Cancer claims beloved Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti at age 71

ROME – He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C’s.\nLuciano Pavarotti, opera’s biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71.\nPavarotti, who was diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer, died at 5 a.m. at his home in his native Modena, Italy, his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement. His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among those at his side, Pavarotti’s manager Terri Robson said.\n“In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness,” Robson said.\nPavarotti’s charismatic persona and ebullient showmanship – but most of all his creamy and powerful voice – made him the most celebrated tenor since the great Enrico Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular superstar.\nFor serious fans, the unforced beauty and thrilling urgency of Pavarotti’s voice made him the ideal interpreter of the Italian lyric repertory. For millions more, his thrilling performances of standards such as “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s “Turandot” came to represent what opera is all about.\n“Nessun Dorma” turned out to be Pavarotti’s last aria, sung in February 2006 at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. He made his farewell to opera in March 2004 when he performed Puccini’s “Tosca” at New York’s Metropolitan.\nInstantly recognizable from his charcoal black beard and tuxedo-busting girth, Pavarotti radiated an intangible magic that helped him win hearts in a way Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras – his partners in the hugely popular “Three Tenors” concerts – never quite could.\n“I always admired the God-given glory of his voice – that unmistakable special timbre from the bottom up to the very top of the tenor range,” Domingo said in a statement from Los Angeles. \nPavarotti liked to mingle with pop stars in charity concerts titled “Pavarotti & Friends,” held annually in Modena.\nIn July 2006, Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York to resume a farewell tour when doctors discovered cancer of the pancreas.\n“I was a fortunate and happy man,” Pavarotti told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. “After that, this blow arrived.”\nThe funeral will be held Saturday inside Modena’s cathedral, Mayor Giorgio Pighi \ntold SkyTG24.