To really produce something unique and special, I’ve been spending a lot of time with each member of the group separately, which has been an incredibly special experience. Getting to know them as individuals and not just as ‘Il Divo’ has been a real treat. I’ve been privileged enough to be allowed to go to their houses, letting me not just into their lives, but delve deep into their private lives with their families, getting to do the type of pictures that they’ve never done before and in a way that no one has ever seen before.

You don’t often get the chance when you work with artists to see the ‘other’ side, and that’s what’s been different with these boys, we get to see their whole lives – not just what they do when they’re singing with Il Divo.

With Sebastien, we spent the day wandering the antique flea markets in Paris, which is what he likes to do. We also spent a lot of time hanging at his home in London with his family and his gorgeous children... he played the piano and the children joined in, and I was able to capture those moments.

I went to Urs’s lovely country house in the south of France and shot him on his Harley Davidsons. He is renovating a beautiful place there and we spent the day together, took some wonderful pictures and had a nice evening meal.

With David, I flew to Detroit where I photographed him performing an opera which was magical, it was just a fantastic testament to his talents. We then travelled to his home in New York and had a brilliant day walking the streets of Manhattan.

I went to Madrid and hung out with Carlos there in the beautiful town with his family and friends and did some wonderful pictures in the Ritz in Madrid. It’s been a real mix of settings and experiences which I think adds to the richness and diversity of these pictures.

It has been incredible because there are not many artists that will give you that trust. The whole photographer/artist relationship has to be based on trust, and that’s something between us that has been built up over a period of time. It’s made me see them in a different light, and it’s made me shoot them in a different way too. Having met them on a personal level I now see different things about them which comes across in these much more intimate photographs. They are my favourite band to work with, I just have so much fun shooting them because they are so professional and so talented. They are the best in the world at what they do – nobody else comes close.

What I think makes their success is that they’re all so incredibly different, and that diversity is also what makes them get on so well. You have David, who is a fantastic opera star in his own right, and is very strong and knows what he wants. Then there’s Carlos, who’s been a child star since the age of seven and so is just ‘Mister Showbiz’ – such a professional and knows everything about the industry, which is amazing to watch. Then you’ve got Sebastien, who used to be a pop singer in France, who’s very laid-back and he’s the funny guy, always keeping everybody on their toes, he’s light hearted and so charming and charismatic. Then you’ve got Urs, who’s slightly reserved but just so beautifully mannered. He’s more introverted and quieter, reflects upon things maybe more than the others but at the same time he knows what he wants and has a very strong mind.

Those dynamics are wonderful because they’re four very different personalities that when they are brought together, the dynamic it creates is what makes Il Divo so good. If they were all the same I don’t think they would always strive so hard to get better, but that’s what they do. They seem to get better and better. When you see them sing live... I’ve never met anyone who said that they didn’t enjoy it, it’s just incredible.

As well as spending time with them in their personal lives, I’ve also been spending a lot of time travelling the world with them, photographing them playing live and laying down tracks in the studio. Another thing I really wanted to try and capture in these photographs is just how incredibly hard they work. When they’re on the road, they don’t have the luxury of being able to lie in because they’ve got to fly in to wherever it is they’re going, get straight to work, do press, meet people from their local labels and rehearse for the show. It’s non-stop for them. I ended up becoming part of the furniture. As a result, I’ve been privy to lots of things they wouldn’t normally show to outsiders and have been able to document some of those rare stolen moments.

As a photographer, when you do special jobs like these, you always remember them and when I work with these guys, I always leave with a smile on my face. They are so incredibly amusing and I think that’s one of the keys to their success in that although they work so hard they know when to let go and just have a laugh, and become almost like four teenage boys together. They really do enjoy each others’ company so much. And that’s what’s so great, when you get those moments of them just laughing over a silly joke or something – there’s that closeness they have and when you take those kind of pictures and you capture those moments, it’s totally real.

Like the famous Rat Pack pictures of Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, I think there’s that authenticity that makes a lot of these pictures – you can’t force that kind of thing. When you do try, it’s obvious that you’ve forced it. For me, when they are dressed up in their suits and they’re backstage and the atmosphere is electric, that’s my favourite time, because they look so iconic in the tuxedos. You just get these great shots. It’s reminiscent of how I imagine it would have been shooting in Vegas in the 60s, and that’s wonderful. To be able to mix that up with them at their houses where they’re totally relaxed and there’s no pressure is really nice, to have those two extremes. In terms of capturing an image I think the pictures look like they were taken 50 years ago, and I think that’s a lot to do with the tuxedos, because that look is just so classic.

I had expectations of what I wanted to achieve with them. All of the references that I initially spoke to the record label about were of old Italian movies; Fellini movies and Visconti movies which I’m a huge fan of. I wanted to photograph the guys in a way that wasn’t cheesy, in a way that was real and iconic. I had certain expectations of what I wanted to achieve but at the same time because I wasn’t in control of anything, there’s inevitably a lot of hanging around waiting to get that moment, to capture something that I want other people to see.

There will always be images you’ve left out, there are always ‘if onlys’ and ‘what ifs’, but I think I got some fantastic material, and some really great images. They look like the stars they really are, and I’m delighted with that. I hope you have as much fun looking at them as I did taking them.

Max Dodson
August 2011