When rising young Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo insists he’s not just one of those callow crossover stars who turn up regularly on PBS, bells might start ringing, just like on one of those public TV pledge drives.

After all, his debut disc, “Vittorio” (Decca), sounds suspiciously like works by the operatic-leaning Josh Groban (bombastic), Russell Watson (bland yet bombastic) and Il Divo (bombastic times four). Beneath the slickly produced surface of “Vittorio,” however, lurks the voice of a true Caruso. “If it was so easy, then everybody could be an opera singer,” he said in an interview this week from Rome. “People like Paul Potts” — referring to the Welsh clerk turned international vocal sensation thanks to the reality show “Britain’s Got Talent” — “this is not good. These [reality] shows exploit people’s dreams. But the public knows who really can sing. You can’t fool them.”

Hmmm. I do believe you can fool the public. In fact I know you can. Not everyone, of course, but many.

I read the article here.