Urs Bühler

Urs Bühler
Birth name	Urs Toni Bühler
Born	July 19, 1971 Willisau, Lucerne, Switzerland
Genres	Classical crossover; Opera; romantic; Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Singing,
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Syco Music, Sony BMG, Columbia Records
Associated acts	Il Divo

Urs signature.

Urs Toni Bühler (born 19 July 1971 in Willisau, Lucerne, Switzerland) is a classically-trained tenor. He is a member of the classical crossover group Il Divo, who have sold over 28 million copies worldwide discs.^[1]

Career

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.

Tenor

At that time, he was already receiving music lessons at the Academy for School and Church Music.^[2] His progress in the field led him to move to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he studied voice at Sweelinck Conservatorium with Udo Reinemann, a well-known German baritone. Under the private tutoring of Swedish tenor Gösta Winbergh of the Royal Swedish Opera and French tenor Christian Papis, Urs enriched his classical repertoire. He sang in the choir of the Dutch opera and performed in the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Claudio Abbado. Prior to joining Il Divo, he was mainly based in the Netherlands, singing oratorios and performing with the Netherlands Opera Gezelschap (NOG).^[3] Despite many performances there are only a handful of recordings available of him before Il Divo.

Il Divo

In December 2003, Urs 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. In Cowell's office, he simply asked Urs to sing for him unaccompanied. Impressed by Buhler's tenor voice, Cowell offered him a place in Il Divo. Their first album, Il Divo, became a worldwide multi-platinum selling record when released in November 2004, entering Billboard at number four and selling five million copies worldwide in less than a year and knocking Robbie Williams from the number one spot in the charts. Their second album, Ancora, was released on November 7, 2005 in the United Kingdom. Il Divo's third album Siempre was released on November 21, 2006 in the United States and on November 27, 2006 internationally. Their latest album, The Promise, was released on November 10, 2008 (world) & November 18, 2008 (US), and shot straight to number 1 in the UK.

Private Life

Urs has a daughter, Wilhelmina, who is from his relationship with Tanya Rodney, the former make-up artist of Il Divo. Wilhelmina was born on 23 December 2008. Urs affectionately calls her Billie.

Discography

The Conspiracy

• Studio album

1. 1991 - One to One

Il Divo

• Studio album:

1. 2004 - Il Divo
2. 2005 - Ancora
3. 2006 - Siempre
4. 2008 - The Promise
5. 2011 - Wicked Game
6. 2013 - A Musical Affair
7. 2015 - Amor & Pasión

• Seasonal album

1. 2005 - The Christmas Collection

• Compilations:

1. 2012 - The Greatest Hits

• Live Album:

1. 2009 - An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona
2. 2014 - Live in Japan

• Special Editions:

1. 2005 - Il Divo. Gift Edition ^[4]
2. 2006 - Il Divo Collezione ^[5]
3. 2006 - Christmas Collection. The Yule Log ^[6]
4. 2008 - The Promise. Luxury Edition ^[7]
5. 2011 - Wicked Game. Gift Edition ^[8]
6. 2011 - Wicked Game. Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set ^[9]
7. 2012 - The Greatest Hits. Deluxe Limited Edition ^[10]
8. 2014 - A Musical Affair. Exclusive ^[11]
9. 2014 - A Musical Affair. French Version ^[12]
10. 2014 - Live in Japan. Japan Versión ^[13]

Videography

Il Divo

1. 2004 - Live At Gotham Hall
2. 2005 - Encore
3. 2005 - Mamá ^[14]
4. 2006 - The Yule Log: The Christmas Collection ^[15]
5. 2006 - Live At the Greek Theater
6. 2008 - At the Coliseum
7. 2009 - An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona
8. 2011 - Live in London
9. 2014 - Live In Japan

Performances

• Ba-ta-clan. Opera Minora. Festival Aan Zee in Noordwijk. May 23, 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. November 7, 2003.
• Johannes Passion. Oude Kerk, Delft. With Philharmonisch Koor Toonkunst Rotterdam. April 17, 2003.

References

1. "Il Divo crowned Silver Clef winners". 23 March 2015.
2. Fame & Fortune: UK taxes drive Swiss opera star cuckoo
3. "Urs Divo Buhler".
4. http://www.ildivo.com/ (ed.). "IL DIVO GIFT PACK".
5. lahiguera.net (ed.). "SE PUBLICA IL DIVO COLLEZIONE. Incluirá los CDs: Il divo, Ancora y The Christmas Collection, y el DVD Encore".
6. http://www.ildivo.com/ (ed.). "Christmas Collection. The Yule Log (DVD)".
7. http://www.ildivo.com/ (ed.). "IL DIVO The Promisse Edition Especial".
8. http://www.ildivo.com/ (ed.). "IL DIVO JUEGO PERVERSO".
9. http://www.ildivo.com/ (ed.). "IL DIVO en edición especial limitada de Wicked game".
10. "THE GREATEST HITS - DELUXE LIMITED EDITION".
11. "A MUSICAL AFFAIR - EXCLUSIVE (DELUXE GIFT EDITION CD/DVD & 2014 CALENDAR)".
12. www.ildivo.com, ed. (2014). "Il Divo pública 'A Musical Affair. French Versión'".
13. www.ildivo.com, ed. (24 September 2014). "Un año después del lanzamiento de su exito álbum inspirado en musicales clásicos, Il Divo vuelve a la carga con una edición muy especial de ‘A Musical Affair".
14. www.ildivo.com (ed.). "Videoclip de Mamá, de Il Divo".
15. www.ildivo.com (ed.). "Il Divo pública 'Christmas Collection. The Yule Log'".

External links

• Il Divo official website
• Urs Bühler on Twitter