Il Divo no longer has to do what Simon says, April 27, 2009

Il Divo no longer has to do what Simon says
By DARRYL STERDAN

Last Updated: 27th April 2009, 2:54am

Are they not their own men?

They are Il Divo.

Although the international popera quartet was first brought together by American Idol judge and musical entrepreneur Simon Cowell as a more commercial response to The Three Tenors, the foursome have long since taken over the reins of their career, says tenor Urs Buhler.

"We hardly deal with Mr. Simon Cowell," he says.

"We have hardly anything to do with him. We see him once a year for a half-hour meeting to discuss the repertoire for the next album.

"That's about it. He has nothing whatsoever to do with the tour or the set list. We decide about that. We have meetings and conference calls with the creative people; Simon Cowell has nothing to do with that."

And even if he did, the four members of Il Divo have now bonded enough to stand together as a unit.

"We reached that point some time ago," Buhler says.

"Also, I think to be quite frank, that whole bonding thing is quite overestimated. You see bands who have been together since school times and played in a cellar for 10 years, and all of a sudden they get successful, and they get sick of each other so quickly that they often fall apart.

"But we came together at a mature age, and have had our own careers and know what we're talking about and what we're doing.

"And along the way we got to know each other.

"Sure, in the beginning, we had a lot of misunderstandings, especially as we're from four different countries and speak four different languages. And those kind of things, you just have to work through them.

"And we did.

"We're adults."