Italian singer Alessandro Safina combined his opera roots with modern-day pop music to create a striking, hard-to-categorize style. Born in 1968 in a small town of Siena, Italy, Safina became interested in opera at an early age, and it wasn't until he was late in his teens that he became an admirer of pop and rock music. In the '90s, Safina was discovered by renowned Italian pianist/composer Romano Musumarra, and the pair began recording, in an attempt to realize Safina's dream of creating a "soulful new pop opera music." The end result was Safina's self-titled debut, issued in September of 2001. He refined his vision on further albums such as 2002's Insieme a Te, 2003's Musica Di Te, and 2007's Sognami. ~ Greg Prato