Quiz!

what is this? A) New adverts for Armani suits B) Westlife's new image C) "the 5 hottest men of the year" feature in women's mag

Answer: Neither! The correct answer is, believe it or not, opera singers. Except somewhere along the way, they were "discovered" by pop producers - they recorded some schmaltzy ballads and Italian versions of English pop songs, were sqeezed into expensive suits and marketed as a boyband and a pop hunk. The result - Il Divo (left) and Vittorio Grigolo.

Il Divo have always puzzled me in the sense that I can't believe that 4 men who can actually sing, more or less, have such a constructed image. And then recently I found out that the concept of Il Divo was invented by Simon Cowell, the man behind Pop Idol. They were put together just like Louis Walsh put together Take That and Boyzone - "you're the cute and shy one, you're the ladies' man, you're the dark, mysterious one etc". The biography on their web site describes it as "Il Divo finally came together in December 2003 after a worldwide search with rehearsals and recording sessions taking place immediately after." It goes on to claim how the four members all have different backgrounds, though all of them except the French Sebastien are TRAINED opera singers who have years of stage experience. Carlos has played lead roles in La Traviata, Madame Butterfly and La Boheme. David has toured with several opera companies in Europe and America. Urs has sung oratorios and performed regularly with the National Opera in Holland. (Sebastien is the only self-taught singer, according to his biography, and performing with Il Divo interrupted his work on a pop solo album). Reading about those impressive merits, I have to think "hello!! if these people can actually sing REAL arias from REAL operas, why don't they record a REAL classical album?" It seems to me to be a total waste of talent - just so that Simon Cowell and those people can make even more money.

The story of Vittorio Grigolo isn't much better. He too has an impressive merit list; even more impressive than Il Divo if you ask me, having played in the most famous operas and in addition performed requiems and oratorios and other famous classical vocal pieces. Don Giovanni, La Boheme, Lakmé, Faust, the list goes on and on. He too is put into a designer suit and, in promo shots and EPK videos he is seen strolling the streets of Rome to the sound of romantic string arrangements. In a way his case is more ridiculous than the others because he was introduced to the pop/crossover market so late, and we've seen the same Italian-hunk-posing-in-front-of-ancient-buildings-in-a-designer-suit too many times already - it's a worn out concept.

What makes a classically trained singer want to sing Daniel Bedingfield hits in Italian, or Toni Braxton songs in Spanish? Because their managers and producers wants them to? For the money? For the fame? For the female fans they expect to form fan clubs and show up to every concert on their tour and sit in front row and take pictures? The answer may be "yes" to several of the questions, sadly. I admire artists who dare to sacrifice the tempting promise of fame and fortune, just so they can be true to themselves and their art. People who make music, play and sing not because they want to be rich and famous but because they live and breathe music and can't live life without it.