Amore: The Highly Anticipated Album By International Superstar Andrea Bocelli to be Released on Sugar/Philips January 31, 2006

Amore: The Highly Anticipated Album By International Superstar Andrea Bocelli to be Released on Sugar/Philips January 31, 2006

Classical repertoire waits in the wings as romantic Pop standards take center stage

"This is one of the most important albums of my career. It is the album the world has been waiting for from Andrea Bocelli." - David Foster

NEW YORK, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Sugar/Philips Records are proud to announce the release of Andrea Bocelli's new album, Amore - a stunningly sophisticated collection of beloved love songs and pop standards to be released on January 31, 2006.

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051115/NYTU194 )

Romance. Passion. Emotion. These words are synonymous with the voice of Andrea Bocelli. Almost ten years ago he exploded onto the international music scene with Romanza and has since sold nearly 50 million albums worldwide. Amore - released amongst the glamour of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy (where he will perform at the closing ceremony) and the romance of Valentine's Day finds Andrea straying from the carefully groomed classical ground that he is most familiar with. The concept of the album came from famed producer and longtime Bocelli fan, David Foster along with co-producers Humberto Gatica and Tony Renis who posed the question: Why not take the most beautiful love songs of the world and pair them with the most romantic voice in the world? The result is a flowingly beautiful album of pop standards that Foster has publicly claimed is "one of the most beautiful records I have ever been part of."

Embarking on a new era, Amore unveils a fresh sensuous sound that gently moves Bocelli into new territory. Spanish guitars flourish, traditional Latin percussion seductively keeps the tempo, accordions and harmonicas provide charming melodies, while sometimes Andrea shares the spotlight with just a grand piano. Recorded late in the summer at Bocelli's Tuscan home studio overlooking the coast, the album exudes the natural beauty and breathtaking surroundings evident in Italy. Amore marks the only album David Foster has made outside of his Californian studio complex in two decades. This was also most musically gratifying to date for Andrea; " ... I've been presented with opportunities I once could only dream of, challenges I longed to confront and experiences I will cherish forever, but while recording this album I realized that now is the perfect moment to arrive at an album of this repertoire, with the perfect producers, the perfect musicians and the perfect selection of songs."

While creating the perfect track listing for Bocelli's first-ever album of popular songs, Andrea and his producers searched the musical eras from the 1920s to 1980s for songs in Italian, Spanish and French. Andrea also added some of his favorite international pop songs including- (to name a few) Italian classics "L'Appuntamento" and "Quando M'Innamoro," Latin American hits "Besame Mucho" and "Solamente Una Vez" and French standard "Les Feuille Mortes" which has become the much loved English standard - "Autumn Leaves." Solamente Una Vez (a hit as "You Belong To My Heart" for stars including Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby) and 'Somos Novios' (famously an English language hit as 'It's Impossible' for Perry Como) are also highlights of the album. The end result is Bocelli's amazingly beautiful interpretation of classics made popular by legendary vocalists such Edith Piaf and Luis Miguel to Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Amore features a stellar line up of the world's finest instrumentalists, who between them have worked with virtually every major artist of recent eras; Electric and acoustic guitarists, Dean Parks (Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, BB King) and Michael Landau (Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis); on Spanish guitars, mandolin, charango, bajo-sexto and vihuela Ramon Stagnaro (Luis Miguel, Alejandro Sanz, Enrique Iglesias); on bass Nathan East (Eric Clapton, Phil Collins); on drums Vinnie Colaiuta (Sting, Marcus Miller, David Sanborn); on piano and keyboards Randy Waldman (Barbara Streisand, Kenny G, George Benson); on percussion Paulinho Da Costa (Prince, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock) and Rafaela Padilla (Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz); on trumpet the acclaimed soloist Chris Botti and other guest artists to be announced.

Andrea Bocelli will be performing two exclusive concerts in Las Vegas on December 9 and 10, 2005. He will debut a song written by David Foster with lyrics by Andrea Bocelli and Amy Gillies for the 2006 Winter Olympics entitled "Because We Believe" at these concerts which will be filmed for a March PBS special.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051115/NYTU194
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN7
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Sugar/Philips Records

CONTACT: Pamela Murphy, PMPR, +1-631-907-2705, pamelamurphy11@yahoo.com;
or Olga Makrias, +1-212-333-1485, Olga.Makrias@umusic.com, or Jodie Thomas,
+1-212-333-8311, Jodie.Thomas@umusic.com, both of Universal Classics

Web site: http://www.iclassics.com/

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