Fiorella Mannoia

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Fiorella Mannoia (born April 4, 1954) is an Italian singer.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Fiorella Mannoia began work in the world of cinema as a stuntwoman at the age of 13 in the film Non cantare, spara! ("Don't Sing, Shoot!") (1968). She often acted as a stand-in for Monica Vitti, and was also a stand-in for Candice Bergen in The Hunting Party. She debuted in the world of music at the Festival of Castrocaro in 1968, singing Un bambino sul leone (“A Child on the Lion”) by Adriano Celentano. Collaboration with the guitarist Memmo Foresi led to the release of the album Mannoia Foresi & co. In the early 70s, she had minor roles in the spaghetti Westerns Un colt in mano del diavolo (“A Colt in the Hand of the Devil”) (1972), E il terzo giorno arrivò il corvo (“And on the Third Day, the Crow Arrived”) (1973) and Sei bounty killers per una strage (“Six Bounty Killers for a Massacre”) (1973).

In 1981, she performed at the Sanremo Music Festival with Caffè nero bollente (“Steaming Black Coffee”), which made her widely known in Italy. The year before, she had recorded Pescatore (“Fisherman”) for the album Certi momenti with the song’s author Pierangelo Bertoli, and the success of this single, and of the album, also helped to increase her popularity.

She again entered the Sanremo Music Festival in 1984 with Come si cambia (“As One Changes”). She also won the final of the television miniseries La Premiatissima '84 with the song Margherita by Riccardo Cocciante. In 1985, L'aiuola (“The Flowerbed”) was a big hit for her and the album Premiatissima '84, which included Margherita, was released.

In 1987, she won the Critic’s Prize at the Sanremo Music Festival with Quello che le donne non dicono (“What Women Don’t Say”), her first number one hit, written specifically for her by Enrico Ruggeri and Luigi Schiavone. She won the Critics's Prize again in 1988 with Le notti di maggio (“The Nights of May”), written by Ivano Fossati. In 1988, the album Canzoni per parlare was released, which included these and other songs by leading Italian songwriters, including Ron and Riccardo Cocciante. This was also her first record produced by the musical director and guitarist Piero Fabrizi, who has played an important role in all of her subsequent work.

The album Di terra e di vento, on which she collaborated for the first time with Francesco De Gregori, was released in 1989. This album also contains an Italian version of the song O Que Sará (“Oh What Will Be”) by Chico Buarque de Hollanda, sung as a duet with Ivano Fossati, who also translated the lyrics.

In 1992, Fiorella Mannoia released the pivotal album I treni a vapore, which, as well as the title track by Ivano Fossati, also contains the popular tracks Il cielo d'Irlanda (“The Sky of Ireland”) by Massimo Bubola and Tutti cercano qualcosa (“Everybody Is Looking for Something”) by Francesco De Gregori.

Her next album Gente comune was released in 1994. Highlights include the songs Crazy Boy, written for her by Samuele Bersani and Piero Fabrizi, Il culo del mondo (“The Arse of the World”) written by the Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso, who sang with her on this number, and Giovanna d'Arco (“Joan of Arc”), written for her by Francesco de Gregori.

On Belle speranze (1997) she collaborated with younger songwriters including Daniele Silvestri and Gianmaria Testa. This album also contained the ironic Non sono un cantautore (“I Am Not a Singer-Songwriter”) written by Piero Fabrizi. Certe piccole voci (1999), the first live album of her career, contained the Vasco Rossi song Sally, one of her most popular numbers. This double CD was a huge hit in Italy, reaching number one a couple of months after release, and, ultimately, double platinum status. In 2000, Fiorella Mannoia was invited to the 50th Festival of Sanremo as Italian Super Host.

During the past few years, she has done a lot of touring, initially with Pino Daniele, Francesco De Gregori and Ron, and more recently solo. After the studio album Fragile (2001), Fiorella Mannoia released the live album In tour (2002) with Daniele, De Gregori and Ron. Returning to her cinema roots, she played a cameo role in the film Prima dammi un bacio ("First Give Me a Kiss") (2003), a romantic comedy directed by Ambrogio Lo Giudice. In 2004, the solo live album Concerti (2004) was released, together with Due anni di concerti, a DVD recorded at the visually stunning Teatro Valli di Reggio Emilia. In 2005, she sang three songs at the Live 8 concert, Rome: Sally, Clandestino (written by Manu Chao), and Mio fratello che guarda il mondo (“My Brother Who Looks at the World”), written by Ivano Fossati.

During her career, Fiorella Mannoia has won the prestigious Targa Tenco (Tenco Prize) for Italian singers five times. She is the only performer to have won the Targa Tenco in this category more than once.

In 2006 she released the single Cravo e canela (“Clove and Cinnamon”), written by Milton Nascimento (with whom she sings on the recording) and Ronaldo Bastos. This was followed by the album Onda tropicale, from which the single was taken. The tracks on the album, six translated into Italian by Piero Fabrizi and five in the original Portuguese, are all from the rich carioca repertoire of Brazil. All of the tracks are duets with well-known Brazilian artists (Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, Chico César, Gilberto Gil, Djavan, Carlinhos Brown, Lenine, Jorge Benjor and Adriana Calcanhotto). Her longtime collaborator Piero Fabrizi, guitarist, musical director, arranger and songwriter, again played an important role on this album.

During her career, Fiorella Mannoia has sung in a number of languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese and English, as well as Neapolitan and her native Italian.

[edit] Discography

CDs

  • Mannoia Foresi & co. (1972)
  • Fiorella Mannoia (1982, reissued in 1983 with the addition of Caffè nero bollente (“Steaming Black Coffee”) and E muoviti un po' (“And Get Moving a Bit”))
  • Momento delicato (“Delicate Moment”) (1985)
  • Premiatissima '84 (1985)
  • Fiorella Mannoia (1986)
  • Canzoni per parlare (“Songs for Talk”) (1988)
  • Di terra e di vento (“Of Earth and Wind”) (1989)
  • I treni a vapore (“The Steam Trains”) (1992)
  • Gente comune (“Common People”) (1994)
  • Belle speranze (“Beautiful Hopes”) (1997)
  • Certe piccole voci (“Certain Little Voices”) (1999)
  • Fragile (“Fragile”) (2001)
  • In tour (“On Tour”) (2002)
  • Concerti (“Concerts”) (2004)
  • Onda tropicale (“Tropical Wave”) (2006)

Compilation CDs

  • Tre anni di successi (“Three Years of Hits”) (1987)
  • Canto e vivo (“I Sing and I Live”) (1989)
  • Basta innamorarsi (“It’s Enough to Fall in Love”) (1989)
  • Così cantiamo l’amore (“We Sing of Love This Way”) (1991)
  • Come si cambia '77-'87 (“As One Changes '77-'87”) (1992)
  • Le canzoni (“The Songs”)(1993)
  • Le origini (“The Origins”) (1996)
  • Il meglio (“The Best”) (1997)
  • Primi passi (“First Steps”) (1998)
  • I grandi successi originali (“The Original Big Hits”) (2001)

DVDs

  • Due anni di concerti ("Two Years of Concerts") (2004)
  • Live in Roma 2005 (2006) (package includes the book Biografia di una voce ("Biography of a Voice") by Fiorella Mannoia)

[edit] Prizes

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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