Which Singer was Born in December?

Get an Insight of a Popular Artist with Interesting Background Information

José Carreras: December 5th

The Spanish opera singer José Carreras was born on 5 December 1946 in Barcelona. His real name is Josep Maria Carreras i Coll. At the beginning of his career, he had to officially change his name to José, but in his heart, he always remained Josep, as an interview showed. As one of the Three Tenors, next to Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, he has participated in numerous concerts from 1990 to 2003 and is one of the most important tenors of the 20th century. He is also famous for his interpretation of the works of Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini. He had to end his career due to a leukemia illness.

Steep Rise

Since early childhood José Carreras has been interested in music. At the age of eight, he presented himself to the public for the first time and interpreted the Italian play "La donna è mobile" on Spanish radio. At the age of eleven he became a male soprano at the opera house of Liceu in Barcelona and is involved in operas like El retablo de Maese Pedro and La Bohème. He is also trained in the music conservatory of Liceu. In addition to Montserrat Caballé, he has his first role as a tenor. She gave him a leading role in Lucrezia Borgia. At his beginnings in London, José Carreras again sang with Montserrat Caballé. From 1972, he began playing the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly in America and has played numerous guest appearances in the operas of Buenos Aires, Chicago, Vienna, etc.

Deep Fall

At the beginning of the 80s, he was at the top of his career and, among other things, took part in the reissue of West Side Story. He was also awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts. The diagnosis leukemia came abruptly and interrupted his career for a year. The International José Carreras Leukemia Foundation is founded in 1988 by the tenor to promote research.

New Possibilites

Since 1995, a charity fund has been held at the end of the year. After 20 years of existence, over 200 million dollars have already been donated to cancer research due to the event. In 2009, he finally announced that he would not want to sing operas anymore since his illness made him too tired but still wanted to be involved in concerts.

Get the Arias from José Carreras via the Audials Wishlists

Launch Audials One or Audials Music Rocket. Under "Music Search" in the area "Music and More" enter an artist, in this case José Carreras, to receive a list of all his tracks. However, the individual albums can also be found in this view. Click e.g. on the album The José Carreras Collection. Select now "Record album as audio tracks" to save all songs from the album or choose individual tracks.