Reuters is reporting the death of the star Italian opera singer Luciano Pavarotti, hailed by many as the greatest tenor of his generation. He died early on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, his manager Terri Robson said.

“The great tenor Luciano Pavarotti died today at 5 a.m. at his home in Modena,” Robson said in a statement. He was 71. “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 brought a love of opera to the masses and performed to vast stadium audiences round the world. He shot to popular fame with a stand-in appearance at Covent Garden in 1963 and had soon had critics gushing about his “big” voice.

His last public singing performance was at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006.

Jeremy Isaacs said on the BBC’s Today programme that said Luciano had a big, thrilling voice that was unmistakeable. He could sing almost anything and was a big favourite with Covent Garden audiences.

He is perhaps best known for teaming up with Spanish stars Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras at the 1990 football World Cup in Italy and introduced operatic classics to an estimated 800 million people around the globe.

Although the quality of his voice tailed off in recent years, his technique never did. His presence will be much missed.