Sebastien Izambard, the French Il Divo, is visiting his home in London a few days before leaving for Montreal, where his family will move during the Canadian tour of the quartet of singers and his band of forty musicians. A few hours after taking tea with Queen Elizabeth II, he answered questions from The Gazette.








Question: On your last album, Wicked Game, you translate most of the songs in Italian, but Do not Cry For Me Argentina, from the musical Evita, you sing in English. Why?
Answer: It's simple. When you have a song, we try it in English, Spanish, Italian, and we keep what works best. Sometimes when you sing in English, it looks like Mickey Mouse: it does not work.
In your debut, dazzling, there was much talk of Simon Cowell, who has found you. Are you out of the shadow of famous British impresario?
We always talk about Simon because he has opened the doors. It took two years to find us when we all had solo careers, I was the only one of four to make pop. We submitted the project, and some of us were not convinced. We tried and it allowed us to make TV shows that you do not have access. Simon has a very strong instinct, he can feel what people want to hear. I met his band One Direction on a plate: they are adorable. But the challenge is to last. After nine years, our success depends more on Simon Cowell, our costumes or if we are beautiful or not. It is really the business we have and our passion for music.
Today is it that you choose your repertoire?
For the scene, it depends on us because we are four producers of the shows. Sometimes added songs that are not even on the albums. But for the record, we have a list of songs and Simon has his. For example, Crying, Roy Orbison, was the idea of ​​my wife, who heard the end of the show Prison Break. I played this song to David, Urs and Carlos, and was then heard to Simon, who found great. By cons, it was Simon who suggested to Wicked Game, Chris Isaak. I said: "It is not possible, it is a huge song, pop song, it will be fun." But in the studio, it was incredible! In fact, this song gave us the direction of the album.
What you were like pop music before Il Divo?
I wrote my songs and I released an album for EMI. I also came to the promo in Montreal, where I shot my second video. Later, I was offered to the musical The Little Prince with Richard Rodgers. I played the businessman with Daniel Lavoie. It was truly a great experience at the Casino de Paris.
How do you respond to those who say that you have struck gold, a recipe, you always operate the same way?
Not much. Often they are people jealous of our success. There are plenty of people who tell us that our music helped them through difficult times. I see people at our shows who really fun, and that's what matters to me.
Il Divo at Bell Centre, May 22, at 20h. In the first part: Nikki Yanofsky.