He was unabashedly thrilled by fame, telling Newsweek magazine, “I want to be famous everywhere. I tell you, the time spent signing autographs is never enough.”
Known in some circles as ‘The King of Cancellations’, he was famously banned from performing at Lyric Opera of Chicago after pulling out of 26 of the 41 scheduled performances in an eight-year period.
Other controversies dogged Pavarotti’s career. In 1992 he was sued by the BBC for selling the broadcaster a lip-synched concert.
Pavarotti become embroiled in allegations of tax fraud in 2000, agreeing to repay $12 million in taxes after it was determined his home was in Italy, not Monte Carlo as he had claimed.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4191866a12.html
YOUR talent is brilliantly displayed on this thread.
None of that matters. He was not a politician running for office. He was a magnanimous man with a great gift that he was eager to share with the world.
Your pettiness will not diminish the Greatest Tenor of Our Time.
I've been a fan for a long time and I never knew Pavarotti as the "King of Cancellations." To be sure, I stopped being obsessive about attending his performances when I perceived a decline in his voice in the early 90s, so maybe he has been canceling since that time? The only Met performances I remember him canceling were the first two Luisa Millers in 1991. I was at the dress rehearsal prior to these scheduled performances. LP wasn't pulling any punches that day and his voice broke at one point. It was never easy for me to listen to him live after that, as I was always afraid it would break again. (BTW, I was at the first LM he sang in 91, and he did just fine; but certainly there was good reason for his cancellations that year.)
ML/NJ