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- Born: December 22, 1966, Milan, Italy
- Died: April 13, 2002, Rome, Italy
- Active: '90s, 2000s
- Genres: Rock
- Instrument: Vocals
- Representative Albums: "Ultimamente", "Alex Baroni", "Semplicemente
| Artist: Alex Baroni |
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| Discography: Alex Baroni |
| Wikipedia: Alex Baroni |
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| Alex Baroni | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 22, 1966 |
| Origin | Foggia, Italy |
| Died | April 13, 2002 (aged 36) |
| Genres | Pop commercial, sola, ballata |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2001–2002 |
| Labels | DDD, Ricordi |
| Website | www.alexbaroni.it (Italian) |
Alex Baroni, born Alessandro (December 22, 1966 – April 13, 2002) was an Italian white soul / pop commercial singer, active between 2001 and 2002. He released 4 albums during his lifetime. A fifth posthumous record, a tribute album, and two more collections (one of which double, both of them containing previously unreleased material, and his greatest songs) were out after his death, which happened in a car accident, while he was driving his motorbike, not far from the centre of Rome. The legal action which subsequently took place ended in 2007, when the accused, who pleaded not guilty, was declared to be innocent, because, as it seems, the singer was driving too fast in the traffic of the capital.
Born in Milan, Baroni began his career singing in Milan clubs, during the 1990s, after getting his chemistry degree at the university, and while still working as a teacher. He sang the backing vocals for many famous artists, including Eros Ramazzotti, Spagna and Rossana Casale, before forming his own group, called Metrica, and releasing an album with them. His very first album was called Fuorimetrica, its title, which played with the name of the band, hinted at freedom of expression, irrespective of metrics. Though the record was produced by international star Eros Ramazzotti, and released on the latter's own label, in 1994, it didn't trouble the charts.
In 1997, he was critically acclaimed, winning two prizes, as a newcomer, at the popular Festival di Sanremo, the Festival of the Italian Song, for both best arrangement and his amazing vocal performance (Pavarotti Award), with the self-penned track "Cambiare". He was soon hailed as the "Italian Stevie Wonder", due to a very high range, and a black-like soulful voice. His second self-titled album, Alex Baroni, which produced many promotional single tracks (including the song presented at the Festival, and a cover version of The Beatles' classic "In My Life"), entered the Italian Top 50, peaking at Number 38, and was classified at Number 138 in the final annual chart, making him one of the best newcomers of the year, which was spent by the singer in performing an uncountable number of duets with too many artists to mention.
Later in 1997, he sang for the Italian version of Walt Disney's Hercules soundtrack, giving teenage Hercules his voice, on the song called "Posso farcela" - the English version, entitled "Go the Distance", was performed by Michael Bolton, while the Spanish rendition was "No importa la distancia", by Latin American singer Ricky Martin.
In 1998, Alex again took part to the Sanremo Festival, this time in a higher category (either called 'Big' or 'Champions'), because of his million-selling 1997 album, but he wasn't able to duplicate the success of the previous year. His new song, "Sei tu o lei (Quello che voglio)", rather different from the heartfelt ballad (seemingly dedicated to his father), which had won him so much acclaim, twelve months before, was a high-spirited uptempo, which suggested a sexually confused reality, and wasn't appreciated by the critics, who started accusing him of breathless singing 'above the lines'. However, his third album, titled after the sub-title of the song, Quello che voglio, again entered the Top 50, peaking at Number 42, four positions lower than his predecessor, but it went no further than the very last position in the Top 200 of the final yearly chart, also getting out of the charts some weeks earlier than Alex Baroni, though hard promotion and a videoclip which got high rotation on MTV Europe for the tune ambiguously called "Dimmi che ci sei" - its title being indeed general, the track was labelled by some as a gay love song, only adding up to the confusion of the Festival song. The album, though, did produce a smash hit, the summer anthem called "Onde", his most famous song internationally, and probably the best known in Italy too, second only to "Cambiare": "Onde" has a killing hook showing Alex at his best vocally, and a videoclip where the singer displays his skills as a diver, as well as a finely built musclebound. The song also gives its title to Baroni's 1998 international album, Onde, exclusively composed of songs taken from Alex Baroni and Quello che Voglio, and distributed in many European countries, including The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.
While touring for his 1998 album, Baroni participated in the Sopot Festival in Poland, which he won. After a triumphant return back home, he left again for Africa, along with the Italian songstress Giorgia, who had become his girlfriend, in the meantime. The two shot the videoclip for Alex's next single, an interesting pop soul upbeat song, poeticly called "Pavimento liquido" (meaning "liquid floor"), with dreamy lyrics and soaring vocals. The tune didn't get the usual publicity coming from Sanremo, and, though it did get much airplay, with Alex appearing on almost each and every channel on the TV (he even performed on children afternoon programmes), it wasn't a big commercial success, this time due to another accusation, which saw in the song lyrics an invitation or a praise to drug.
