R.I.P. Luciano Pavarotti

The tenor's voice is silenced.

Pavarotti, who seemed equally at ease singing with soprano Joan Sutherland as with the Spice Girls, scoffed at accusations that he was sacrificing his art in favor of commercialism.

"The word commercial is exactly what we want," he said, after appearing in the widely publicized "Three Tenors" concerts. "We've reached 1.5 billion people with opera. If you want to use the word commercial, or something more derogatory, we don't care. Use whatever you want."

Check out these videos in tribute...

With Bono & The Edge


With James Brown:


With Bon Jovi


With Barry White


With the Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan


With Elton John


With Lou Reed


...and finally, his own trancendant version of Nessum Dorma