They are the most recognizable band in classical crossover music, with over thirty million albums sold, hit songs, tours, collaborations with industry legends, and a truly international fanbase. But as Il Divo celebrates their 20th anniversary, Urs Bühler shared that they are not dwelling on the past but instead focusing on the present and future: “We’re not looking back [at] what have we done for the last 10 years? But looking at what we are doing now… And where could we go in another 20 years.”
Their latest album, XX, and the accompanying tour that spans across the United States, South America, England, and more, present a new opportunity for the group to evolve and move forward. When speaking of his bandmate and producer/arranger Sébastien Izambard, Urs told us, “He’s really into making Il Divo kind of more 2024… I’m happy and excited about every crazy idea that Sebastian brings to the table. And even if we have to discard 95 of 100 ideas he has–” the group laughs– “it keeps us moving and makes us excited about the music we’re doing.”
Some of Sébastien’s ideas included reimagining Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” or insisting the group include “Despertar Sin Ti,” their first original on the album. However, it’s very much a group effort, as David Miller states, “It’s a very democratic situation. Everybody is given an equal voice. Everybody gets one vote to contribute, which is oftentimes difficult because having four instead of the traditional five as a boyband, sometimes you can get deadlocked, and so you have to be a bit persuasive, you have to have reasoning for your arguments.”
This democratic approach applies not only to choosing album repertoire but also to adopting different roles within the group. “Depending on people’s energy levels, sometimes people are ready to just sort of jump in and take the lead. And other times, it’s like, ‘You know what, I don’t have the bandwidth for this. Can you guys take this?’ It’s really very evenly distributed.”
Reflecting on their two-decade career, David said, “There are so many standout moments over 20 years.” Il Divo came together through the genius of Simon Cowell, each member plucked from their solo careers. “Urs and I were brought in from the opera world, Carlos had done pretty much everything under the sun… and Sébastien was working on his second solo pop album in France. The four of us were basically put into a room and said, ‘Make some music, make something we can all be proud of.’ And we did, we gave 100% into that first album, and it really translated in terms of Simon’s vision for us, the record company at large, the international labels all getting together watching our showcase. And really going, ‘This is something new, this is something different, this is something amazing. Let’s all get behind this,’ and they did.”
This success story, though, was tinged with tragedy when beloved founding member Carlos Marín tragically passed away from COVID-19 in 2021. However, the group persevered, first with their “Greatest Hits” tour that paid tribute to Carlos and finally by inviting Steven LaBrie to join as their new permanent fourth member.
Today, the members, both seasoned and new, are excited about little things like XX being their first album released on vinyl or visiting new cities for the first time with the group. “We are simultaneously celebrating twenty years of Il Divo, twenty years of making music together. And, of course, with the unimaginable happening with losing Carlos to COVID and bringing in Steven Labrie, who is now the new fourth member. There’s just so much going on with this album, with this tour. So much new energy, so much more reinvigoration. It’s not only twenty years, acknowledging our accomplishment of having made music for twenty years, but it’s also looking forward – what’s the future of Il Divo going to be? What’s the next twenty years of Il Divo going to be?”
Urs agrees enthusiastically, “I’m very proud of this album. I think it’s one of the best things we have done. And I think that’s just because everybody keeps putting their heart and soul into it and then we are luckily mature enough to find the common ground with all these different influences and ideas and create a solid body of music out of that. That’s what’s exciting. And that’s the new chapter, which starts with this album.”
Coming into a group with this amount of history and success is not easy, but Steven has quickly developed rapport with the other men. “We spent so much time together… there’s a lot of times when these guys know each other probably better than they even know themselves, but I got to know them really, really fast and really quickly, and I think they know me pretty well too. We have a good time together. We can get really, really silly really fast, be very blunt and honest with each other about certain ideas or certain things that we’re doing. I think that there’s a comfortability factor in all of that and just feeling like you’re just here with these people that are kind of like family, you’re working together, you’re performing together, you’re singing together, which is one of the most intimate things that you do.”
This 20th-anniversary tour will bring the album to life in an “exponential way,” Urs shares. “We’re very excited because we’re creating a brand new show now for our 20th-anniversary tour, which is going to be slightly different from what we used to do over the last few years.” Gone will be the traditional staging. “We want to have the movement to staging a bit more organic, a bit more flowing, a bit more interpretive. We’re gonna have much more modern elements in lighting, videos later, that kind of stuff, just so it visually works perfectly and complements the music.”
The experience of touring is often less glamorous than the concerts themselves. “A lot of it is repetitive. I think that’s what people maybe don’t realize. Oftentimes, you go to a city and we arrive there sometimes in the afternoon, and then we have two or three hours to rest until the show, when we go to the theater. We have dinner. We do soundcheck, if there’s a meet-and-greet we do that, we do the show, go back to the hotel, and then we do it all over again. The shows are oftentimes really kind of packed in with each other. It is really nice to have a couple of days in between sometimes to kind of reset.” When they can, it’s great to experience a bit of the local culture. Steven calls out Latvia, Estonia, and the “pristine” beauty of Japan in particular.
Because Il Divo was formed in England, the October leg of the tour will feel very much like coming home. “Nobody’s English in the band – just like we’re called Il Divo, nobody’s Italian in the band. Still gotta consider us a UK band because that’s where our origins are. And that’s where it all started,” Urs says, citing their “very loyal, very beautiful fan base in the UK.”
Twenty years on, the group is still deeply committed to creating music they can be proud of. In an online world where music can be accessed anywhere, David notes that it’s sometimes taken for granted. “We treat it like a commodity, and we consume it, and it’s like, what’s next, and what’s next… but music really is the soundtrack to our lives… the music that we do, we intentionally bring not just good singing, but we do our best to bring virtuosity to these songs… We’re singing pop songs, but we’re bringing the virtuosic encapsulations of our voices to the very pinnacle of what we are able to do as vocal athletes. We put 100% into that every single time, into every song. And this vibration that we’re able to achieve – we’ve always said that Il Divo is, the sum is greater than its parts, each one of us has a lovely voice. But when you put those voices together, in cooperation, in concert, something magical, something extra takes over.”
Fans have shared with the group how the music has been there for them through hard times. “That extra vibration that happens when all four of us are just coming together for the purpose of huge emotional expression. It gives people emotional catharsis, and it helps them get through that difficult time and it is healing in that way.”
Find more details about the tour at: ildivo.com
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