Andrea Bocelli, ( born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and singer-songwriter. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following an association football accident.
Bocelli has recorded fourteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists.
In 1998, he was named one of People 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards. "The Prayer", his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. Sacred Arias became the biggest-selling classical crossover album by a solo artist of all time, and with over twenty million copies sold worldwide, his 1997 pop album Romanza became the best-selling album by an Italian artist of any genre in history, as well as the best-selling album by a foreign artist in Canada
Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006 and, on 2 March 2010, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Live Theater.