Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti (born on October 28, 1963), known simply as Eros Ramazzotti, is an Italian singer and songwriter.[1] Ramazzotti, who is one of the most popular artists in Italy is well known not only in most non English-speaking European countries but also in most of the Spanish-speaking world as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish.[2]
Since 1984, he has released 11 studio albums, one EP, two compilation albums, two live albums as well as 35 singles, all of which have charted noticeably high in many European countries as well as in South and Central America. Ramazzotti has sold over 40 million records in his 25-year career.[3] The Italian star has done duets with several prestigious artists such as Cher, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, Patsy Kensit, Anastacia, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti, Laura Pausini, and Ricky Martin.[3]
Ramazzotti first gained international success in 1993, after the release of his Tutte storie, with which he managed to occupy the top five in every country wherein he had his previous albums released. After amassing six million in album sales of Tutte storie, in 1994, he got a record contract with BMG International.[3] His success greatly lies beneath his unique voice which could be described as somewhat nasal but yet a bit aggressive at the same time and he always delivers catchy, melodic tunes throughout the refrains of his songs which are passionate autobiographical ballads often rich in soft-rock influence.[4]
Biography
Childhood and early beginnings
Eros Ramazzotti was born on October 28, 1963 in Cinecittà, suburb of Rome, Italy. Ramazzotti, the son of a pianist, who was named after the Greek god of love, started to play the guitar at age of seven.[5] At an early age he would occasionally appear as an extra in films while spending most of his time dreaming of having a career as a pop-star.[6] While still a teenager, he would write songs with help from his father Rodolfo. Later he decided to attend a musical conservatory but instead ended up taking a training program for a book-keeper, after failing the admission examination.[6]
Ramazzotti first took part in 1981 in a music contest called Voci Nuove di Castrocaro (new voices of Castrocaro Terme) with the song "Rock 80" (written by himself) in front of various record label representatives.[1] Even though, the contest was won by Zucchero and Fiordaliso, Ramazzotti managed to reach the final and received two votes from Roberto Galanti and Baron Lando Lanni who represented the newly born label DDD. Soon Eros received his first contract with DDD and moved to Milan with his brother Marco and his mother Raffaella where they, in the beginning, lived in the same building where the record label was located.[6]
1982–1986: Career breakthrough
Ramazzotti's first single "Ad un amico" (To a Friend) appeared in 1982 which, however, was not successful.[7] Soon after Eros met his mentor Renato Brioschi,[6] who helped the young artist find his first success as in 1984 he took part at highly-regarded Sanremo Festival with his song "Terra promessa" (Promised Land), winning the competition for the category "Newcomers".[8] The song was then released Europe-wide.
In 1985, once again Ramazzotti took part at the Sanremo Festival with his "Una storia importante" (An Important Story), a song from his debut album Cuori agitati (Troubled Hearts), which reached the number six place at the festival. The single "Una storia importante" became a huge hit in many European countries including France where it sold a million units alone.[6] His second album Nuovi eroi (New Heroes) was released in 1986. And for the third time in a row, Ramazzotti ended up at Sanremo Festival where he performed one of his most memorable singles, "Adesso tu" (Now You) from Nuovi eroi, which Ramazzotti won the overall competition with.[7]
1987–1994: Popularity established
Eros Ramazzotti in the early 1990s
In 1987 Ramazzotti went on a nine-month long tour after releasing his third album In certi momenti (Sometimes), performing in front of more than a million people. In certi momenti sold more than 3 million copies.[1] He later performed La Luce Buona Delle Stelle (which translates to The Good Light of the Stars) with Patsy kensit on November 22 1987. A year thereafter, in May 1988, he released a seven-track mini-album Musica è (Music is).
The fifth album, entitled In ogni senso (In Every Sense), released in April 1990, attracted more than two hundred journalists from around the world who attended the press conference of the album's presentation in Venice.[6] An American record producer Clive Davis advised Ramazzotti to hold a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which Ramazzotti eventually did.[3] Ramazzotti was the first Italian artist to perform at the renowned concert hall before a sell-out crowd. However, the Italian singer later was disappointed to learn that most of his audience was of an Italian descent.[5] While in the USA during that period, Ramazzotti made other performances on TV shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Good Morning America.[5]
His 1991 double-CD release Eros in Concert was followed by another long tour including the concert Ramazzotti gave before 20 thousand fans on December 4 of that year in Barcelona, Spain, which took place on the day of his live CD's release.[3] Ramazzotti released a series of albums in quick succession consisting of ballads with soft instrumentation as well as mid-tempo soft-rock ballads which launched him both domestically and internationally. Eros has recorded most of his albums in Spanish as well as in Italian.
