Lanza couldn’t read music, and only took part in a handful of opera productions, but he was the first opera singer to have earned gold records, his versions of Puccini arias selling by the millions.

Sony Masterworks, in concert with TCM and its broadcast of the Lanza films, has released The Toast of Hollywood, a two-CD collection of some of the best of the singer's work. Other standouts on the ...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Large tenors often have large personalities. The most famous example may be the late great romantic Luciano Pavarotti, but Mario Lanza, the platinum-selling tenor and movie star ...