Tenor sings his baby’s praises

Blind Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has told how he greeted his newly-born baby daughter with a song.

The 53-year-old singer, who lost his sight aged 12, told reporters he would be “more protective” of Virginia than he was of his sons from his first marriage.

He said: “Fortunately for her, I’ll be old by the time she’s 15.

“So I tell my sons, ‘You’ll have the responsibility to do what I can’t do any more.”’

The singer was with his sons during the anxious wait outside the delivery suite when Virginia was born and sang Ange Adorable from Romeo and Juliet when he went in to hold his daughter for the first time. His partner Veronica said: “When Andrea held her Virginia had her eyes wide open like she was watching him.”

He said: “My job is to sing her to sleep.”