Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Il Divo’s David Miller looks back on taking first brave steps on a new stage 15 years on

© Denise Truscello/WireImageDavid Miller performs with Il Divo, one of the biggest crossover groups of all time
David Miller performs with Il Divo, one of the biggest crossover groups of all time

As a member of Il Divo, David Miller is part of one of the biggest classical crossover groups of all time.

But, as the American tenor looks back on 15 years with the multi-million selling act, he revealed he almost missed out before the project was barely off the ground.

“I was in France with Opera Bastille when I heard about the audition for a crossover group,” recalled 46-year-old David.

“In the opera world, you make a cast recording, put it on the shelf and carry on with your career.

“That’s what I was expecting here.

“Two months into the recording process I said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m supposed to be making my Metropolitan Opera debut, so I need some time off’.

“But they told me no, you’re either in or out, because if this goes how we think it’s going to go, you’ll be needed for the next two years and so you need to cancel the rest of your jobs.

“I had to think hard about it. I’m really glad it worked out because I cancelled so many things and a lot of people were annoyed.

“Everyone involved said what we were doing was really special and they wanted to take it around the world, but you can’t guarantee anything.”

Simon Cowell’s vision, inspired by The Three Tenors, was to create a ­ multi-nation touring crossover group. But David had no idea at first the Britain’s Got Talent judge was behind Il Divo.

“He was never mentioned during my audition.

“It was only when they told me I had to cancel all my other jobs, and that I could discuss it with Simon, that I found out.

“That put a different spin on things!”

The group – also featuring German-born Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, tenor Urs Bühler, from Switzerland, and French pop singer-songwriter Sébastien Izambard – recorded their debut in early 2004.

“We were one of the last groups to go territory by territory. We started in the UK, then Japan, then America. Eventually we did 47 countries.

“Now, when a new album is released, everyone already knows us because of that work we put in at the beginning.”

Asked to recount the highlights of a career that has seen the quartet sell 30 million albums, David barely knows where to begin.

“Usually we don’t even have time to think about it and take stock,” he continued.

“Our first time on TV in the UK, going to Japan, our appearances on Oprah, singing on Simon’s shows, going on tour with Barbra Streisand, singing for presidential inaugurations – there are so many.

“Hearing Un-Break My Heart for the first time after it was recorded and mixed is another, that excitement of hearing how different it was and realising it was special.

“For the first three months, we didn’t know what we were doing.

“I had never sung in a studio’s isolation booth before.

“We had never met each other prior to the project. We didn’t know how our voices would sound – we were floundering.

“But then we heard the song and knew we were on to something.”


Il Divo, SEC Armadillo, Glasgow, tomorrow