In 1993, he released Tutte storie (All Stories), and he toured in Europe and 15 Latin American countries (where he has been releasing his albums in Spanish). In November of the same year, Ramazzotti performed his "Cose della vita" (Things of Life) at MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin. The album Tutte storie entered the Top-5 in many countries in Europe including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands, Sweden and Norway[9] . The album eventually sold 6 million copies worldwide which played a significant role in helping Ramazzotti get his contract with BMG International.[3]
1995–2000: Worldwide commercial success
In the summer of 1995, Ramazzotti participated in the European summer festival along with Rod Stewart, Elton John and Joe Cocker. A year thereafter, on May 13, 1996, his seven million seller-album Dove c'è musica (Where There is Music) was released,[6] which happened to be the first album completely self-produced by Eros.[6] On December 5 of the same year his then wife Michelle Hunziker (Swiss model and television host) gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie.[6]
In October 1997, Ramazzotti's Eros – Greatest Hits CD appeared, containing two unreleased tracks up to now "Quanto amore sei" (How Much Love Are You) and "Ancora un minuto di sole" (Just One More Minute of Sunshine) as well as several previous hits in a reworked format including "Musica è" (duet with Andrea Bocelli) and "Cose della vita-Can’t Stop Thinking of You" (duet with Tina Turner). While the collection of his hits entered the Top-5 in France, Belgium, Sweden and Finland, it managed to peak at number one position in countries like Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands and Norway.[10][11][12] The album went on selling well over five million units in Europe alone as well as over 2 million in USA.[13][14] Also in that the same year, the Italian singer was awarded at Germany's Echo Music Awards in the category of "Best International Male Artist of the Year".[15]
In 1998 he released the live CD Eros Live, which included the two duets recorded during the world tour "Cose della vita-Can’t Stop Thinking of You" featuring Tina Turner and "That's All I Need to Know-Difenderò" with Joe Cocker performed in Munich. In 1999, Ramazzotti collaborated again with Italian superstar Andrea Bocelli, this time for Bocelli's album Sogno (Dream), singing "Nel Cuore Lei" (In Your Heart). The album went on to sell over 10 million albums worldwide, giving more recognition to Ramazzotti. In 1999, he was once again awarded at Germany's Echo Music Awards, again for being "The Best International Male Artist of the Year".[16] Throughout his career, Ramazzotti has done duets with some very well-known artists such as Cher, Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Carlos Santana, Tina Turner, Anastacia, Luciano Pavarotti, and Laura Pausini.[3]
Ramazzotti gained reputation of a recognized producer when he produced the album Come fa bene l’amore (As Good Love) for Gianni Morandi in the beginning of 2000.[6] In the October of the same year his eighth studio album Stilelibero (Freestyle) saw light, which contained a duet with the American diva Cher in the song "Più che puoi" (As much as you can). The album, which was a result of a collaboration of producers such as Celso Valli, Claudio Guidetti, Trevor Horn and Rick Nowels, reached the Top-5 album charts throughout Europe and sold well over 2 million untis in Europe alone.[13][17] In the course of the international tour for Stilelibero, Ramazzotti also appeared in eastern European countries including Moscow, Russia where he gave three-day sold out concerts at Kremlin Palace.[3]
2003–Forward
On May 30, 2003, Ramazzotti released his ninth studio album which was also entitled 9. The first single "Un’Emozione Per Sempre" (An Emotion Forever) was released on May 9 which quickly climbed all the way to the top and stayed at no. 1 position in Italy's official single chart for 14 consecutive weeks.[6] The album produced along with Claudio Guidetti and Eros’s longtime musical friend Celso Valli stayed at the no. 1 position for nine weeks in Italy's official album chart.[6] 9 went on selling 3.5 million copies, 1.1 million of which were sold in Italy alone.[6] He began his world tour in Ancona, Italy which was set to have 100 dates in front of audiences of up to one million people (56 dates of which were done in Europe in front of 550,000 people).[6]
