What do serious opera fans think of Il Divo?
In the beginning, it was tough, because they didn’t know what we were doing. People didn’t know if we were trying to imitate the Three Tenors, if we were trying to do something operatic. You could say we’re a pop group. We just do this kind of crossover, with the operatic voices at the end of the song. But we start really poppy. I think we have the respect of the opera world, because we didn’t try to convert opera arias into something pop. Q: Speaking of pop, “Solo Otra Vez” on your “Ancora” album was originally the pop hit “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen. A: Yeah. Exactly. Q: Did you know Eric Carmen is from Cleveland? A: Oh, no. Ah – fantastic! It’s an amazing song. I remember the first time we heard it. We were like, “Wow! That’s a fantastic song to do.” Q: There also was a group not far from here, in Akron, Ohio, called Devo. Are you familiar with them? A: I didn’t know that. Q: They had a hit in 1980 with “Whip It.” A: I didn’t know that. That’s quite surprising. They were, I guess
