Enrico Caruso was born on February 25, 1873 in the family of a car mechanic. The parents of the future singer - Anna Maria and Marcello Caruso - lived rather poorly, nevertheless they encouraged their son when he decided to study music.

Enrico Caruso sang in church choir from his early childhood. However, later, when his family was in the tight corner, the future singer was performing church compositions in the central streets of Naples. Thus, he had been earning for life for a long time. During one of these "street concerts», one of the vocal school teachers noticed Enrico and invited the young singer for a casting session. Quite soon, Enrico Caruso began to study music with the prominent conductor and teacher Vincenzo Lombardi. Maestro organized the concerts of young performer in the bars and restaurants of the Naples resort areas.

Before long, Enrico felt himself popular. Many people came to his concerts and admired his singing. Well-known representatives of Italian music industry, who offered the talented performer various contracts, visited his concerts as well.
According to the majority of researchers, after twenty-four-year-old Caruso performed the legendary solo of Enzo in the opera "La Gioconda" he was recognized as the formed top-lined singer. After this triumphant success, Enrico started for his first foreign concert tour.

On January 15, 1899, Petersburg heard Caruso in “La Traviata” for the first time. Caruso, embarrassed and touched by the warm reception, responded to the numerous praises of the Russian admirers, said: "Oh, do not thank me – it is Verdi who deserves a praise!"

In 1900, being a real celebrity, Caruso first appeared on the stage of the legendary "La Scala". The connoisseurs’ and critics’ admiration was her joy was beyond measure: "One of the most superb tenors we've ever heard!" It was the time when the great Italian performed in Covent Garden in London, and gave concerts in Hamburg, Berlin and other cities. The singer’s performances always passed with formidable success.

In the evening of November 23, 1903, Caruso make first appearance on the New York stage, at the Metropolitan Opera. He sang in “Rigoletto”. The famous singer immediately and forever conquered the American public. The theater director Heinrich Conried, who immediately signed the contract with Caruso for a whole year.

When Giulio Gatti-Casazza became the Metropolitan Opera director, Caruso's honoraria was steadily mounted every year. As a result, his emolument was so large that other theaters world could no longer compete with the Metropolitan Opera.
The administration raised the entrance tickets’ price at own and sole discretion when Caruso was performing. The scalpers bought tickets at this price, and then resold them at the triple or sometimes ten times higher price!

Caruso was extremely successful in the United States from the very beginning. His influence grew day by day. The Metropolitan Opera chronicle states that no other artist was so successful. The singer’s name appearance on posters was each time a great event in the city.
Caruso was overparted at the Metropolitan only during the season. He performed in numerous operas that solicit him with invitations when the season was closed. The singer sang Cuba, in Mexico City, in Rio de Janeiro and Buffalo.

On December 24, 1920, Caruso performed in his last, the 607th opera performance at the Metropolitan Opera. The singer felt very badly, he was experiencing sharp and piercing pain and fever. He managed to sing five acts of "La Juive". Despite the pain, the greatest artist was acting artistically, stood firmly and confidently. The audience frantically applauded, shouted "encore", not suspecting that they had heard the last song of the hearts’ conqueror.

Caruso left for Italy and courageously combatted his illness. Nevertheless, the singer died on August 2, 1921 at the age of 48, the great tenor died in his native Naples because of purulent pleurisy. 

Enrico Caruso is a great singer, whose name, no doubt, is known in all over the world. His songs and enchanting vocal represent the highest musical art. That is why his compositions easily crossed the borders of countries and continents, glorifying the name of the great Italian for many decades.