Luciano Lionheart @ Love Garden

I am so excited to blog Luciano Lionheart today. He is from Norway and at one time he was singing in New York City in the past. However due to health concerns he had to return to Norway. After some time, he decided to come to Second Life where he was a premier entertainer here in Second Life. He has been gone from Second life for a couple years and just returned to once again entertain us. I am sure most of you know the talent that he possesses if you have heard him before and if you have never heard him what a treat you will be in for.

I will be going over to the Love Garden venue which is owned by Alex. He is a very friendly person and very welcoming to me when I arrived at the venue. This is a German venue that has entertainment on the weekends. It is nice to be able to go to a venue with a different mix of people from around the world. Alex speaks German and English so you will feel very welcomed when you arrive.

I arrived before Luciano started to sing and already there was a large crowd that was there anticipating the return of Luciano Lionheart to Second Life, a Avi Choice Award winner. I was very amazed that after two years that he had this kind of turn out to see him. The sim was almost full during his performance, it was amazing to see this and what a special time to be in sl.

Luciano was so very warm and welcoming to his audience. He is a very genuine person, and you can get that feeling the way he interacts with everyone.

He starts out with the song The Prayer written by David Foster and originally sung by Celine Dion. This will be a special moment I can tell just by the vibe I am getting from the crowd. The anticipation is hard to explain. And there it is the first time in 2 years we heard the lovely voice of Luciano Lionheart again. He sings with confidence and has such a wonderful tone to his voice. I get goosebumps when he sings. He is perfection!

The audience absolutely loves him, and he appreciates them and them being here. I really cannot express enough what a gentleman that he is. He is polite and a very considerate person.

Being from a musical family as I am I was taught to appreciate good music. Emotionally his performance is very overwhelming. He sings as if he is singing each song personally to you, he has a magnetism that is hard to describe.

Now onto the song Walking in Memphis originally sung by Marc Cohn. I absolutely love this arrangement as Luciano makes it more jazzy sounding than the original.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Ella Fitzgerald was up next. Let's hope Luciano never says goodbye to us again! It does not matter what type of song he sings he makes every song his own! This was so beautiful!

Luciano is whistling! Yes, he starts out the song Mr. Bojangles whistling his way into the song. he is a perfect whistler too I might add! he does a great version of this song and once again ends the song by whistling his way out., loved this!

You sure cannot ever go wrong with the song Sway! I love the way he sings this song. It has been sung by so any artists, but I prefer the way Luciano sings it.

Between songs Luciano makes sure that he points out all the sl performers who are at his show. This is the ultimate compliment when you have that many fellow performers come to your show. The place was packed full for this performance!

He is singing the song Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden now. This is only the second time I have heard this song in my life and both of those times happened this week! He really jazzes this song up and I totally love hoe he performs this song.

I love French songs, so I requested he sing La Vie En Rose, I always really appreciate the version by Edith Piaf. He sings it is English which is great also. He was kind enough to acknowledge me as his good friend in the audience, thank you Luciano! I got to know him through Jae Sands in the past because I had managed Jae. More on that later.

There are no words to describe this next song! I just suggest that if you have never heard the song Bring Him Home to listen to it! it was originally sung by Colm Wilkinson as he played the part of Jean Valjean in Les Misérables. Luciano has been lucky enough to have sung this song in Les Misérables in 3 different countries. When he sings this song, it is amazing and it hits my inner core, what an overwhelming performance by him! The last note he held forever; I don’t know how he did that! Bravo Luciano! I bet no one knew that I directed and performed in Les Misérables right here in Second Life two times! Not an easy feat! lol

It was hard getting the last song out of my head to move onto the next one. Somehow, I did it! Next, he sang Fly me to the Moon for a dedication. He starts out slow and then picks it up to a jazzy style. Over half the way through this show already! It feels like he just sang his first song.

What Kind of Fool Am I has been sung by many artists in the past. Luciano does a wonderful job singing this song. Some songs when he sings them just leave me speechless. Sometimes it is just hard to put into words.

I was not sure the name of this next song but checked with Luciano later to confirm the name. I should know it though it is such a famous song. It is called O Mio Babbino Carol from the opera Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini. A song where Lauretta is begging her father to help her marry the love of her life. Luciano sings this with ease even though Opera is one of the most difficult genres to sing.

I really love this jazzed up version of Love Kats by the Cure and then onto Pure Imagination by Josh Groban. you never get bored at a Luciano Lionheart show!

This next song is very special and dedicated to a woman named Grace. Luciano explains that Alistar (Alistar Babenco) along with his wife Grace originally booked Luciano for his first ever show in Second Life. Unfortunately, Alistar's wife Grace died. Alistar was in the audience tonight. As Luciano sang Alistar wrote in local chat. "Alistar (Alistar Babenco): You are a wonderful man with a god given talent Luciano. Thank you so much, from Grace and myself. " It was a wonderful tribute to this lovely couple.

As I was mentioning earlier, I used to manage Jae Sands and knew he would want to hear Luciano. I teleported him in so he could hear the last few minutes of his show. Years back Jae and Luciano did a special Christmas show together. Luciano sang the song My Way in honor of Jae, thank you Luciano!

I hate it when shows end, but I do not mind it so much when it ends with a great Italian song called "Nella Fantasia" and is by Ennio Morricone. Having lived in Italy years ago these songs always have a special meaning to me.

What a wonderful return to Second Life show Luciano performed tonight. If you were lucky enough to be here tonight you know the magic that was performed here tonight. Tears were shed during many of these songs as he sang a perfect show! Thank you for returning to Second Life Luciano, we all missed you!