Ancora

Ancora is the second studio album released by classical crossover vocal group Il Divo. The album was released in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe on 7 November 2005, excluding the United States and Latin America. The album was later released in the United States and Latin America on 24 January 2006. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 on the week of releases. The album contains one song partially in Latin, one song performed in Italian, two songs performed in French, two songs performed in English, and six songs performed in Spanish, excluding the bonus track. The album features the single "I Believe in You", performed with Céline Dion, that is also featured on her international album, On Ne Change Pas.

This was recorded in both Sweden and London with producers Per Magnusson, David Kreuger and Steve Mac, who were also the producers of their first album. Released on 7 November 2005 in the UK, it hit number one both in the UK and Australia within one week. Ancora was released in the US on 24 January 2006. It entered the Billboard albums chart at number 1, selling more than 150,000 copies during its first week of sales.

Il Volo

Il Volo (pronounced [il ˈvoːlo]; Italian for "The Flight") is an Italian pop trio, consisting of singers: the baritone Gianluca Ginoble, and two tenors Piero Barone and Ignazio Boschetto.They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, they represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. They reached third place, but managed to secure a solid first place victory in the televoting.

History

The beginning (2009–10)

In 2009, Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble were among the teens competing in the Italian televised singing competition Ti lascio una canzone, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo and broadcast by Rai 1. During the first episodes, they performed several songs as solo artists. Among the others, Gianluca Ginoble's rendition of "Il mare calmo della sera", originally by Andrea Bocelli, won the first episode of the show, and later came in first place during the final held on 2 May 2009. Director and creator of the show, Roberto Cenci, had the idea to put them together, with the purpose to create a trio similar to The Three Tenors (Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti). During the fourth episode of the show, they performed together for the first time, singing Neapolitan classic song "’O sole mio". While in Los Angeles, Italian singer-songwriter and music producer Tony Renis, casually discovered their performance through Rai International. Impressed by the trio, he decided to call Cenci to arrange a meeting with them. Since they were under the age of 18, Cenci talked with the singers' families, and they decided to trust Renis' proposal to work with them. Thanks to lawyer Peter Lopez, Renis met with Geffen Records' Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, and they offered a recording deal to the group, which allowed them to become the first Italian artists to directly sign with an American recording label. Producer Michele Torpedine started to work with them as a manager.

Eduardo De Crescenzo

Eduardo De Crescenzo (born 8 February 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for the songs "Ancora" and "E la musica va".

Background

Born in Naples, De Crescenzo approached music at very young age, as he began playing the accordion at 3 and made his first public exhibition at 5, in Teatro Argentina, Rome.

At 16 he founded a beat group, "Eduardino e i Casanova", with which he recorded the first 45rpm in 1967, "Hai detto no!". After studying classical music and law at the university, in the late seventies De Crescenzo signed a contract with Dischi Ricordi, with whom he published his first single as soloist, "La solitudine" (1978). His career was launched by the song "Ancora", a romantic ballad that he presented at the 1981 Sanremo Music Festival, winning the Critics Award; the song obtained an extraordinary success, selling several millions of copies and being covered by artists such as Mina, Anna Oxa, Ornella Vanoni and Thelma Houston (with the title "I'm Losing").