When television personality Simon Cowell approached French pop star Sebastien Izambard to join an opera crossover group he was creating called Il Divo, the singer’s reaction was simple.
“I was like ‘no way’,” Izambard says from his London home. “I didn’t think it was something right for me.”
Despite his trepidation – and no classical training - Izambard accepted Cowell’s invitation to audition.
There he heard the voices of Spanish baritone Carlos Marin, American tenor David Miller and Swiss tenor Urs Buhler.
“I thought that [sound] is a little odd for me – I don’t know how I’m going to adapt to it,” Izambard recalls.
“But for some reason when we started to sing, something kind of magical happened. Something that hadn’t been done before.
“I think that’s why I got excited.
“We found a niche for something that has never existed and that’s why it’s fantastic to be a part of this.”
Izambard joined Il Divo, and Cowell, who was running his own record label Syco, had another success story on his hands.
Their 2004, self-titled debut album, which featured their popular cover of Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart, turned the four singers into a global phenomenon.
To date, Il Divo have sold more than 26 million records.
In November the group released their sixth studio album, Wicked Game, with its title track a cover of the yearning ballad by Chris Isaak.
When Cowell suggested the song to the band, Izambard had reservations.
“I love the song and I thought, ‘wow, that’s going to [sound] really, really strange’.
“But we went into the studio and the same surprise came; like Unbreak My Heart eight years ago – it worked amazingly well.
“When I heard the demo with our combined voices, I thought it was brilliant.”
While Wicked Game happened to fit Il Divo’s powerful, four-part vocal arrangements, Izambard admits that not all songs work for the group – particularly as they often translate lyrics into Italian.
“In general we try a lot of songs and some don’t make the album,” Izambard says.
“We tried I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing [by Aerosmith] and that hasn’t worked out.
“It could be the translation – we tried a Christina Aguilera song and it was way too wordy and didn’t work.
“Sometimes the magic isn’t there – maybe it’s just us and we haven’t found it, or maybe it’s the way the song is.”
This month Il Divo will travel to Australia to perform, with a show scheduled at Hope Estate in the Hunter Valley vineyards.
Izambard can’t wait – especially because Australia holds a special significance for him.
While touring here in October 2005, the singer fell for his publicist at Il Divo’s Australian record label, Sony BMG.
Izambard now has three children with Aussie girl Renee Murphy and says he would love to live and work in her home country.
“While we’re here in February I would like to try to look at houses,” Izambard reveals.
“In 2013 I’d like to try to move Down Under.”
Besides plans to move around the globe, Izambard has his eyes set on the television.
He has performed on stage in musicals and theatre and hopes to pursue acting further when there’s downtime in Il Divo’s schedule.
“I have been doing a lot of lessons and coaching, because I’d really like to do a bit of acting,” he says.
“I’ve been on TV here [in England] as a guest judge and I really, really enjoyed it, so I’d like to do some TV in Australia.
“I think we’d all like to do some individual projects. I think that’s our aim – to grow as a group as well as personally.”
* Il Divo will perform at Hope Estate on Saturday, February 18, with tickets available through Ticketmaster.
The Maitland Mercury has two double passes to give away in Thursday's edition.
For your chance to win simply fill in the attached coupon and return it to the Mercury office by next Wednesday. Wicked Game is out now through Sony Music.
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