It's almost the musical version of The Full Monty. A group of mates decides, over a few beers, to form a singing group to raise money.
They hone their act by touring outback Australia and develop a show they describe as "opera without the boring bits".
"We joke about it now but, back in the day, The Ten Tenors was really just a fun way to earn a bit of extra beer money," original member Matthew Hickey says.
"It was all very informal and we could never understand why people would hire us to essentially fool around on-stage.
"It was exactly those hi-jinks that essentially became the secret of much of The Ten Tenors' future success."
The Ten Tenors arrive in Dunedin today after a sellout tour of 65 North American cities, Russia, Norway and Korea.
"It's been crazy. With the show and all the travelling, it's been absolutely mind-blowing. We've had 2000 people every night," Drew Graham, of Cairns, says.
"I think part of our appeal is that people from different cultures still think of places like Australia and New Zealand as exotic locations.
"It's also an unusual combination of voices, traditionally speaking, which is what makes the group so unique."
When I make contact with the tenors, they are just about to go on stage in Yekaterinburg, east of Moscow, in Russia.
"It's our first time in Russia. We were a bit concerned about the language barrier originally, but it hasn't been an issue. Some of the boys have even put a bit of Russian in the songs," Dominic Smith, of Brisbane, says.
Since 2000, the tenors have performed more than 1500 concerts throughout Australia, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Russia, Scandinavia, Canada and the United States.
"The music we do ranges from opera to pop music, so there's something for everyone. We take the singing very seriously, but when we're on stage we want to have fun," Smith says.
"We always have fun, as you'd expect. We're a group of Aussies on tour. It would be exactly the same if it was 10 Kiwis. But what happens on tour stays on tour."
The group last toured New Zealand last August, when every show sold out well in advance of concert dates.
The Ten Tenors formed in Brisbane in 1995, when 10 young opera students from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music banded together to form a corporate act.
Three years later they began a full-time touring schedule which has yet to wane.
However, their big break came in 2002, when The Ten Tenors were invited to perform at the German final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Within hours, they had sold out an entire tour.
The group now tours for 10 months of the year, performing 250 shows on five different continents.
"We've entered new territories on this trip. Norway, Korea and Russia are three places we've never been before. But it can get a bit chaotic, getting on buses and trains all the time," Smith says.
The group struck trouble earlier this month, the week before the European Champions League final in Moscow.
"We were stuck in the queue at Moscow airport for three hours. There was a seething mass of people trying to get through the booths. It got pretty heated.
"Two blokes just lost it and were going for it. There were punches flying everywhere," he laughs.
"The funny thing is, we've never pretended to be anything other than 10 guys singing and joking and having fun.
"I think the earthy nature of our show is what appeals to people. They just seem to really like the way we perform music. It's always been a mix of stuff like the Bee Gees, Bohemian Rhapsody and Abba."
The tenors have sold more than a million copies of their seven albums to date.
Their most recent album, Here's To The Heroes, was recorded in 2006 at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London and their next album, Nostalgica, will be released later this year.
See them, hear them
The Ten Tenors perform in the Regent Theatre at 7pm tomorrow night.
