Aww I couldn't resist.

I just found this video of Bocelli and David Foster coaching Chris Daughtry when he was competing in American Idol. Just for kicks.

A Mio Padre (To My Father)

This song also comes from Andrea's album Sogno. He doesn't sing this one. You hear the instrumental intro and the sound of pencil scratching on paper. Then the pencil stops, the music continues, and Andrea starts speaking (in Italian) this letter that he wrote to his father. Throughout time, the father/son relationship has been legendary for its various nuances. My father and I have a unique relationship. I think this song expresses at least part of it very well. We're both very different and, like the lyrics say, we'll never agree on some things, but I think deep down we're very much alike. I love that Andrea had the vulnerability and honesty to put this out there for the world to hear and relate to.


Dear father,
It's useless to argue
We'll never agree
There's nothing strange with that
Thirty years separate us
Or maybe
You are afraid
Not to find the strength
To stand by my side
If the obstacles should stop me
Don't worry, listen to me
I may have problems
I may face infamous people but
Nothing shall scare me
Nothing shall corrupt me
Nothing in the world
Will make me forget that
I can win
And i want to make it on my own.
And i want to make it on my own.
I know it's difficult for you
To justify
Such a restless impatience to fight
To dare the impossible
You'll find it incredible
But the more i think about it the more i realize
I am really like you
And you don't know how i wish
That your strength will never leave you
To have you next to me
And never surrender
Never.
Goodbye father,
See you soon.

The Prayer (at the Grammys)

I think this is the first Bocelli song I ever heard. Honestly, I was a fan of Josh Groban before Bocelli and I heard Groban perform it with Charlotte Church at the...2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City I think it was. But then my Dad bought Bocelli's album Sogno and this was one of the tracks. Bocelli and Dion were the original artists; Groban and Church did a cover. Needless to say, I was blown away!

My brother and my friend Rachel sang this at Rachel's sister's wedding a few years ago, complete with Italian lyrics and everything (Rachel's family is VERY Italian). They were practicing it constantly for months so that eventually even my brother's two little daughters picked it up! So this has become a family standby.

Why Andrea Bocelli is one of my role models.

     I'm a sucker for inspiring stories about individuals facing tremendous obstacles in pursuit of dreams or goals. Even if they lost the battle, alla the 300 Spartans, just the fact that they didn't run, didn't retreat gives me hope and inspires me to be more than I am, to face my battles with the same courage.
     Andrea Bocelli was declared legally blind as a child. He couldn't read music, but he could hear it, and what's more..he felt it. It was his passion and goal. Over the years his love of music, combined with his perseverance and his refusal to give up on himself, led him on a path that would take him to the greatest concert halls of the world, to the recording studio with some of the world's top producers and recording artists, and ultimately to the top of the sales charts. It just boggles my mind how a blind man was able to accomplish all this. Not only that, but he touched the hearts of millions of people (including me) through the beauty of his music and his story.
     Being a musician, Bocelli's example holds special meaning for me. I know the road ahead--not only in music, but in anything I choose to pursue--will have its hard times and moments where I hit rock bottom and begin to doubt myself. It's at these times that I can turn on a Bocelli song and everything fades away. All the problems and obstacles and things that I thought were insurmountable begin to look smaller. They'll still be there when I take my headphones off, but for that moment, I am empowered by the indescribable beauty that I find in music and in the world. It's amazing how one person and the team behind him can have such an impact on a college kid on the other side of the world. What I would give if  I could do the same.

Vivo Per Lei (I Live for Her) English lyrics

Vivo Per Lei is one of Bocelli's older, but more famous songs. It is on his album "Romanza". Meant to be performed as a duet, the singers talk about their love for music, using the analogy of a woman. I love how there is so much more freedom in Italian vs. English songwriting. The reason is that many Italian words end in the same consonant, therefore the whole rhyming challenge of English words is eliminated. The Italian language also has a very rhythmic and musical cadence which lends itself easily to songwriting. For me, this song sums up how I feel about music, why I chose it as a career, and why Andrea Bocelli is such an inspiration to me.


I LIVE FOR HER


I live for her, you know, since
the first time I met her.
I do not remember how, but
she entered within me and stayed there.
I live for her because she makes
my soul vibrate so strongly.
I live for her and it is not a burden.

I live for her too, you know,
and don’t be jealous:
she belongs to all those who
have a need that is always switched on
like a stereo in the bedroom,
to someone who is alone and now knows
that she is also for him; for this reason
I live for her.

She is a muse who invites us
to brush her with the fingers.
Through a piano
death remains far away;
I live for her.

I live for her who often knows
how to be sweet and sensual;
sometimes she stuns you but
it is a blow that never hurts.

I live for her. I know she makes me
travel from town to town
and suffer a little, but at least I live.

It is painful when she leaves.
I live in hotels for her.
It grows with supreme pleasure.
I live for her in the vortex.
Through my voice
it expands and produces love.

I live for her, I have nothing else,
and how many others I shall meet
who, like me, have written on their faces
"I live for her."

I live for her
on a dais or against a wall
I live for her to the limit.
…also in a harsh tomorrow.
I live for her to the very edge.
Every day
a conquest;
the protagonist
will always be her.

I live for her because now
I have no other way out,
because, you know, music
is something I have truly never betrayed.

I live for her because she gives me
rests and notes with freedom.
If there were another life I’d live it,
I’d live it for her.

I live for her, music.
I live for her.
I live for her, she is unique.
I live for her.
I live for her.
I live
for her.

Bocelli mini bio

Here's a short biography of Andrea Bocelli, for those of you who don't know much about him or have never heard of him. I copied and pasted it from www.imdb.com. 

Andrea Bocelli, as born in Lajatico, Italy, in 1958, is one of the greatest singing talents in the world today. He has been blind since age 12, owing to congenital glaucoma and a blow to the head while tending goal during a soccer game. Andrea did not begin his singing career until the late 1980s, when he began performing in piano bars throughout Italy. Before then he earned a law degree from the University of Pisa. In 1993 he was signed to a record contract after a scout heard him sing during a party. That was the beginning of a spectacular career, which saw him team with some of the best voices in the business. Andrea has worked with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti and Sarah Brightman, and has sung for the Pope. Perhaps his best-known hit is "Con Te Partirò [Time To Say Goodbye]", a duet with Brightman. Bocelli has also done "Vivo Per Lei," which means "I Live For Her". The song has been translated many times, and Bocelli has teamed up with many different singers in the translations. He himself sings the Italian and Spanish versions, and sings in Italian on the French and German versions of the song. Hélène Ségara, Marta Sánchez, Sandy and Judy Weiss have all teamed with him on different versions of the song. He has even worked with Céline Dion, teaming up with her for the song "The Prayer." Andrea met Enrica Cenzatti in 1987, and they married in 1992. They have two sons: Amos (b 22-Feb-1995) and Matteo (b 8-Oct-1997).

IMDb Mini Biography By: T.J. Magwire