Urs Bühler Abbado. Before joining Il Divo, he was mainly based in the Netherlands, singing oratorios and performing with the Netherlands Opera Gezelschap (NOG). Despite many performances there are only a handful of recordings available of him before Il Divo. In December 2003, Urs became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Carlos Marín (Spain), Sébastien Izambard (France), and David Miller (United States). He had an informal first audition with the group's creator, Simon Cowell. In Cowell's office, he simply asked Urs to sing for him unaccompanied. Impressed by Buhler's tenor voice, Cowell offered him a place in
The Mariners (vocal group) several years. The presence of the integrated Mariners brought complaints from Southern politicians and Southern CBS affiliates, which Godfrey publicly and scathingly rebuffed. Godfrey summarily fired The Mariners in 1955 (a fairly common modus for Godfrey during these years). The Mariners then guested on other shows such as the Ed Sullivan Show and continued to record (on the Cadence Records label founded by Godfrey's musical director Archie Bleyer) and appear on New York radio, but with diminishing popularity. The Mariners (vocal group) The Mariners were a pop and gospel vocal group of the mid 20th century, particularly noted for their