Andrea Bocelli is to release an album featuring new duets with Shania Twain and Gwen Stefani to celebrate 30 years since the release of his debut record.
The 32-track Duets compilation will include a host of collaborations recorded especially for the album, with US country star Chris Stapleton, his son Matteo Bocelli and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer also on the line-up.
Alongside the new work, the album will feature duets from throughout the 65-year-old’s career, recorded with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion.
Speaking of the album, Bocelli said: “To mix voices, mix the vibrations, is for me a very exciting experience, sensual and spiritual at the same time.
“Something intimate and deep is established between the two voices that sing a duet.
“We singers are in constant search of colleagues able to give life to this alchemy.”
The first single from the album will be Da Stanotte In Poi (From This Moment On), which is a reworking of Twain’s 1997 song and has been recorded with the five-time Grammy winner.
Bocelli began his career in 1994, with the album Il Mare Calmo Della Sera, having previously worked as a singer in piano bars.
The Italian has gone on to sell almost 90 million records worldwide and has performed at major events across the world including the Olympic Games and the World Cup.
Prior to the album’s release, a three-day event will be held in his home town of Lajatico in Italy.
Performances on July 15, 17 and 19 at the Teatro del Silenzio will see him joined by the likes of Sheeran, Sir Brian May and Johnny Depp.
The theatre he will perform in was paid for by the singer and is not used other than for Bocelli’s yearly shows in July.
The concerts will be filmed for a movie called Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration, which will be released in cinemas worldwide.
It will be directed by Grammy nominee and Emmy Award winner Sam Wrench, who recently directed Taylor Swift–The Eras Tour.
A new documentary on the singer’s life will also be released in cinemas called Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe.
The album will be released on Friday October 25 on Decca Records.
It comes after Bocelli performed at British Summer Time in Hyde Park on Friday July 5, with the singer preparing to head off on a US tour in November.
