristo Gesù”.

Andrea is nominated as “New Artist” for the Grammy Awards.

He performs at the Millennium Concert in Paris under the Eiffel Tower, under the direction of M° Seiji Ozawa, accompanied by the Toronto Symphonic Orchestra, the Paris Symphonic Orchestra with a chorus of 170 voices and a treble voice chorus of 200 children. He is also a protagonist of the closing concert of the European Football Championship of Rotterdam.

In October he made his debut in the United States in Werther by Massenet and in Detroit with Steven Mercurio on the podium and Denyce Graves acting as Charlotte.

He makes his debut at the Verona Area, as a guest at the Gala of “The Merry Widow” directed by Anton Guadagno and alongside Cecilia Gasdìa.

Andrea is nominated as “New Artist” for the Grammy Awards.

The song wins a Golden Globe Award in the Best Original Song category for a film score (for the animation “A quest for Camelot”).

By now he has sold more than 23 million records in the world since the start of his career.

In the United States he is top of the mainstream charts with 4 records at the same time (“Sogno”, “Romanza”, “Aria” and “Viaggio Italiano”).

American Music Awards for “Best in the World” and National Music Award for “Best Classical Artist”.

In November he sings “The Prayer” as a duet with Céline Dion: the Canadian artist says of Andrea “If God could sing, He would sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli”.

In Germany in September Andrea receives the ’Echo Klassik Award for record sales of the “Best Classical Album” Aria.

On 5th May Andrea wins two World Music Awards in Monte Carlo for “Best Italian Singer” and “Best Classical Performance”.

Receives an invitation to lunch with President Clinton at the White House: the press headlines say “Andrea on Top of the World”.

Bocelli holds concerts in all of the main cities in Europe, Asia, North, Central and South America, performing in the most prestigious venues in the world.

“Time to say Goodbye”, is the best selling single of all times in Germany with 3 million records sold, 15 weeks at number one, almost a whole year in the Top Ten and goes platinum 6 times (Album + Singles).

800,000 spectators take part in the closing concert of the “XII Worldwide Day for Youth” in Paris, with Pope John Paul II.

The album “Viaggio Italiano” is classified in Germany as a best seller by the Echo Klassik Award and the Bambi Award in the Classic category.

He debuts in his first opera recitals in Cagliari and Torre del Lago, performing duets and arias ranging from Madame Butterfly to Tosca as well as the aria “dei nove Do” taken from the “Figlia del Reggimento”, encored by the crowds.

“Con te partirò, Time to say Goodbye”, is performed on TV in the duet version, with the English singer Sarah Brightman, during the boxing champion Henry Maske’s last fight, and it wins Bocelli the prestigious Echo Award in Hamburg for “Best Singer of the year”.

The “Bocelli” album, featuring the major hit “Con te partirò” is top of the charts all over Europe. Number one in France for 6 weeks, it goes triple gold. Number one in Belgium for 12 weeks. Quadruple Platinum in Germany.

He returns to the Sanremo Festival, but this time as a star, with “Con te partirò”.

On Christmas night, following an invitation by the Holy Father, he sings “Adeste Fideles” in the Sala Nervi at the Vatican.

He makes his debut in the opera at Pisa, Mantova, Lucca and Livorn in Macbeth (Macduff), directed by Claudio Desderi.

He takes part in the Sanremo Festival and wins the “newcomers” category with “Il mare calmo della sera” which launches him into Italian homes and into the world of great music.

A Tuscan, like Puccini and Mascagni, Andrea Bocelli was born on 22nd September 1958 in the family farm of Lajatico, among the vineyards of the countryside of Pisa. His parents must be given credit for having encouraged young Andrea’s musical talent, allowing him to start studying the piano from the age of only six years old. Later his musical passion extended to the flute and the saxophone but it was in his voice that Andrea discovered the ideal instrument. This was the beginning of the formative process which would produce Bocelli, the star, “a modern but old fashioned tenor” (as he likes to describe himself). In 1970 he enjoyed his first success in a singing competition: performing ‘O sole mio’. After studying singing with Maestro Luciano Bettarini), Bocelli approached Franco Corelli, an artist whom he had always worshipped. In order to pay for singing lessons, Andrea played the piano in the local bars and in the meantime he continued to develop his interest in humanities and graduated in Law at the University of Pisa. Just in the same period that saw his launch in the world of pop, having been discovered by Caterina Caselli and signed to her record label “Sugar”, Andrea had an opportunity to make his debut on the operatic stage, in 1994 in Verdi’s Macbeth (in the role of Macduff) directed by Claudio Desderi. That Christmas he was invited to sing the Adeste Fideles in St Peters before the Pope. No more courtrooms or requests in piano bars: this was the start of a meteoric rise. Andrea Bocelli had found the stage. In fact the stage had found Andrea Bocelli and would never leave him.