Few bands stand the test of time, quite like Il Divo. As the classical crossover quartet celebrates 20 years together, Sébastien Izambard, one of its members, reflected on the band’s journey in an exclusive interview on the latest episode of Cultura Shock at LATV.

Il Divo’s Sébastien Izambard opens up about his musical journey

“Unbelievable, 20 years as a band. There are not a lot of bands out there that can hold it for 20 years, be together as a band,” Izambard recalled, emphasizing the significance of the milestone.

French singer, composer, and record producer Sébastien Izambard, known for his impressive vocal range, has been a member of Il Divo since 2004.

In the interview, Sébastien talked about the multilingual nature of Il Divo’s performances, revealing all the languages he can speak: “I speak French, obviously, because I’m French. I speak English, some Spanish – I understand better than I speak, I get really shy when I speak, some Italian, and I can speak some Japanese words.”

 

The quartet, also comprised of Swiss tenor Urs Bühler, American tenor David Miller, and Spanish baritone Carlos Marín, who tragically passed away in 2021 due to COVID-19, achieved international fame thanks to the promotional efforts of Simon Cowell for Syco Music. With over 30 million albums sold worldwide, Il Divo has released ten studio albums and numerous live recordings, pioneering the genre of operatic pop. Their concerts have sold over two million tickets globally, with their first world tour spanning 69 cities in 18 countries.

When asked about any memorable anecdotes from their tours, Izambard recounted a particular incident from Taipei that still makes him laugh: “We did one of the songs, which I can’t say the title of, and we had little teleprompters but David was right in front of it! I couldn’t see the lyrics and I was like ‘Maybe I need some glasses.’ I messed up the lyrics and asked to redo it again for the first time in 20 years! That was really funny. The audience actually loved it, they are not used to bands saying ‘Let’s do it again’. It has to be always perfect. I think those moments are more memorable than the perfect ones, certainly for me.”

Reflecting on the lessons he had learned from his time with Il Divo, Sébastien likened the experience to being in a long-lasting marriage: “I feel like this band is like a marriage, it is the longest marriage I’ve ever been in. It really taught me about being patient, compromising, compassionate, being heard, hearing others, and patience, a lot of patience.”

Despite the challenges encountered along the way, Izambard expressed gratitude for the undeniable support of Il Divo’s global fanbase: “As a band, we are gonna celebrate how strong we are, after all we’ve gone through, how wonderful it is to have an amazing audience around the world, everybody is so loyal and they keep on coming back and they enjoy it.”

As the season finale of Cultura Shock draws near, fans of Il Divo can tune in to the LATV+ App and watch the full episode where Sébastien reminisces and shares his favorite memories from his 20 years with the band.

In the words of Izambard himself, “We are ready for another 20 years, we are good to go. If we can still walk, I’ll be there.”