Superstar singer Andrea Bocelli on his TIFF documentary: ‘I’ll retire when I can’t stand to hear my voice anymore’

One of superstar singer Andrea Bocelli’s signature songs is “Time to Say Goodbye,” his massively successful duet with “Phantom of the Opera” star Sarah Brightman.
But the 65-year-old tenor — who’s enjoyed crossover success for more than three decades — isn’t about to say goodbye to his public any time soon.
“I wanted to retire when I met my second wife, Veronica,” said Bocelli, through an interpreter, after the Toronto International Film Festival world premiere of “Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe,” Cosima Spender’s intimate documentary about his life and work.
“But she was so young and wanted to do more (with my career),” Bocelli said about his wife, Veronica Berti Bocelli, who’s also his manager. “I think I’ll retire when I can’t stand to hear my voice anymore.”
The documentary is anchored by the outdoor concert Bocelli headlined last year at Italy’s Baths of Caracalla. The majestic setting was significant. It was there in 1990 that Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras recorded their first Three Tenors concert for a televised audience of some 800 million, making them massive crossover artists and inspiring a 31-year-old Bocelli, who was then paying bills singing Sinatra songs at a piano bar, to think such a career was possible.
As the film illustrates, Bocelli always believed he was destined for something big, even if those around him — including his family and friends — didn’t. That faith is suggested in the film’s subtitle, an allusion to his song “Because We Believe,” which he co-wrote with Canada’s David Foster and Foster’s daughter, Amy.
“My faith stems from a very simple concept,” said Bocelli. “I don’t believe we can have a clock without an expert clockmaker — there has to be someone behind the making. The world is so perfectly put together. Humanity is imperfect, but life itself is perfect. I have a foot doctor that told me once, ‘If atheists were to see the human body open with all of its complex systems, they would no longer be atheists.’”
One of the things that comes across vividly in the film is Bocelli’s fearlessness. Born in the small Tuscan village of La Sterza with congenital glaucoma, the singer lost his sight completely after a soccer accident at age 12. In the film, he’s seen skydiving, riding a bicycle while occasionally holding onto his wife’s hand, and saddling up and riding his beloved horse.
Does anything give him fear?
“Yes, near the beginning of my career I suffered from stage fright and I realized it was because my technique was not perfect. When I finally improved my technique, those fears subsided.”
Although she’s not interviewed for the film, Canada’s Céline Dion shows up in a couple of clips. The two remained friends after their duet “The Prayer” charted in the late 1990s. He’s sad about her struggle with stiff-person syndrome.
“It really hurts me to know that she’s living with this,” he said. “I can understand how it feels to lose your voice. She also has children, so I understand how hard that must be. It really pains me.”
Speaking of children, one of the scene-stealers in “Because I Believe” is Virginia, Bocelli’s daughter with Veronica. We see her making art, practising piano, and she even joins her proud papa in a haunting duet of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” performed at Madison Square Garden.
“She’s very musical,” said Bocelli when I asked if Virginia is going to follow in his footsteps. “But we will see. Right now her voice is a child’s voice. It all depends on how it will grow.”
“Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe” has a repeat screening Friday at 4 p.m. at the Scotiabank Theatre. See tiff.net for details.