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Pavarotti Lipsynched Last Performance

Late tenor too sick to sing live at Turin Olympics opening ceremony

By Caroline Zimmerman, Newser User

Posted Apr 7, 2008 9:02 AM CDT

(Newser) – Lipsynching isn't just for neophytes like Nikki Hilton—none other than tenor Luciano Pavarotti faked his way through his final public performance at the opening of the Turin Winter Olympics, the Guardian reports. In a new book, Pavarotti's conductor and pianist claims that he recorded the cancer-stricken tenor and the orchestra, and used video trickery to pull the ruse off before millions of TV viewers.

Pavarotti, who died of pancreatic cancer last fall, was too sick to face a live show, so Leone Magiera recorded the aria in Pavarotti's home. Even then, once done, "he collapsed on his wheelchair, exhausted," writes Magiera. He had everybody fooled: "Knowing when to cut off that final high note to match a tape would be next to impossible ... It's live," wrote a fan on YouTube.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti performs as Rodolfo during the dress rehearsal of Giacomo Puccini's "La Boheme" at the Regia Theatre in Turin in this Jan. 30, 1996 file photo. (Associated Press)

The coffin of late Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti leaves the Modena's Duomo, Italy, after the funeral service, in thhis Sept. 8, 2007, file photo. (Associated Press)

Tenor Luciano Pavarotti performs during the opening ceremony for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in this Feb. 10, 2006 file photo. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

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Pavarotti Last Performance "Nessun Dorma" @ Torino 2006 (olympicstube (YouTube))

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Pavarotti Lipsynched Last Performance