If you thought you only heard of singer Stevie Wonder who was blind, who still went on to make some great love songs which are still loved today, listen to the music of Andrea Bocelli, who also like Wonder is a man that has won laurels despite his blindness.

Andrea Bocelli was born on September 22nd, 1958, and grew up on the family farm in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy a close knit farming community set among the vineyards and olive groves of rural Tuscany. The farm includes a small vineyard, from which Andrea's father, Sandro, still produces a small quantity of the famous wine Chianti Bocelli. Bocelli was born with congenital glaucoma, and was blinded at the age of 12 by a cerebral hemorrhage, which he suffered when hit in the head while playing soccer. Displaying rare musical gifts from an early age, Andrea's parents nurtured and encouraged his talents with formal piano lessons from the age of six, later learning to play both flute and saxophone. Andrea's love of opera was also apparent from an early age. He feels he was destined to sing. Whenever he had his relatives come over, he was asked by them to sing a few songs. According to him, it’s other people who decide whether you can be a singer or not.

After school, Andrea studied law at the University of Pisa. Graduating as a Doctor of Law, Andrea spent a year acting as a court-appointed lawyer, before embarking on a make-or-break attempt at singing. He approached the legendary tenor, Franco Corelli, famous for working with some of the greatest voices in the world, who readily agreed to take Andrea as his pupil. To pay the fees Andrea performed at night in piano bars and clubs. At one such place he met Enrica, his future wife to be. The couple married soon after and has been blessed with two sons, Amos and Matteo.

Living a simple life in a homely setup, Andrea never really dreamt that he would see the arc lights and be a well known singer. It was his dream but not a reality, as he never really had the means to do it. But all that changed when in 1992 a chain of events accelerated Andrea from piano bar performer to international superstardom: Italian rock legend Zucchero held auditions for tenors to make a demo tape of the duet ‘Miserere’, the track co-written with U2's Bono, in attempt to persuade Luciano Pavarotti to record the song. When Zucchero heard Andrea he just could not believe what he had discovered. According to a music mag interview, Zucchero stated. “He had something not one of the other tenors possessed. He had soul." When Pavarotti received the demo, he was extremely impressed with Andrea's voice. While thanking Zucchero, Pavarotti also shot back saying that the singer he heard would do justice to the song rather than himself. "Thank You for writing such a wonderful song. Yet you do not need me to sing it - Let Andrea sing Miserere with you, for there is no one finer”, went the letter. Thus Zucchero convinced Pavarotti to record ‘Miserere’ with him, and the duo scored a Europe-wide smash hit. When Zucchero embarked on his European tour, with the public crying out to hear the hit live, he invited Bocelli to perform the duet in place of Pavarotti. Bocelli was received tremendously, and a solo spot was incorporated into the concerts.

Pavarotti later arranged to meet with Andrea, and a friendship was formed. Andrea's fame and popularity increased with a high profile performance at Pavarotti's annual charity gala concert, which brings together the worlds of classical and popular music, and this saw Andrea performing not only with his host, but with stars of popular music including Bryan Adams. A 1995 pan-Europe tour, Night of the Proms featuring Bocelli, Bryan Ferry, Al Jarreau and others, saw Andrea performing to a live audience totaling 500,000 with televised audiences numbering tens of millions.

Andrea's recording career begun in earnest when in 1993 he signed to Inseieme/Sugar, the Milan-based music group founded in the 1930's that represent scores of famous Italian artists. Caterina Caselli, Sugar's President, heard Andrea sing ‘Miserere’ and Nessun dorma at Zucchero's birthday party and a deal was made immediately. In November 1993 Andrea entered the preliminary round of the prestigious Italian Sanremo Music Festival performing both parts of the duet ‘Miserere’. Andrea won the preliminary competition with the highest marks ever recorded in the "New Entrants" category. In spring of 1994 Andrea entered the main competition with ‘II mare calmo della sera’, and the victory was again awarded with a record score. His debut album was released and it immediately entered the Italian Top Ten and went platinum in a matter of weeks.

