La Voce

2010 release from the British tenor who practically invented the classical crossover genre. Recorded in June 2010 with the Roma Sinfonietta-Ennio Morricone's orchestra of choice-and produced by Mike Hedges, Russell Watson's voice has never sounded better. Stronger, more driven and powerful, his renditions of Pino Donaggio's "Io Che Non Vivo (Senza Te)", Mario Lanza's "Arrivederci Roma" and "Parla Piu Piano" (the theme from the Godfather) are as impressive as you'd expect from a man singing with, literally, a new lease of life after overcoming two life-threatening brain tumors. In 2008, when the Salford born tenor finished radiotherapy for the pituitary tumor that saw him undergo emergency surgery, he decided to embark on a return to music. He soon found that his treatment had given him not just a fresh outlook on the world, but a whole new, deeper, richer voice. La Voce is Watson's ninth, and most personal, album.