This has got to be the positively tackiest crossover album on earth.

i'm not kidding. this gives masters of chant, or whatever those gregorian chant sellouts are called, a run for their money. oh, and since i'm in a snitty mood, i flagged grammatical errors in red.

Accidental opera singer
SOUNDS FAMILIAR By Baby A. Gil
The Philippine Star 09/22/2004

How do you turn contemporary pop hits into classical arias? The first thing to do is translate the lyrics into Italian so that the songs will sound like they are excerpts from an old opera. Then get a bona fide classical singer to perform the songs. Again, the style should be akin to an aria from a real opera. To complete the package, accompaniment must be provided by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra which is more associated with classical music than pop songs.

What you will get as a result is an interesting mix that will baffle opera lovers who do not listen to hit songs on radio. "From where on earth did these songs come from?" they will ask. "We have never heard them before?" they will also say. Of course, the end product will also amaze pop listeners who will doubtless recognize the melodies but will also ask, "Why do they sound like arias from the operas?"

Pop songs translated into Italian and dubbed with the new name Modern Arias make up the bulk of the debut album of West Indian tenor Tony Henry. These are Eroe, La Forza Dentro Me, Per Chi, La Nostra Favola, Lei, Ognuno Sofre, Da Solo No, La Parola Piu Difficule, Adesso, Fai Quel Che Vuoi, Cerca L’eroe Dentro Te, Ieri A Lei, La Prima Volta and for the last cut, a title many will instantly recognize, O Sole Mio.

Are you confused by those other titles? No need to be because those are only some of your favorites dressed up with a new Italian wardrobe. Hero, Something Inside So Strong, Without You, Delilah, She, Everybody Hurts, All By Myself, Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word, I Want to Know What Love Is, Whatever You Want, Search for the Hero, Yesterday and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Henry’s powerful singing is cut out for opera. Aside from roles in Miss Saigon and Starlight Express when he was starting out, he has also sung the part of Captain Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Truth to tell, he makes other young tenors around sound like 90-pound weaklings. To top it all {off}, he impresses all the more when you find out that he was a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who made it big through hard work, sheer talent and a remarkable series of coincidences that found him with the right people at the right time.

Henry was born to a poor family in St. Albans. He grew up watching his mother struggle with several jobs to support her five children. Tony plunged into work right after school and he was {a} laborer, barman, security guard and later a stuntman. It was at this point when he realized what he really wanted to do with his life and it was get into show business. A chance audition landed him a place at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. Again it was only at this point that he found out he is a born singer {eh?}. Then came another realization. He got the part of Joe in Carmen Jones and this put him in contact with opera singers {this is not a realization}.

Why, he was ideally suited {redundant} for opera! To fund his voice lessons, Tony took to literally singing for his supper with other opera kids at Sarastro, a famous Italian restaurant near the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. And once again something else fell into place. Record producers Bradley and Stewart James heard Tony singing and were instantly overwhelmed by his incredible voice. They were even more astounded when they saw where it was coming from, a young black dude in a baseball cap, sunglasses and lots of medallions like some New York rapper. He was taken straight to the recording studio and some months later came Modern Arias.

There are plenty of albums of pop songs by classically trained singers in the market these days, many of them by stars more popular than Tony. His Modern Arias however is the only one where pop songs got {are} translated into Italian. That accounts for some difference. The main reason to get a copy is his fantastic voice. If that fails to get you, then I am sure the second will {???}. Believe it or not, it is actually fun to listen to the new lyrics and utterly serious orchestration by the Royal Philharmonic. Nilsson and Tom Jones at the opera! Wow!