Italian opera star Luciano Pavarotti, hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation, died in the early hours of Thursday, his manager Terri Robson said.

“Luciano Pavarotti died one hour ago,” Robson said in a telephone text message to Reuters. He was 71.

The 71-year-old rotund, black-bearded singer, who helped bring opera to the masses and performed to vast stadium audiences round the world, had briefly lost consciousness on Wednesday after a battle with cancer.

As a tribute to Pavarotti, here’s a video of him singing Vento together with Ricky Martin: