Urs Toni Bühler (born 19 July 1971) is a Swiss classically trained

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

. He is a member of the

classical crossover Crossover is a term applied to Musical composition, musical works or performers who appeal to different types of audience, audiences. This can be seen, for example, when a song appears on two or more of the record chart, record charts, which tr ...

group

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multinational classical crossover vocal group. Formed in the United Kingdom in 2003, it is a male quartet that was created and then promoted by British media magnate Simon Cowell for Syco Music, a record label that he had ...

, who have sold over 30 million copies worldwide discs.

Early life

His musical training started at the age of five, when Bühler began singing in a choir and also learned to play violin, clarinet, piano, guitar, and drums. His musical career, though, started when he was fifteen in an entirely different genre from lyrical song. He was a member of a cover band and later the lead singer of a heavy metal band called "Conspiracy" when he was seventeen years old in

Luzern Lucerne ( ) or Luzern ()Other languages: ; ; ; . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital of the canton of Lucerne and part of the Lucerne (district), di ...

Career

Tenor

At that time, Bühler was already receiving music lessons at the Academy for School and Church Music. His progress in the field led him to move to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where he studied voice at

Sweelinck Conservatorium The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

with Udo Reinemann, a well-known German baritone. Under the private tutoring of Swedish tenor Gösta Winbergh of the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

and French tenor Christian Papis, Bühler enriched his classical repertoire. He sang in the choir of the Dutch opera and performed in the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

under the direction of

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharm ...

. Before joining Il Divo, he was mainly based in the Netherlands, singing oratorios and performing with the Netherlands Opera Gezelschap (NOG). Despite many performances, there are only a handful of recordings available of Bühler before Il Divo.

Il Divo

In December 2003, Bühler became a member of the international musical quartet Il Divo along with Carlos Marín (Spain), Sébastien Izambard (France), and David Miller (United States). He had an informal first audition with the group's creator,

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

. In Cowell's office, he simply asked Bühler to sing for him unaccompanied. Impressed by Bühler's tenor voice, Cowell offered him a place in Il Divo. Their first album, ''

,'' became a worldwide multi-platinum-selling record when released in November 2004, entering the US ''Billboard'' at number four and selling five million copies worldwide in less than a year and knocking

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

from the number one spot in the charts. Their second album, '' Ancora'', was released in November 2005. Il Divo's third album, '' Siempre'', was released in November 2006. Their fourth album, '' The Promise'', was released in November 2008 and shot straight to number 1 in the UK.

Discography

The Conspiracy

*Studio album #1991 – ''One to One''

Il Divo

*Studio album #2004 – ''

'' #2005 – '' Ancora'' #2006 – '' Siempre'' #2008 – '' The Promise'' #2011 – ''

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak from his third album '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). It was released as a single to little attention in July 1989 but became a sleeper hit when Lee Chestnut, an Atlanta radio station ...

'' #2013 – '' A Musical Affair'' #2015 – '' Amor & Pasión'' #2018 – ''Timeless'' *Seasonal album #2005 – '' The Christmas Collection'' *Compilations #2012 – '' The Greatest Hits'' *Live albums #2009 – '' An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona'' #2014 – '' Live in Japan'' *Special editions #2005 – ''Il Divo. Gift Edition'' #2006 – ''Il Divo Collezione'' #2006 – ''Christmas Collection. The Yule Log'' #2008 – ''The Promise. Luxury Edition'' #2011 – ''Wicked Game. Gift Edition'' #2011 – ''Wicked Game. Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set'' #2012 – ''The Greatest Hits. Deluxe Limited Edition'' #2014 – ''A Musical Affair. Exclusive'' #2014 – ''A Musical Affair. French Version'' #2014 – ''Live in Japan. Japan Versión''

Videography

Il Divo

# 2004 – '' Live At Gotham Hall'' # 2005 – ''Encore'' # 2005 – ''Mamá'' # 2006 – ''The Yule Log: The Christmas Collection'' # 2006 – ''

Live at the Greek Theater The videography of Il Divo composes by the documentaries or concerts published in format DVD, Blu-ray or Digital distribution, digital format, or by the videos musical officials, that have published by the discográficas associated to the quart ...

'' # 2008 – ''At the Coliseum'' # 2009 – '' An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona'' # 2011 – '' Live in London'' # 2014 – '' Live in Japan''

Performances

*''Ba-ta-clan''. Opera Minora. Festival Aan Zee in Noordwijk. 23 May 2001. *''Der Vogelhändler'' (plays leading role, Adam). Nieuwstad Operette in Nieuwegein. November 2002. *''Eine Nacht in Venedig'' (plays leading role, Caramello). Nieuwstad Operette in Nieuwegein. 7 November 2003. *''Johannes Passion''. Oude Kerk, Delft. With Philharmonisch Koor Toonkunst Rotterdam. 17 April 2003.

References

External links

*
Il Divo official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buhler, Urs 1971 births Living people English-language singers from Switzerland French-language singers of Switzerland Italian-language singers of Switzerland Opera crossover singers Spanish-language singers of Switzerland Swiss drummers Swiss male drummers Swiss guitarists Swiss male singers Swiss pianists Swiss tenors Swiss violinists Male violinists Swiss clarinetists Conservatorium van Amsterdam alumni Swiss-German people Il Divo members Swiss male pianists 21st-century drummers 21st-century clarinetists 21st-century violinists