Top 20 Pavarotti Quotes & Sayings

Can you imagine doing 'Nessa Dorma' with Luciano Pavarotti the maestro? It's unbelievable. He's a very generous man.

Pavarotti's is the best male voice, and Joan Sutherland had a big voice but also acquired great coloratura notes.

When I was invited to sing with Pavarotti, I had about two weeks to learn Italian.

I went to watch Pavarotti once. He doesn't like it when you join in.

The Pavarotti and Galway albums were a lot of fun because I got to work with two of the best 'voices' in the world.

I was blown away by the control and the range that I was hearing. I'm listening to Pavarotti and thinking, What the hell have I been doing with my voice all these years?

I said to Mr. Pavarotti once ... a marvelous man and a great artist ... I said to him ... "Maestro, I'm having trouble closing out a note so that it's almost as thin as a butter knife ... finish it out quietly like that." I said, "I have trouble doing that. What do you think I should do?" He said, "Justa close up your mouth." That's all he said, and I fell on the floor. I thought he was gonna give me a dissertation.

I've played football with George Best, the greatest footballer that ever lived. That doesn't make me a footballer. And I've sung a duet with Pavarotti. That doesn't make me an opera singer. I can write and I have a story to tell, but I'm not going to make a career out of it.

I remember as a student going to Covent Garden, where they took out the stall seats and you hunkered down on the floor - I heard Pavarotti in Tosca there, and the experience of being in that same room with that astonishing voice has never left me.

I sang 'Nessun Dorma' twice with Pavarotti, and he told me he'd heard 'Smoke' about five or six times, and every time was different. He was so jealous because if he deviated one jot from the traditional interpretation of the famous arias, he'd be crucified. We have the freedom.

In Montreal, when I grew up, I'd go to the Notre-Dame Basilica, a gorgeous cathedral in town. I'd listen to huge symphony orchestras, Pavarotti singing operas; that was absolutely marvelous. I like that aspect of the cathedral, the spectacle.

I remember Pavarotti telling me, 'Oh, Neil, after seventy, the voice is going to go.' But I've been lucky. You almost have to learn how to sing all over again. You use your diaphragm more. You have to choose the notes and pace yourself.

I want you to know how I feel about my Italian heritage, so I'd like to say a few words in Italian: Verdi, Pavarotti, DiMaggio, Valentino, De Niro, Giuliani. . .

Sometime to be called Pavarotti is not always an advantage.

I think for the open-minded, I'm a lot like Luciano Pavarotti... But I don't know the technique. I'm learning. I think Pavarotti was a citizen of the world. He was very eclectic. He sang with Sting and with a lot of other pop artists, and this open-mindedness, for me, is very important.

I worked with a great photographer called Rafael Pavarotti a while ago and he's got some amazing playlists on Spotify.

Pavarotti is not vain, but conscious of being unique.

I don't profess to be Luciano Pavarotti, but I can hold a tune.

Mauricio Pellegrino has the pace of a tricycle with a flat tyre ridden by Luciano Pavarotti, and the turning speed of an oil tanker with its anchor set.

Pavarotti is not judged on how he sings in the shower. People wait until he gets on stage.