MODENA (Italy), Sept 6: Legendary Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, whose titanic voice and charisma brought opera to the masses, died of cancer on Thursday aged 71.

“There were tenors, and then there was Pavarotti,” said Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli.

His health had been failing for a year, but the death of the bearded tenor, known as “Big Luciano” because of his 127 kg (280 lb) bulk, saddened everyone from impresarios and critics to fans who could barely afford tickets.

While past opera greats often locked themselves in a gilded, elitist world, television viewers around the world heard Pavarotti sing with pop stars like Sting and Bono in his “Pavarotti and Friends” benefit concerts.

“Some can sing opera; Luciano Pavarotti WAS an opera,” Bono said on his Web site. “I spoke to him last week ... the voice that was louder than any rock band was a whisper.”

London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden said: “He introduced the extraordinary power of opera to people who, perhaps, would never have encountered opera and classical singing. In doing so, he enriched their lives. That will be his legacy.” Vienna’s Staatsoper flew a black flag.

Pavarotti leapt to superstardom when he and two other great tenors, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, sang at Rome’s Caracalla Baths during the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy.

Sales of opera albums shot up after the concert. —Reuters