Heaven's angel's choir has just acquired a tenor.

Luciano Pavarotti, whose vibrant high C's and ebullient showmanship made him one of the world's most beloved tenors, has died, his manager told The Associated Press. He was 71.

His manager, Terri Robson, told the AP in an e-mail statement that Pavarotti died at his home in Modena, Italy, at 5 a.m. local time. Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year and underwent further treatment in August.

"The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterised his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness," the statement said.

Sigh.  I never have been a big fan of opera.  I love classical music, but somehow I never "got" opera.  Maybe I just never saw the right opera…rather, maybe I never experienced the right opera, for they say opera must be felt, not heard.

has passed on after a pulmonary embolism.  

UPDATES IN BOLD AFTER THE JUMP

The former US Rep. Jennifer Dunn, mother of the man who led the charge to fire Dean Logan - namely King County Councilman Reagan Dunn - is back in Heaven.  The News-Tribune's Peter Callaghan has written up a nice report on the lady's other accomplishments:

She was the first woman to lead the state Republican Party, the first freshman woman to become a member of the U.S. House Republican leadership team and achieved the highest party office by a woman when she was elected vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.

In 1999, Dunn was chosen to deliver the GOP response the State of the Union Address by then-President Bill Clinton. She was twice a delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, first in 1984 and again in 1990.