Luciano Pavarotti
Pavarotti became even more well-known throughout the world in 1990 when his sang Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot which was used as the theme song for the BBC TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria made him a kind of pop star and it remained his trademark song. This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. The high point of the concert happened when Pavarotti sang a famous part of di Capua's "'O Sole Mio". Domingo and Carreras copied him and the audience enjoyed it very much. This was one of the most remembered moments in opera of our time. Throughout the 1990s, Pavarotti appeared in many big outdoor concerts, including his televised concert in London's Hyde Park which drew a record audience of 150,000. In June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his performance on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park, while millions more around the world watched on television. The following September, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, he sang for a crowd of about 300,000. Following on from the original 1990 concert, Three Tenors concerts were held during the Football World Cups; in Los Angeles in 1994, in Paris in 1998, and in Yokohama in 2002.