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| Eros Ramazzotti | |
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 Eros Ramazzotti
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti |
| Born | October 28, 1963 |
| Origin | Cinecittà, Rome, Italy |
| Genre(s) | Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Pop and Synthpop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1984-present |
| Label(s) | Arista, BMG International, RCA International |
| Website | Official Website |
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 nine studio albums, one EP, two compilation albums, two live albums as well as 34 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 23 years of career [3]. The Italian star has done duets with several prestigious artist such as Cher, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, Anastacia, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti, Laura Pausini and Ricky Martin.
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 that are passionate autobiographical ballads often rich in soft-rock influence[4].
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Eros Ramazzotti was born in Cinecittà, suburb of Rome, Italy, the son of a housepainter. 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 [5]. He wrote 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.[5].
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[5]
Ramazzotti's first single "Ad un amico" appeared in 1982 which, however, was not successful[6]. Soon after Eros met his mentor Renato Brioschi[5], 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", winning the competition for the category "Newcomers"[7]. The song was then released Europe-wide.
In 1985, once again Ramazzotti took part at the Sanremo Festival with his "Una storia importante", a song from his debut album Cuori agitati, which reached 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 [5].
His second album Nuovi eroi was released in 1986. The single "Adesso tu" was performed at Sanremo Festival, where Ramazzotti won the overall competition[6].
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In 1987 Ramazzotti went on a nine-month long tour after releasing his third album In certi momenti, performing in front of more than a million people. In certi momenti sold more than 3 million copies.[1] A year thereafter, in May 1988, he released a seven-track mini-album Musica è.
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).
The fifth album, entitled In ogni senso, 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[5] . An American record producer Clive Davis advised him to hold a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Ramazzotti was the first Italian artist to perform at the renowned concert hall before a sell-out crowd.
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[5].
In 1993 he released Tutte storie, 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" at MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin. The album Tutte storie which eventually sold 6 million copies worldwide helped Ramazzotti get his contract with BMG International.[3]
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 six million seller-album Dove c'è musica was released[2], which happened to be the first album completely self-produced by Eros[5]. On December 5 of the same year his ex-wife Michelle Hunziker (Swiss model and television host) gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie [5].
In October 1997 Ramazzotti's Eros – Greatest Hits CD appeared, containing two unreleased tracks up to now "Quanto amore sei" and "Ancora un minuto di sole" 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). The collection of his hits went on selling well over 7 million units worldwide[5].
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. Not long after, the Italian singer was awarded at the Echo Music Awards in the category of Best International Male Artist.
Ramazzotti gained reputation of a recognized producer[8][9] when he produced the album Come fa bene l’amore for Gianni Morandi in the beginning of 2000. In the October of the same year his eighth album Stilelibero saw light, which contained a duet with the American diva Cher in the song "Più che puoi". 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 [10]. In the course of the international tour for Stilelibero, Ramazzotti also appeared in eastern European counties including Moscow, Russia where he gave three-day sold out concerts at Kremlin Palace.
Throughout his career, Ramazzotti has done duets with some very well-known artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Carlos Santana, Tina Turner, Cher, Anastacia, Luciano Pavarotti, and Laura Pausini.
On May 30, 2003 Ramazzotti released his ninth studio album which was also entitled 9. The first single "Un’Emozione Per Sempre" 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 nine consecutive weeks[11] . The album produced along with Claudio Guidetti and Eros’s longtime musical friend Celso Valli stayed at the no. 1 position for fourteen weeks in Italy's official album chart[11]. 9 went on selling 3.5 million copies, 1.1 million of which were sold in Italy alone[5]. He began his world tour in Ancona, Italy which was set to have 100 dates in front of audiences of up to one million audience people (56 dates of which were done in Europe in front of 550,000 people).[11]
He 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]
In October 28, 2005, Ramazzotti's 10th album Calma Apparente 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[12], contains the duet hit single "I Belong to You" with American singer Anastacia, the single went number one in many countries. [13].
After more than ten years from Ramazzotti's last compilation album Eros which has sold well over 7.5 million copies worldwide [5] and has reached no. 1 in many countries including Germany's Media Control album chart, 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 redone featuring 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" 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.[9][13]
It is said that Ramazzotti is currently working on his new album which will see light in the first half of 2009 [14].
In his personal life Ramazzotti remains with only few good friends, mostly due to his suspicious personality[15]. His mother changed his original name to Eros (Greek Love God's name) to be able to baptize him due to priests' refusal to baptize those who would carry offensive names resembling suburb rascals[15]. 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[15]. | ” |
Ramazzotti recalls being extremely shy in the early 80’s 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[15]. | ” |
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[16].
