Discography

As contributor

External links

References

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:People from Genoa (city) Category:Italian singer-songwriters Category:Italian musicians

Biography

The Beginning

In the Spring of 1968, she participated in Un disco per l'estate ("A Record for Summer"), a Summer song festival broadcast on RAI, with the song ''Gente qua, gente là'' ("People Here, People There"), the music for which was written by Bruno De Filippi, while the lyrics were written by her producer, Alberto Testa. Her third 45 featured ''Mi piace quel ragazzo lì'' ("I Like That Boy Over There"), whose text is dedicated to Adriano Celentano, with ''Occhi negli occhi'' ("Eyes Into Eyes") on the B-side, reutilized from the previous record. These discs, while still being influenced by certain "beat" sounds, presented evidence of Mannoia's vocal qualities, although they did not sell well. The tracks are available on the collection ''I primi passi'' ("The First Steps")(1998), containing songs by Fiorella Mannoia and Carla Bissi, published by On Sale Music.

In 1970 she got to know the singer and guitarist Memmo Foresi, who had put out some 45s as a solo act and with whom she formed a relationship. After signing a contract with the label It founded by Vincenzo Micocci, in 1971 she cut a 45 of a song written by Enzo Perrotti and a Foresi track on the B-side; this too went unnoticed.

The next year, the collaboration with Memmo Foresi led to the release of the album ''Mannoia Foresi & co.'' for RCA Italy. The track ''Ma quale sentimento'' ("But What Feeling") was retitled ''Prologo'' ("Prologue") for release as a single. In 1974, her new single ''Ninna nanna'' (with ''Rose'' on the B-side) was censored (and so withdrawn from sale) because of the lyrics by Marco Luberti, which were considered too raw. Fiorella Mannoia then decided to leave RCA and go to the label Ricordi, with whom she released three 45s, ''Piccolo'' ("Little", lyrics by Sergio Bardotti and Ruggero Cini), ''Tu amore mio'' ("You Love of Mine") and ''Scaldami'' ("Warm Me Up").

In the early 70s, she had minor roles in the spaghetti Westerns ''Un colt in mano del diavolo'' (“A Colt in the Hand of the Devil”) (1972), ''E il terzo giorno arrivò il corvo'' (“And on the Third Day, the Crow Arrived”) (1973) and ''Sei bounty killers per una strage'' (“Six Bounty Killers for a Massacre”) (1973).

Sanremo Music Festival

In 1981, she performed at the Sanremo Music Festival with ''Caffè nero bollente'' (“Steaming Black Coffee”), (written by Mimmo Cavallo and arranged by Antonio Coggio) which made her widely known in Italy. That year she also had a moderate hit with ''E muoviti un po' '' ("And Move a Little"), written by the Torinese singer-songwriter Valerio Liboni, with whom she took part in Festivalbar. She continued recording albums and 45s produced by Mario Lavezzi. She again changed record companies, moving to Ariston.

She entered the Sanremo Music Festival once more in 1984 with ''Come si cambia'' (“As One Changes”), written by Renato Pareti, which had a certain amount of sales success. She won the final of the television miniseries ''La Premiatissima '84'' with the song ''Margherita'' by Riccardo Cocciante. In 1985, ''L'aiuola'' (“The Flowerbed”) was a big hit for her and the album ''Premiatissima '84'', which included ''Margherita'', was released.

Success

The album ''Di terra e di vento'', on which she collaborated for the first time with Francesco De Gregori, was released in 1989. This album also contains an Italian version of the song ''O Que Será'' (“Oh What Will Be”) by the great Brazilian singer-songwriter Chico Buarque de Hollanda, sung as a duet with Ivano Fossati, who also translated the lyrics from Portuguese.

In 1992, Fiorella Mannoia released the pivotal album ''I treni a vapore'', which, as well as the title track by Ivano Fossati, also contains the popular tracks ''Il cielo d'Irlanda'' (“The Sky of Ireland”) by Massimo Bubola, ''Tutti cercano qualcosa'' (“Everybody Is Looking for Something”) by Francesco De Gregori and ''Inevitabilmente (Lettera dal carcere)'' ("Inevitably (Letter from Jail)") by Enrico Ruggeri and Luigi Schiavone, which was used on the soundtrack of the film ''Caro diario'' by Nanni Moretti.

