Pavarotti Singing Pop

Opera star Luciano Pavarotti has gained a sizable mainstream audience through such projects as “The 3 Tenors” and “Pavarotti & Friends.” Now London Records is looking to expand that audience by marketing “Pavarotti & Friends 2,” due out June 6, as “Pavarotti sings pop.”

The album features duets of Bryan Adams and Pavarotti on Adams’ “All For Love” and on “O Sole Mio.” Other tracks include Pavarotti’s renditions of “Moon River” and “Ave Maria,” Adams performing “Please Forgive Me,” and Andreas Vollenweider doing “Night, Fire, Dance.”

“Pavarotti hasn’t sung pop songs in English on his records before. He has always stayed with the Italian repertoire, although he has done English songs with the 3 Tenors. But this is the first Pavarotti album where he’s singing complete songs in English,” says Greg Barbero, vice president of London Records. “So for us, the message is ‘Pavarotti sings pop.’ “

The first “Pavarotti & Friends” album has sold 120,000 units and spent two years on Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart, buoyed by its roster of guest stars: Sting, the Neville Brothers, Suzanne Vega, and Michael Oldfield.

The new album features fewer mainstream stars, with Adams and Andreas Vollenweider the big names and soprano Nancy Gustafson, European pop artist Giorgia, writer/ arranger Michael Kamen, and tenor Andrea Bocelli rounding out the list of “friends.” “Even though there may be fewer pop artists on this record in quantity, we feel the quality of the material is far superior. The interplay of Pavarotti and Adams is marvelous and makes for an extremely entertaining video and record,” says Barbero.