Luciano Pavarotti, likely the world’s most famous tenor, has passed away at the age of 71 from pancreatic cancer. His manager released a statement explaining the singer had died this morning at 5am, local time to his home in Modena, Italy. The statement read:

The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.

Pavarotti’s final performance was in February 2006 at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy where he performed “Nessun Dorma”. His farewell concert had been in March 2004 with his actual final full concert in December 2005.

The Associated Press has a very detailed look over Pavarotti’s career and personal life if you’re interested. You can also check out his Wikipedia page, just don’t be startled by the picture of his wax figure which looks a lot more like Jack Black pretending to be Pavarotti.