Franco Corelli

Italian tenor, voted "Favorite Tenor of the Century." Coreli is praised for his throbbing vibrato with his trademarks of diminuendos on high notes. His voice is full of core, punch and fervor. He received the reputation of being the best looking tenor ever with his Roman coin good looks. His charismatic and romantic qualities can be heard in his voice and seen in his movements. Coreli disliked his own flicker vibrato and successfully eliminated it by 1959. Coreli was the star of such opera film classics of the 1950's as "Tosca," "Aida" and "La Forza del Destino." In 1989-1990, listeners of a Columbia University radio station voted him as first place of 47 singers, a winner with 185 votes. In reference to his work on the video, "Coreli's Favorite Coreli," he commented, "This is the singing for which I want to be remembered." The Italian tenor died on October 29, 2003 in Milan. He had been suffering from heart problems and had suffered a stroke the previous August. The cause of his death is as yet unknown but both his heart condition and stroke have been implicated. Link to Wikipedia biography