I was Pavarotti’s butler
main‘He had a complicated rider, a list of requirements – as most celebrities do – because these things progress as they get through their levels of fame….’
Read on here, if you must.
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I’ve read and I think to myself “and what?” 😉 …. not much on Pavarotti
G F Handel had two Huguenot servants in Brook Street. John Duburk and Peter le Blond His cook Gustavus Waltz sang Bass in his operas and oratorios.
https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/gustavus-waltz-17321750-215932
Crazy & embarrassing.
When I played in an arena performance featuring Pavarotti, the orchestra was not allowed to walk down the hallway past his dressing room, lest one of us leave germs in the area, despite the fact that our rooms were along the same corridor about 50 meters farther along. We had to take a circuitous path through the bowels of the arena that seemed about a half-mile long in order to arrive at our destination.
When did this take place? If he was receiving chemotherapy for his pancreatic cancer at the time (and performing between treatments), of course he would not be allowed to be around anyone withhe slightest germ, for his immune function would be lowered by the chemo and even a little cold germ could kill him.
I know – going through this right now with my dear .othet-in-law who is fighting breast cancer for the 3rd time in as many years.
Best wishes to all of you!
Famous people are usually crazy in some way (and often more than one).
A non story! Any major popular artist in recent decades has had riders that are often a great deal longer than the contracts themselves. I once had one for a pop singer stipulating that two bottles of Cristal champagne be in the suite and the dressing room at all times. One problem was that Cristal was not then available in that particular country. Each member of the crew therefore had to bring in a duty free bottle!
It also appears that this man acted as Pavarotti’s butler on just one occasion. Anyone interested in finding out about the real Pavarotti and his idiosyncrasies need only read Herbert Breslin’s amusing, no holds barred autobiography of his many decades as Pavarotti’s manager. “The King and I: The Uncensored Tale of Luciano Pavarotti’s Rise to Fame by His Manager, Friend, and Sometime Adversary” written in association with journalist Anne Midgette also includes a fair bit of bile, given that Breslin had recently been fired by Pavarotti, at the same time as his concert promoter for over two decades, Tibor Rudas – the two men who had together made him vastly wealthy – and so it is hardly a totally balanced view of the tenor.
Perhaps the upcoming film documentary on Pavarotti being made by the eminent director Ron Howard and Imagine Entertainment will provide that balance. On the other hand, with Decca and the two Pavarotti families behind that movie, perhaps it will be biased in the opposite direction!