Il Divo a global phenomenon

Il Divo a global phenomenon

Simon Cowell brainchild band combines pop and classical while making the fans swoon.


Who would dare compare worldly crooners Il Divo to Britney Spears?

Il Divo singer Urs Buhler, that's who.

Somewhere between talking about the "popera" group's dedicated female fan base, and how its members just happen to be four handsome dudes who can sing, he got to Britney Spears.

"It's the same for every pop act -- a pop act is always a total package," Buhler says. "With Il Divo, we wanted to make sophisticated and classy music, and yeah, we wanted to look like that as well. It's no different than whatever pop act is out there. Take Britney Spears."

Trust, however, that Il Divo will not be on stage gyrating in skimpy clothes when it makes its first-ever Fresno appearance Tuesday night at Save Mart Center.

Comparing the group to Britney Spears is not something most Il Divo fans would do. But in popularity, the numbers don't lie. By combining classical and pop tunes, Il Divo has sold 22 million records worldwide in its short but productive five-album career.

Its 2004 self-titled debut album -- which included covers ranging from "Unchained Melody" to Toni Braxton's "Unbreak My Heart" -- went to No. 1 in 13 countries. That means Il Divo is not only pop, but global pop.

They're like the Spice Girls, if the Spice Girls performed opera, wore suits and made grown women swoon.

Considering it all started with "American Idol" judge and record producer Simon Cowell, that comparison isn't too much of a stretch.

Cowell set out to gather four classical-minded singers from four countries for a pop update of the Three Tenors.

He found Carlos Marín (Spain), David Miller (U.S.), Sébastien Izambard (France) and Buhler (Switzerland).

If there are two types of music acts who know how to be thrown together like an all-star team, it's boy bands and classical groups.

As a little bit of both, it was no sweat for Il Divo.

"We were four singers, we came, we met, we said 'Hello' and 'OK, we're going to sing together,' " Buhler says. "It's much more how you would work in classical music. You come together to perform an opera from all over the world."

Nowadays, the Il Divo guys see much less of Cowell and much more of the road.

"The only thing that he's involved with is the choice of repertoire for the albums," Buhler says. "I haven't seen him since November two years ago.

"I consider it as a good thing. We are all mature musicians and we have our own taste. The tour is our own production. We make the choices of what we want to carry out on stage. I'm quite happy that it is down to the four of us and we can make those decisions."

A Kansas City Star review of a concert last week described just how Il Divo members toe the line between pop and classical.

"Like teens watching the Backstreet Boys or Jonas Brothers, fans applauded or whooped when their favorite took his turn. But for the most part, the crowd watched this show as if it were at the symphony or opera. Even when Marín encouraged people to get up and dance, few did."

That is something Il Divo is used to. It's music is aimed at a world audience.

"We play in five continents of the world," Buhler says. "People react different to different songs."

At an Il Divo concert, you're likely to hear them sing in six different languages.

It's their hope -- their goal, really -- that even if the audience can't recognize the words to a song, that it will still feel the impact of the song.

And that's what separates them from the Britney Spearses of the world.

"You should be able to," Buhler says, "transmit the sentiment of the song you're singing without them understanding the words. That's when you're an artist."


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