Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano has died in Milan at the age of 86.
Di Stefano died after a long coma caused by an attack during a robbery at his Kenyan holiday home in late 2004.
Local media said Di Stefano had never fully recovered from the beating he suffrered from assailants at his villa near the eastern Kenyan resort of Mombasa. Treated for serious head injuries, he was moved to a hospital in Milan where he slipped into a coma last December.
Born in Sicily, Di Stefano made his operatic debut in 1946 and his debut at La Scala in Milan the following year. He made many recordings with Maria Callas and fellow Italian tenor Pavarotti.
Pavarotti, who died last year, had his big break when Di Stefano dropped out of a performance of La Bohemeat London's Covent Garden in 1963. Pavarotti performed as the stand-in, and a star was born.