The man who brought opera to the masses and endeared himself to the world has died of cancer, aged 71.

Born into a poor family in Modena in Italy in 1935, Luciano Pavarotti had an early talent for opera, but was considering a career in football before choosing the safer path as that of a school teacher. His musical interests won out however, and he began to study seriously. He made his opera début in the role of Rodolfo in La bohème in 1961 in the town of Reggio Emilia, and the rest, as they say, is history. Roles across the world, from La Scala to Covent Garden via Australia flooded in, and he rapidly became one of the world's most popular modern tenors: he held two Guinness World Records: for receiving the most curtain calls (165), and for the best selling classical album (In Concert by The Three Tenors - the record is also shared by fellow tenors, Placido Domingo and José Carreras).

He started his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in old and new locations, after over four decades on the stage. He gave his last performance at the Met in March 2004 for which he received a 12-minute standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. He died in September 2007.