Italian singer, songwriter, and lyricist (born 1943)
Roberto Vecchioni
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![Vecchioni in 2007](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Roberto_Vecchioni.jpg/220px-Roberto_Vecchioni.jpg) Vecchioni in 2007
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Born
| (
1943-06-25
)
25 June 1943
(age 80)
Carate Brianza
, Kingdom of Italy
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Genres
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Occupation(s)
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- Lyricist
- composer
- singer
- songwriter
- poet
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Years active
| 1966?present
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Labels
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Website
| www.robertovecchioni.com
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Musical artist
Roberto Vecchioni
(
Italian pronunciation:
[ro?b?rto
vek?kjoːni]
; born 25 June 1943) is an Italian singer, songwriter, and lyricist.
[1]
Biography
[
edit
]
Vecchioni was born in
Carate Brianza
, now in the
province of Monza and Brianza
, to a
Neapolitan
family. In 1968, he graduated in Classical Literature at the
Catholic University of Milan
, where he subsequently worked for two years as assistant lecturer of History of Religion. Later he was appointed professor of literature and history at a Milanese High School, an activity that he continued for almost thirty years and that would influence several of his songs.
His career in the Italian music industry began in the late 1960s as songwriter for Italian pop stars such as
Ornella Vanoni
,
Gigliola Cinquetti
,
Mina
,
Iva Zanicchi
and the band
Nuovi Angeli
. Vecchioni's first solo album,
Parabola
was released in 1971. In 1973 he took part in the
Sanremo Festival
with "L'uomo che si gioca il cielo a dadi". His 1974 LP,
Il re non si diverte
, won the Best Year's Album Award from the Italian music critic. In 1976 he released
Elisir
. Vecchioni's breakthrough happened in 1977 with
Samarcanda
, an album where he drew inspiration mostly from autobiographical themes, intermingled with dreamy, literary, historical and mythological references.
Angelo Branduardi
played violin on the LP.
Vecchioni's skills were confirmed in the following works,
Calabuig, Stranamore e altri incidenti
(1978), where the literary citations predominated, and in
Robinson
(1979), where instead the autobiographical inspiration prevails. The songs "Signor giudice" and "Lettera da Marsala" of the latter work deal with the problems Vecchioni had had in the preceding years: respectively, a charge for
marijuana
possession (from which he was acquitted) and a dispute with his former record label. The following album,
Montecristo
, was released indeed by both the old and the new labels.
After
Hollywood Hollywood
of 1982, whose songs are influenced by the world of cinema, Vecchioni in 1984 released the double LP
Il grande sogno
("The Great Dream"), in which he collected new songs together with new versions of his past hits. The title track featured
Francesco De Gregori
playing
blues harp
. The LP was accompanied by his first literary attempt, a short book with the same name. Many of the cover of Vecchioni's LPs of this period were created by the famous Italian comic book artist and painter
Andrea Pazienza
.
While continuing a successful career as a renowned singer-songwriter in the 1980s and the 1990s, Vecchioni spent more time writing. His prose includes the collection
Viaggi nel tempo immobile
(1996) and the novels
Le parole non-portano le cicogne
(2000) and
Il libraio di Selinunte
. He also lectured on the History of Italian Songwriting in a tour lasting two years, and was called to author the
Enciclopedia Treccani
article about Italian singer-songwriters. His best more recent works include
Sogna ragazzo sogna
("Dream, boy, dream") of 1999 and
Il lanciatore di coltelli
("The Knife Thrower") of 2002.
On 19 February 2011, he won the
61st Sanremo Music Festival
[2]
and the "
Mia Martini
" Critics' Award
[3]
with the song "
Chiamami ancora amore
" ("Call me Love again").
Discography
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Viaggi nel tempo immobile
(1996, collection of short novels),
Einaudi
,
Turin
- Le parole non-potrano le cicogne
(2000), Einaudi, Turin
- Il libraio di Selinunte
(2004), Einaudi, Turin
- Diario di un gatto con gli stivali
(2006), Einaudi, Turin
- Di sogni e d'amore
(2007), Frassinelli, Segrate
- Volevo. Ed erano voli
(2008), Pescecapone, Lecce
- Scacco a Dio
(2009), Einaudi, Turin
References
[
edit
]
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1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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1980s
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1990s
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2000s
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2010s
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2020s
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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