Her next album ''Gente comune'' was released in 1994. Highlights include the songs ''Crazy Boy'', written for her by Samuele Bersani and Piero Fabrizi, ''Il culo del mondo'' (“The Arse of the World”) written by the Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso, who sang with her on this number, and '' Giovanna d'Arco '' (“Joan of Arc”), written for her by Francesco de Gregori.

On ''Belle speranze'' (1997) she collaborated with younger songwriters including Daniele Silvestri and Gianmaria Testa. This album also contained the ironic ''Non sono un cantautore'' (“I Am Not a Singer-Songwriter”) written by Piero Fabrizi. ''Certe piccole voci'' (1999), the first live album of her career, contained the Vasco Rossi song ''Sally'', one of her most popular numbers. This double CD was a huge hit in Italy, reaching number one a couple of months after release, and, ultimately, double platinum status.

2000s

During the early to mid 2000s, she did a lot of touring, initially with Pino Daniele, Francesco De Gregori and Ron, and more recently solo. After the studio album ''Fragile'' (2001), Fiorella Mannoia released the live album ''In tour'' (2002) with Daniele, De Gregori and Ron. Returning to her cinema roots, she played a cameo role in the film ''Prima dammi un bacio'' ("First Give Me a Kiss") (2003), a romantic comedy written and directed by Ambrogio Lo Giudice.

In 2004, the solo live album ''Concerti'' (2004) was released, together with ''Due anni di concerti'', a DVD recorded at the visually stunning Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia. In 2005, she sang three songs at the Live 8 concert, Rome: ''Sally'', ''Clandestino'' (written by Manu Chao), and ''Mio fratello che guarda il mondo'' (“My Brother Who Looks at the World”), written by Ivano Fossati.

During her career, Fiorella Mannoia has won the prestigious Targa Tenco (Tenco Prize) for Italian singers five times. She is the only performer to have won the Targa Tenco in this category more than once.

On 2 June 2005 the President of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, conferred on Fiorella Mannoia the rank of Ufficiale (Official) in the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy).

In 2006 she released the single ''Cravo e canela'' (“Clove and Cinnamon”), written by Milton Nascimento (with whom she sings on the recording) and Ronaldo Bastos. This was followed by the album ''Onda tropicale'', from which the single was taken. The tracks on the album, six translated into Italian by Piero Fabrizi and five in the original Portuguese, are all from the rich carioca repertoire of Brazil. All of the tracks are duets with well-known Brazilian artists (Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Chico César, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Carlinhos Brown, Lenine, Jorge Benjor and Adriana Calcanhotto). This was the first time anyone had succeeded in bringing all these important Brazilian artists together in a single project. Her longtime collaborator Piero Fabrizi, guitarist, musical director, arranger and songwriter, again played an important role on this album.

Fiorella Mannoia has also devoted herself to social issues, lending her attention to subjects such as abortion and divorce, and has also expressed her solidarity with the aid association Emergency.

During her career, Fiorella Mannoia has sung in a number of languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese and English, as well as Neapolitan and her native Italian.

Discography

45 rpm

CD Singles

LPs and CDs

Compilation CDs

DVDs

Prizes

References

External links

Category:1954 births Category:Italian-language singers Category:Italian pop singers Category:Italian female singers Category:Italian singer-songwriters Category:Living people Category:People from Rome (city)

Fabrizio De André (18 February 1940 - 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter. In his works he often told stories of marginalized and rebellious people, prostitutes and knaves, and attacked the hypocrisies of the Catholic Church. In Italy and in the rest of world he is considered a poet because of the quality of his lyrics. He was an atheist.

Biography

When the war broke out, the De André family had to seek refuge in a country farm near Revignano (a little town near Asti), in the Piemonte. Fabrizio's father, who was an Anti-fascista pursued by the police, joined the partisans. In 1945 the De André family moved back to Genova. Fabrizio went to primary school, first at the Marcellian Sisters' School and, later, at the Cesare Battisti public school. He went on to the Liceo Classico "Cristoforo Colombo"; after his final examination, he enrolled in the Law School of the University of Genova; but he did not graduate (he gave up when he had only a few exams left). De André played the violin first, then the guitar, and joined a number of local jazz bands (jazz was his "first love").

First recordings

In the following years De André wrote a number of songs which made him known to a larger public, soon becoming classic hits: "La guerra di Piero" ("Peter's War"), "La ballata dell'eroe" ("The Hero's Ballad"), "Il testamento di Tito" ("Titus's Will"), "La Ballata del Michè" ("Mike's Ballad"), "Via del Campo" (literally "Field Street", a famous street in Genoa), "La canzone dell'amore perduto" ("Song for the Lost Love"), "La città vecchia" ("Old Downtown"), "Carlo Martello ritorna dalla battaglia di Poitiers" ("Charles Martel on His Way Back from Poitiers", written together with actor Paolo Villaggio, one of De André closest friends), and "La canzone di Marinella" ("Marinella's Song").