As winner of the 1994 Sanremo Festival Andrea was invited, as in the tradition, to return the following year. Andrea entered with ‘Con Te Partiro’ taken from his second album “Bocelli” produced by another of Italy's leading record producers, Mauro Malavasi. The album went on to achieve double platinum sales in Italy.

Bocelli's worldwide success has been phenomenal, scoring No.1 singles and albums. The singles ‘Con Te Partiro’ and ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ have smashed sales records in several countries, while Andrea's albums have amassed sales awards across Europe. Bocelli's original solo version of the single ‘Con Te Partiro’, featured on the album “Bocelli” was a massive hit; in France the single topped the charts for 6 weeks, earning a triple Gold sales award; in Belgium the single became the biggest hit of all time, spending 12 weeks at No.1 The album “Bocelli” has been awarded Platinum status is all territories of releases, including sextuple platinum in Belgium, quadruple platinum in Germany (selling nearly two million copies), quadruple platinum in Holland and double platinum in Italy. In November 1996, Andrea and Sarah Brightman were invited to perform the duet "Time to Say Goodbye” (‘Con Te Partiro’) at the farewell contest of the German World Light-Heavyweight boxing champion, Henry Maske. A national hero held in unrivaled esteem, he is known for his love of selecting entrance themes to his bouts. Sarah Brightman, the internationally renowned soprano and friend of Henry Maske heard ‘Con Te Partiro’ in a restaurant while dining with her friends. Entranced by the singer and the song, Brightman made contact with Andrea and re-recorded ‘Con Te Partiro’ as the duet ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ with members of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Maske unfortunately was defeated on points by US champion Virgil Hill. As the German public paid tribute to their departing hero, the arena was filled with the glorious sound of ‘Time to Say Goodbye’. The hearts and minds of the German nation were captured. The single was released and shot to No.1 where it resided for 14 weeks. With sales nearing 3 million copies, and a sextuple platinum award. ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ has eclipsed the previous best-selling single by well over 1 million copies. However, it was “Romanza”, Bocelli's international debut album released in 1997, which took him to even greater heights of success. Going multi-platinum in virtually all territories of release. With his recent release of “Sogno” selling in excess of 4 million copies in just a couple months, is a testament to the power of his unique voice and irresistible warmth in overcoming barriers of language and culture.

In subsequent years, Andrea has performed at Paris, Bologna, Torre Del Lago and Vatican City. He released further albums until entering the American market in 1998 with a concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC and White House reception. Both that year and in 1999, Andrea embarked on tours to North and South America and did duets with Celine Dion and even performed the first Internet live opera broadcast in its entirety from the Detroit Opera House.

In 2002, Andrea repeated his America tour, winning two World Music Awards. Since then, Andrea has continued his career with concert appearances throughout the world, including singing during the NBA’s All Star Weekend in Houston. He sang ‘Because we Believe’ from his 2006 album “Amore” during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

In 2006, Bocelli worked with the six finalists of American Idol to help them sing the week's themed songs, "classic love songs". He was especially impressed with Katharine McPhee. She accepted his offer to perform with him on the 3 California dates

Talk about charity, and Bocelli is in the forefront. He has sung for many charitable events and occasions worldwide. One of the striking charities he did was for the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake relief and performed in a large, televised concert in Italy in March 2005, entitled Music for Asia.

Not limited to singing, Andrea has contributed to several written works, including a short piece on friendship in a compilation by Doris S. Platt, and both the foreword and an interview-chapter to an Italian book about joint custody. He also wrote an autobiography, “La Musica del silenzio” (Italian for The Music of Silence), which was published in 1999.The English edition was out the following year as “Andrea Bocelli: The Autobiography.”

Andrea Bocelli is today known worldwide as a singer, writer and music producer. He is labeled as a classical crossover and operatic tenor, and has recorded over 10 albums besides various classical and pop albums. Besides a brand new album in October this year, Bocelli has also worked with pop diva Jennifer Lopez and Nelly Furtado on duets for his album 'Passione' (2013).

If you have not listened to his music, let this article be the introduction to his music.

 -- By Verus Ferreira