Backstage with Pavarotti and Other Egos: Disasters on the High Cs

Luciano Pavarotti was one of the best-loved international personalities of the 20th century. A singer who broke free of opera houses to perform before massive audiences in huge arenas around the world, becoming in the process the richest opera singer in history.John Duffus presented and worked on a dozen concerts with Pavarotti, including the last he ever sang to a paying public, as well as others with such artists as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Isaac Stern and fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José CarrerasBlessed with a glorious voice, described as "a freak of nature that comes very rarely in 100 years", Pavarotti seemingly had it all. After his entry into arenas, though, disasters began to strike with increasing regularity. He was cancelling previously scheduled concerts and operas virtually at a whim. The ego had become as large as his girth.The backstage shenanigans of the promoters, agents and others who worked on these concerts have never been revealed, until now.