Yowazzup: A Directory of Happening Things

It took Simon Cowell, the infamous personality of American Idol, nearly two years to find these guys and yet, it took them less than a year to record a success. Yes, it was Simon Cowell’s Il Divo project that found the members of the current Il Divo band - Carlos Marín, Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard, all hails from different countries. Carlos Marín hails from Spain while Urs Bühler is a Swiss. Sébastien Izambard is from France and the last founding member, David Miller is an American.

Having different band members from different part of the world instantly spell success. Il Divo sings in English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Latin. As a result, Il Divo was named the Most Multinational UK No.1 Album Group in the 2006 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

Il Divo, talented musicians or Armani models?

Il Divo has so many number ones in the charts worldwide, they have knocked off so many artists including the likes of Robbie Williams, Beatles, Eminem and U2 off the charts!

Their albums, Il Divo, Ancora and Siempre have all reached multiple platinums. Even their The Christmas Collection has reached platinum in USA and Canada.

Il Divo just ended their six-month tour, playing 76 dates across 30 countries in July 2007. During that duration, they have played their classical music for over 600,000 people. A quite impressive numbers and a really long tour.

Besides the successful multi platinum albums, Il Divo has performed in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, appeared as Barbra Streisand in her tour, an unauthorized autobiography called “Romancing the World: A Biography of Il Divo” and this coming September, they will be publishing their official autobiography named “Il Divo: Our Music, Our Journey, Our Words”.

Is classical music becoming popular again? Or is it just another Simon Cowell’s product? Or maybe Il Divo, which means “divine male performer” in Italian, actually means “success” in plain English.

Only time can tell.

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Pop opera quartet Il Divo has confirmed it will kick off its Asian tour with a one-night act in Kuala Lumpur in January 2007. As a bonus, founder-manager Simon Cowell – the “nasty judge” in the hit American Idol series – is expected to accompany the singers.

Arianna Event Management managing director Arianna Teoh said the group was expected to be here days before the concert at the KL Convention Centre. “It’s a one-night show. Kuala Lumpur is the first stop on its Asian tour and it’s going to be huge, definitely a sell-out,” she said in an interview.

The concert in Kuala Lumpur will be among several top acts planned to mark Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

Il Divo – Italian for “divine male performer” – came together under the tutelage of Cowell, who was inspired to form a quartet of different nationalities after hearing Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman sing their rendition of Con Te Partirò, a Bocelli song.

It is made up of tenor David Miller from the United States, Sebastien Izambard from France, who sings vox populi, tenor Urs Buhler from Switzerland and baritone Carlos Marin from Spain. All had carved their own niches in operatic theatre, musicals and even pop and rock before being brought together.

Il Divo will kick off its Asian tour in Malaysia

The group has released two albums – the self-titled Il Divo (2004) and Ancora (2005). Il Divo’s new album is scheduled for release next month.

Tickets for the concert are divided into six categories – diamond, platinum, gold, silver, mezzanine and gallery.

The official hotel for this event is Shangri-La Hotel.

For details, call the hotel’s Il Divo hotline at +603-20743525

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