On October 28, 2005, Ramazzotti's 10th album Calma Apparente (Apparent Calm) was released on the day of his birthday, which he produced together with Claudio Guidetti. The album Calma Apparente, which sold one million copies in a period of one month in Europe,[18] contains the duet hit single "I Belong to You" with American singer Anastacia, the single went number one in many countries.[19] Eros is especially popular in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, and most Spanish-speaking countries.[4] During his 25 year career he has sold over 40 million records worldwide.[3]
After more than ten years from the day that Ramazzotti's first compilation album Eros was released, which has sold total of 7.5 million copies worldwide and has reached no. 1 in many countries including Germany's Media Control album chart,[6] Ramazzotti released a new double CD compilation album e² on October 26, 2007, which contains 4 new tracks and 14 original songs in a remastered format on the first CD and 17 tracks on the second CD all of which are redone, and feature artists like Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, Steve Vai, Jon Spencer. Among the four unreleased pieces on the e² album, there is a new international duet "Non Siamo Soli" (We're Not Alone) which Eros sings along with Latin pop star Ricky Martin. This is the first single off the album which was available for sale on October 5, 2007. The single available both in Italian and Spanish is written by Ramazzotti and his longtime songwriting partner Claudio Guidetti.[20]
Ramazzotti's new 11 track material called Ali e radici (Wings and Roots), which was released on May 22, 2009, is produced by Eros himeself as well as his long time musical partner Claudio Guidetti; in addition, six tracks on the album are co-produced by Michele Canova who has previously worked with artists such as Laura Pausini, Tiziano Ferro and Jovanotti.[21] The first single "Parla Con Me" (Talk to Me), released on May 17, 2009, off his 11th studio album, is a catchy pop song which has already peaked at number 1 in Italy and number 11 in Switzerland. His new album which is available in a standard edition as well as in a deluxe edition (the latter includes 64-page booklet of photographs) has already entered the Top-5 in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, whereas it peaked at number one in Italy and Switzerland.[22]
Personal life
In his personal life Ramazzotti remains with only few good friends, mostly due to his suspicious personality.[23] Ramazzotti had a poor childhood, he also recalls having a limited source of information at home about everything:
As a child growing up, there were no books in my parents' home, no suggestions were ever made how to even have a decent conversation, no guidance was provided in search of oneself. The only source of information that I would get from my father was the inappropriate photos of women. The first thing as a support that I received from my father was a guitar after he recognized my passion for music. Nowadays, I try to self educate myself by purchasing good books which I almost never read because I become lazy after glancing at a football game on TV[23].
Ramazzotti recalls being extremely shy in the early 1980s before achieving fame:
When I went to Milan to further develop my musical skills, I remember being so shy at the time that I would simply get terrified of going to restaurants all by myself, so I would go without eating throughout my time in Milan[23].
Ramazzotti was married to Swiss model/actress Michelle Hunziker from 1998 to 2002, they have a daughter together Aurora born on December 5, 1996. He published a 320-page autobiography on April 13, 2006, co-written by Luca Bianchini.[24]
Discography
Studio albums
- Cuori agitati (Troubled Hearts) (1985)
- Nuovi eroi (New Heroes) (1986)
- In certi momenti (Sometimes) (1987)
- In ogni senso (In Every Sense) (1990)
- Tutte storie (All Stories), (1993)
- Dove c'è musica (Where There is Music) (1996)
- Stilelibero (Freestyle) (2000)
- 9 (2003)
- Calma apparente (Apparent Calm) (2005)
- Ali e radici (Wings and Roots) (2009)
Live albums
- Eros in Concert (1991)
- Eros Live (1998)
Compilation albums
Extended plays
- Musica è (Music Is) (1988)
References
External links
| Persondata |
| NAME |
Ramazzotti, Eros Luciano Walter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES |
|
| SHORT DESCRIPTION |
Italian pop singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH |
1963-10-28 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH |
Cinecittà, Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH |
|
| PLACE OF DEATH |
|
.jpg)
