During his peak years, Giuseppe Di Stefano (b. 1921) had one of the most sensually beautiful tenor voices ever recorded. He was universally regarded as the leading lyric tenor in the world during the 1950s, and he was the tenor most often chosen to appear on stage with Maria Callas. Through the years he made a long series of major complete opera recordings, many of them with Callas, but also with other great sopranos of the time, including Renata Tebaldi and Birgit Nilsson. Throughout the major part of his career, Di Stefano was idolized by the public for his beautiful romantic voice, dark good looks, energetic manner, and movie-star lifestyle.