The single did far better than his fourth album, released in the Fall of 1999, called Ultimamente, which bombed totally. The record contained 13 songs, including the single as its opening track, a cover version of another classic by The Beatles, "Mother Nature's Son", and a disco favourite, totally sung in English, entitled "Everything" (later translated into Italian, due to a lack of interest from his label in having him sing original songs in foreign languages). Ultimamente was promoted for two years, instead of the usual eight months, and the related tour also lasted longer than the ones for the two previous records, but, Alex Baroni's success was beginning to pay its toll: the album was indeed "cloned" illegally in million copies, so, though it did reach in fact large audiences, it didn't succeed in officially entering the charts, and it never cracked into the Top 200! The disc produced a couple of promo videos, and many well known songs, but though its wide bootleg distribution, it didn't get that love and attention that Alex Baroni and Quello che voglio had instead received from fans and critics, respectively.
After the two-year long promotion and tour, which left the artist exhausted and disillusioned, but eager to start anew, Alex Baroni decided to make a little break, during which he wrote and recorded many tracks, a number of which with different producers than the trio he had always been working with until 1999 ("I Piloti", for Italian historical label, Ricordi). Unfortunately, he would never be able to present his loyal fan-base and adult audience with his new compositions, since he died from a street accident in Rome, while he was driving his motorbike, apparently too fast, as it seems from the latest legal investigations. He got involved in the accident on March 19, 2002, and after three weeks in a coma, he finally died on April 13, 2002 in Rome.
In the fall of that same year, a compilation album was released, called Semplicemente ("Simply"), but also known as Semplicemente Alex Baroni, including three new songs Alex was working on at the time of his death, and 11 of his biggest hits, chosen by fans themselves through a radio survey, including "Cambiare", "Onde", "Pavimento liquido" (the only song taken from Ultimamente), "Sei tu o lei (Quello che voglio)", "Dimmi che ci sei", and other stand-out tracks from Alex Baroni and Quello che voglio. The collection got straight to Number 2, and reached Number 27 in the final yearly chart (his best achievement ever, though unfortunately posthumous).
Promoted during late 2002 and most of 2003, the album became indeed hugely successful, especially thanks to one of the three previously unreleased tracks, the opening song called "La distanza di un amore" (literally meaning "The distance of a love", probably describing his love story with his girlfriend), which was airplayed as a single, but the singer wasn't there to witness it; even fans couldn't express any joy or satisfaction for such a huge hit, finally achieved, but, unluckily, come too late. At the same time, his former girlfriend and singing colleague, Giorgia, released her own greatest hits compilation, dedicated in its entirety to his ex boyfriend, and appropriately titled Le cose non vanno mai come credi (literally: "Things never happen as you think they will"). Her record included a heartfelt song, called "Marzo" ("March"), describing the mood of that strange month, when the guy (who was barely 35 at the time) got caught in the mortal accident, and was complimented by a suggestive videoclip, all in black and dark hues, where the girl appears in all her pale and sad beauty.
A whole posthumous new album, the fifth, entitled C'è di più, was released in 2004, containing songs recorded during the 1998–2002 period, and never before released, including the title-track of this record, "C'è di più", a live medley of the Beatles' "Yesterday" and John Lennon's "Imagine", and another title-track, this time to his 1999 last album, Ultimamente, which, in perfect Culture Club style, was left out of the final track listing, and never featured there. The song "Ultimamente" was proposed for one more "Festival di Sanremo" by Alex himself, when he was still alive, but had been refused; it was used instead, as a single, to promote this second posthumous work. The album peaked at Number 17, and was classified at Number 186 in 2004 annual chart (his second best achievement ever, again, unfortunately, posthumous).
Besides the many no profit live concerts, theatre plays and various kinds of shows, regularly performed, around the towns of Italy, by friends and colleagues, playing, singing, interpreting and re-elaborating Baroni's repertoire, three more recording works were subsequently released to keep the memory of Alex alive. First of all, the 2002 CD compilation Semplicemente was re-released, in 2006, as a dual disc, including that same greatest hits collection plus a DVD side, with all his videoclips, and a beautiful photo gallery. Secondly, a tribute came out, simply called Alex, realized by peer musicians and friends, covering some of his songs from all his albums, chosen following the artists' personal feelings, that's why not all tracks on the tribute are well known. This was also released in 2006. Finally, in 2007, a double collection was out, simply called Alex Baroni Collection, totally containing 24 songs, with three previously unreleased tracks, "Sei la sola che vorrei" (Italian adaptation of Stevie Wonder's "Another Star", translated and adapted by Alex himself), "La vita è un dado" and "Vorrei", plus a very hard to find tune from Metrica album Fuorimetrica, entitled "La lettera".
Alex Baroni's official website is maintained by his brother, Guido, who also founded the Comitato Alex Baroni (Alex Baroni Committee), to preserve his brother's artistic legacy and to raise funds for charity.
Italian lyrics: Michele Centonze - Music: Alan Menken - Original lyrics: David Zippel
Compilation album for export abroad only, including tracks taken from the albums Alex Baroni and Quello Che Voglio.
Bonus Track
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