Volume 1

''La buona novella''

''Non al denaro non all'amore né al cielo''

''Storia di un impiegato'' and ''Canzoni''

''Volume 8''

In 1977 the couple had a daughter, Luisa Vittoria (nicknamed "Luvi"). The following year De André issued a new LP, ''Rimini''. Most songs included on this album were written together with Massimo Bubola, a young singer-songwriter from Verona.

Concerts with PFM and kidnapping

This dramatic episode, and the hard life of the Sardinian people, gave him inspiration for his following album, released in 1981. The album is untitled, but, from the image of a Native American appearing on the cover, the mass-media call it "The Indian". In De André's poetical vision, the American Indians merge with the poor Sardinian shepherds as an allegory for the marginalization and subjugation of people who are "different". The album contains one of his most famous songs, "Fiume Sand Creek" ("Sand Creek River"): in De André's unique, allusive way it tells the story of the massacre of defenseless Native Americans by US Army troops on 29 November 1864.

''Crêuza de mä''

1990s

De André's last original album, ''Anime salve'' ("Saved Souls"), was issued in 1996. Written in collaboration with Ivano Fossati, it represents a sort of "spiritual will", and includes songs such as "Khorakhané" (dedicated to the Muslim Roma people), "Disamistade" (a return to his beloved Sardinian themes, which has been translated into English and sung by The Walkabouts) and "Smisurata preghiera" ("An Infinite Prayer"), based on the Colombian writer and storyteller Álvaro Mutis's ''The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll''. De André also sang a Spanish version of this song, ''Desmedida plegaria''.

In 1997, he started a new tour of theatre concerts and a new song collection, called ''M'innamoravo di tutto'' ("I Used to Fall in Love with Everything", a quote from one of his older songs, ''Coda di Lupo'' - ''Wolf's Tail''), was issued. The ''Anime salve'' concert tour went on up to the late summer of 1998, when De André stopped at the first symptoms of a serious disease, which was later diagnosed as lung cancer.

De André died in Milan on 11 January 1999, at 2:30 am. Two days later, he was buried in his native town, Genoa; the ceremony was attended by an immense crowd of about 20,000. He rests in the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, in the De André family chapel.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Novels

Notes and References

External links

Category:1940 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Italian singer-songwriters Category:People from Genoa (city) Category:Italian anarchists Category:Italian atheists Category:Italian-language singers Category:Cancer deaths in Italy Category:Kidnapped Italian people

Biography

1970s

Influenced by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio de André, De Gregori started to perform his songs (mainly personal translations of American folk songs) at the Folkstudio, in Rome, which was already frequented by his brother. On one occasion De André himself is said to have listened to De Gregori's work and appreciated it.

Later De Gregori formed a band with his friends Antonello Venditti, Mimmo Locasciulli and Giorgio Lo Cascio, who all had success as singer-songwriters in the following years. De Gregori made his debut as a professional singer in 1972 with ''Theorius Campus'', in collaboration with Venditti. The LP included the early masterpiece "Signora Aquilone" ("Kite Lady"), but Venditti had more songs and, having a better voice, earned better consideration by the label. The duo subsequently broke up.

De Gregori's next album, ''Alice non lo sa'' (1973), was a commercial failure. However, the title-track, the mysterious "Alice", scored some success in several popular music shows and is still included amongst his best works today. The 1974 album ''Francesco De Gregori'' (also known as the "Sheep" due to the unusual cover by Gordon Fagetter) showed even more experimental and sometimes obscure lyrics, and again was a failure. RCA Music, however, continued to trust in De Gregori's qualities: this trust was repaid the following year, when De Gregori released one of the most successful Italian LPs of the 1970s, ''Rimmel''. This work contained several of his most famous songs: this time De Gregori's talent for unusual and poetic lyrics intermingled in a more mature way with the music. Lucio Dalla provided musical ideas for "Pablo", the unusual story of an Italian immigrant in Switzerland. Jazzy themes were present in songs like "Quattro cani" ("Four Dogs") and "Le storie di ieri" (The Stories of Yesterday"). The latter, a song about the years of Fascism, had been already released on De André's 1974 album ''Volume 8'', as it had been co-written during a stay in the Genoese singer's Sardinian estate.

