In Memory of Carlos Marin Dec 28, 2021

A Virtual Celebration of Life
Carlos Marín 1968-2021
Air date 28 December 2021


URS BÜHLER
I met Carlos Marín for the first time in 2003 in London at Sony BMG, Simon Cowell's office, and that was after the first round of auditions for Il Divo. No one, none of us had an idea at the time what that amazing journey we would shortly embark on would hold in store for us.
That is now over 18 years ago, and in these 18 years we have lived through so much together. We had so many incredible experiences. I always said to the other boys in Il Divo: I have spent more time with you than you have with your own wives.
And so far I guess it's fair to say that Carlos Marín was probably one of the most important people in my life.
And Carlos was always unique: first of all, for the singer and the artist he was. He had an absolutely God-given voice. Everything he sang was mesmerizingly beautiful. And he could do it all, from breathy, poppy notes to big, Wagneresque opera sounds. He had it all right there at his fingertips. It was always captivating, what he did, and he did it a hundred percent and with all his heart and all his passion.
He also was a very big personality. He was loud and proud. He was always smiling, joking, and he -- wherever he was, whatever he did, he would never go unnoticed. He touched every person he met.
The fact that at only 53 years now and so suddenly he is gone, he's not with us anymore, leaves a deep, deep void in all of us. It's a fact that is still very, very difficult and very hard for all of us to comprehend. And his absence and the fact that he'll never come back now will take us a long, long time to heal.
But I hope that his smiles, his sense of humor, his personality and, most of all, his beautiful voice and his singing will forever sound on in all our hearts.
Carlos Marín, we love you. May you forever rest in peace.
Thank you very much.


SÉBASTIEN IZAMBARD
Hi. This is Sebastien from Il Divo. I'm not here to talk about myself, obviously.
I wanted to send all my love to Carlos's family, all the fans, all the amazing fans who have been so supportive, and Urs and David and myself for sharing such an incredible journey with the most amazing singer ever, with the most incredible voice, heart, an incredible, generous person: funny, cheesy, loving, caring, passionate about music.
And I wanted to tell you a quick little anecdote about Carlos. I remember sitting next to him often and singing songs on the stools and often -- very beginning, especially -- I used to forget the words very often. Sometimes it was because I have a very bad memory, but most often it was because I heard the most incredible voice and I was mesmerized about the way he was singing every, single night, the sound of his voice, his passion, and I would look at him and think "Wow, where does that voice come from? It comes from out of nowhere, from a gift, from his heart."
Carlos is never going to leave us, ever, because he'll always be with us in our heart, onstage, everywhere we go. Carlos was like a brother to me, and this is incredibly, incredibly difficult.
Went to celebrate Christmas yesterday, and the first song they sang was "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful," which was heartbroken, because that's one of the songs that we sing on the Christmas show. And I felt his presence. I felt he was there with us. And
If Carlos was there, he would say, "The show must go on," and he would be asking us to continue and to sing for him, to make Il Divo bigger, and that's what we're going to do.
Carlos, I really love you, man. I miss my brother, my friend. I wish you peace. You're missed, very missed. Amen.


DAVID MILLER
It is difficult to describe the type of relationship that Carlos, Urs, Seb and I have had for the last 17 years. It was obviously more than colleagues, more than friends. We've always said in our interviews that we're kind of like brothers or perhaps like an arranged marriage. But even there, if you count the sheer number of hours that we spent together for days or weeks or months or years on end, whether it was rehearsals or performances or meet-and-greets with the fans or traveling all around the world together continuously or movie premieres or book signings or TV appearances or presidential inaugurations or Miss World pageants -- Carlos particularly loved that one.
But the point is we have spent so much time together and have a bond that goes beyond even family, and it's something else that we just don't have a word for. And so the feeling of the loss of Carlos is just very difficult to put into words.
Over the last several days I have received many, many emails and texts and messages of condolences from fans, from colleagues, from friends, and from family, probably more than I have ever received at any given time in my life, and they were all because of Carlos Marín. And all these messages from all these various people, whether they knew him personally or not, they all had a consistent message, and that message was that in some way or another he made them smile.

And I think it's true. Carlos Marín simply made everyone smile.
He had a truly exceptional voice, both in its beauty and in its power, which touched the hearts of everyone who heard it, and I feel proud and honored to have shared a stage with him for countless performances.
He had a very quick wit and an incredible sense of humor, although most of the jokes Carlos would tell I really should not repeat, especially not in church. And for those of us who knew Carlos very well, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
He had a laugh. Oh, he had a laugh. It was such a laugh, such a life-affirming declaration of pure joy, that one could not help but smile back in response.
And he was always genuine with everyone. When he was talking to you, he gave you his full attention, and he made you feel like you were the only person in the room.


I did not know Carlos in his youth, but I have seen pictures, especially recently, and I can say that the man I have known for the last 17 years was very much still the boy that I see in those photos. In a way he never really grew up, and in many ways he was the eternal Peter Pan. All he really ever wanted was the enjoyment of making people happy and to be the one who made people smile.
Carlos, my friend, my more than a brother, may you rest in peace.


ROSA MARÍN
I'm Rosa; I'm his sister. And I just wanted to thank everybody for the support and for all the love you have shown us. And everybody loved him very much. We felt really -- we didn't feel alone at all, because we have a lot of support from everyone. Thank you very much, everybody.
And we're very proud of my brother, and he'll always be in our hearts, and he'll be singing with the angels. And now he's going to be young forever. Thank you.

MAGDALENA MENCHERO (Carlos's mother)
(English translation onscreen) I would like to thank everybody for having been such great companions to him. Now he's going to sing in Heaven because of how beautiful his voice was. Thank you so much for everything. Thank you. My god, I love you. I will forever love you. I will love you all my life. Thank you.

(Performance of "My Way" from London Coliseum 2011 tour video)