Nobody's quite sure if they're pop or opera - but by any definition Il Divo are a fully-fledged phenomenon.
It's barely two years since the quartet were launched by Simon Cowell, but they are now global superstars with the statistics to match. Earlier this year they became only the fifth non-American act to debut an album at No 1 in the Billboard chart. The other members of that ultra-elite club are The Beatles, Elton John, Led Zeppelin and Coldplay - and Zeppelin are the only previous group to achieve the feat without releasing a single.
In total they have sold more than 10 million albums, topping the charts in 26 countries.And they are currently on the UK leg of a 72-date/58-city tour that has seen them post sold-out notices all over the planet.
This summer they will perform under the ramparts of Warwick Castle as part of a Summer Nights festival that includes Luciano Pavarotti and Simply Red.
And you could hardly ask for a line-up that better illustrates the massive crossover appeal of the international quartet - American David Miller, Frenchman Sebastien Izambard, Swiss Urs Buhler and Spaniard Carlos Marin.
As he prepared for their shows at Birmingham's NEC tonight and on Tuesday, Urs admitted that he struggles to get his head round the scale of those achievements.
"We are focused on the work we do, not how big we have become," he said, "but sometimes you do stop to think about it and it really is amazing.
"The other week we had a showcase in Hong Kong and the record company produced a display of the gold and platinum awards we have won.
"We saw that and thought 'my goodness, have we done all this in the past year and a half?' It's incredible!
"There have been other crossover groups around, but we never expected to have such a broad appeal."
As you would expect from a project masterminded by Cowell, the marketing of Il Divo has been as slick as it has been relentless, paying particular attention to the group's beefcake appeal.
"We had to fight against the perception that that was the only interesting thing about us," admits Urs, "but it doesn't bother us any more because I don't think anybody who sees one of our shows would think that we are just some sort of boy band.
"You do have people in the opera world who don't think we are classical enough and people in the pop world who think it is not modern enough.
"But we haven't encountered any real snobbery from classical music lovers and it would shock me if somebody suggested that opera should be confined to some sort of intellectual elite.
"We do get critics who say 'Il Divo do not sing opera' but our answer to that is 'we never said we did!'
"I haven't seen a breakdown of our fanbase but I would think it is mainly people who normally listen to pop music and are ready to take a careful step into classical territory.
"We don't see ourselves as disciples, but classical music has a huge and diverse repertoire and it is a shame that it seems inaccessible to a lot of people.
"It's not like listening to the Top 20 - it needs a bit of effort to get into it. I'm classically trained, but if I approach a new opera or symphony I have to take time to get my brain around it before I can start enjoying the music."
Il Divo are now at home in vast venues such as the NEC.
"If you play a symphony hall, the audience is not very far away but you have two or three balconies, some of them very high up," Urs said.
"You are trying to relate to people on all those levels which can be quite difficult. If you're playing a hockey stadium, you're at one end and you look out at a sea of faces.
"It's a bit easier, because you don't have to divide your attention. And, of course, it feels great to play to 10,000 or 15,000 people instead of 1,500.
"You have some people who treat it as a serious concert and just want to sit and listen and some who want more of a show.
"We don't like to bounce around too much but we know how to adapt our performance to different audiences.
"You don't change the way you sing, but you have to change the way you relate to the public."
As to the future, Urs admits: "You can't really tell how long this is going to last - we might get tired of it or the public might get tired of us.
"I would be glad to do it for a few more years because it is great fun and we've achieved a level of fame that you don't get in the classical world.
"On the other hand, singing a beautiful opera part is a huge pleasure and at some point I will want to go back to that.
"But we are really proud of what we have achieved so far. It's been an amazing adventure."
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