''Bufalo Bill'' (1976) confirmed De Gregori's qualities, and contained at least two classics: the eponymous song and "Santa Lucia", the singer's own favourite. However, during a concert held in Milan in 1977, De Gregori, who had always declared his inclination to left-wing ideas and ideals, was fiercely contested by a group of extreme left agitators. In a mock "trial", they accused him of using a left-wing message solely to sell records and insisted that music should be free. De Gregori was at risk of injury in the fray, and decided to quit his musical career. During the following two years he therefore worked as a bookstore and music shop clerk. The episode, known as the "Palalido incident", influenced several works by other Italian singer-songwriters, such as Roberto Vecchioni's "Vaudeville". The "Palalido incident" was one of a number of such incidents. At this time, De Gregori married Alessandra Gobbi whom he had known since High School,and they had two sons, Marco and Federico.

In 1978, however, he returned with another inspired album, ''De Gregori'', containing one of his most famous songs, "Generale". He declared that he felt this song much too important for him to continue staying away from the music world. The following year he joined his old friend Lucio Dalla with a highly successful live tour, entitled ''Banana Republic'', and published a studio LP, ''Viva l'Italia'' featuring American musicians. The title track was later adopted as the Italian Socialist Party song, but De Gregori always opposed this choice.

1980s

The following year de Gregori released a mini-LP containing his most long-standing success, ''La Donna Cannone''. The 1985 album ''Scacchi e tarocchi'' ("Chess and Tarots"), was not as successful, but contained another classic, "La Storia" ("History"). De Gregori's new melancholic inspiration was confirmed by the subsequent ''Terra di nessuno'' ("Nobody's Land"). On the other hand, ''Miramare 19-4-89'' showed a more bitter mood, but again was not as successful as his albums of the 1970s and early 1980s.

1990s and 2000s

''Il bandito e il campione'' of 1993 was a live collection that had remarkable success: the title track, its only studio song, was sung by De Gregori but the lyrics were by his brother Luigi Grechi. The title track of ''La valigia dell'attore'' ("The Actor's Suitcase", 1998) showed De Gregori at the best of his poetical and emotional capabilities again. The rest of the album, however, contained old pieces, plus some Dylan covers.

In 2001 De Gregori released his next studio album, ''Amore nel pomeriggio'' ("Love in the Afternoon") which is unanimously included amongst his best works. The song "Il cuoco di Salò" ("The Cook of Salò"), arranged by Franco Battiato, is one of De Gregori's best and shows his typical attention to "everyday" figures (including outcasts and underdogs) and lives while dealing with historical themes.

''Il fischio del vapore'' ("The Whistle of the Steam", 2002) was a collaboration with the folksinger Giovanna Marini, who had already worked with De Gregori in a song for ''Titanic''. The album is a collection of old popular and social Italian songs from the 19th and the early 20th centuries.

A biography of Francesco De Gregori, "Quello che non so, lo so cantare" ("What I Don't Know, I Know How to Sing"), edited by Enrico Deregibus, was published by Giunti in 2003. In 2005, De Gregori won the Targa Tenco for the best Italian album of the year with ''Pezzi'', an album with strong rock elements. In February 2006, only eleven months after the release of ''Pezzi'', De Gregori released a new studio album, ''Calypsos'', with nine previously unreleased tracks. Amongst these was ''"Cardiologia"'' ("Cardiology"), a song where the Roman singer-songwriter returns to using the words "Ti amo" ("I love you"), more than thirty years after ''"Pezzi di Vetro"'', and the song ''"Per le strade di Roma"'' ("By the Streets of Rome"), which outlines a merciless picture of the Rome of the third millennium, archetypical of the Italy of today.

In November 2006 a triple CD ''Tra un manifesto e lo specchio'' that collected together his most representative tracks was released. As well as the celebrated track ''"Diamante"'' ("Diamond"), this contained pieces written by Zucchero and included on his album Oro incenso e birra ("Gold, Incense and Beer"), a demo of ''"Mannaggia alla musica"'' ("Damn to the Music") from 1979, originally written for Ron and previously presented on the live album ''Bootleg'', and the B-side of the single ''"Viva l'Italia"'' ("Long Live Italy"), the celebrated ''"Banana Republic"'', sung without Lucio Dalla.

Awards

Discography

External links

Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Italian singer-songwriters Category:People from Rome (city)