Eros Ramazzotti
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| Eros Ramazzotti | |
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.jpg/220px-Eros_Ramazzotti_(early_1990s).jpg) Eros Ramazzotti
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eros Ramazzotti |
| Born | October 28, 1963 |
| Origin | Cinecittà, Rome, Italy |
| Genre(s) | Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1984-present |
| Label(s) | Arista, BMG International, RCA International |
| Website | Official Website |
Eros Ramazzotti (born on October 28, 1963) is one of the most successful Italian singers and songwriters of all time.[1] Ramazzotti, who as a kid has dreamed of being a pop-star 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.
Since 1984, Eros has released nine studio album, one EP, two compilation albums, two live albums as well as 31 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 [2] . The Italian star has done duets with several prestigious artist such as Cher, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, Anastacia, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti and Laura Pausini.
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, Eros got a record contract with BMG International.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Childhood and early beginnings
Eros Ramazzotti was born in Cinecittà, suburb of Rome, Italy the son of a housepainter. At an early age Eros would occasionally appear as an extra in films while spending most of his time dreaming of having a career as a pop star. He would write songs with help from his father Rodolfo, during which time he decided to attend a musical conservatory but instead ended up taking a training program for a book-keeper, after failing the admission examination. However, this did not last long as all he could think about was music.[4]
Eros first took part in 1981 in a music contest called Voci Nuove di Castrocaro (new voices) with a song "Rock 80" (which he wrote himself) in front of various record label representatives. Even though, the triumph went to Zucchero and Fiordaliso after Ramazzotti managed to reach the final, the young talent got his two crucial votes from Roberto Galanti and Baron Lando Lanni who represented the newly born label DDD. Soon after Eros received his first contract with DDD, he moved to Milan with his brother Marco and his mother Raffaella where they, in the beginning, lived in the same building the record label was located.
[edit] 1982–1986: Career breakthrough
Ramazzotti's first single "Ad Un Amico" appeared in 1982; however, success failed to come at this time. Soon after Eros met his mentor Renato Brioschi, who helped the young artist find his first success as in 1984 he took part at the popular San Remo Festival with his song "Terra Promessa" and won the competition for the category of "Newcomer". The song's triumph drove Eros's career to take off as it was released Europe-wide.
In 1985, once again Ramazzotti took part at San Remo Festival with his "Una Storia Importante", a song from his debut album Cuori Agitati, which reached nomber 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.
At this time Eros could almost see himself as what he once could only dream of. His second album Nuovi Eroi was released in 1986, and one of his most memorable singles ever "Adesso Tu" was performed at San Remo Festival where Ramazzotti won again.
[edit] 1987–1994: Popularity established
The popularity kept growing and 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.[5] A year thereafter in May 1988, Eros released a seven-track mini-album Musica è which made the number of his fans grow even bigger as sales exceeded the former.
Ramazzotti released a series of albums in quick succession, composed of heartfelt autobiographical ballads as well as powerful rock tunes, which launched him both domestically and internationally (he records 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. An American record producer Clive Davis amazed by Eros's talent advised him to hold a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York city. Ramazzotti turned out to be the first Italian artist to perform at the renowned concert hall before a huge 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.
In 1993 he released his Tutte Storie, and besides Europe he also toured in 15 Latin American countries (where he's been releasing his albums in Spanish). After appearing at top of the charts all over Europe with the new album, in Nevember of the same year, Ramazzotti performed his "Cose Della Vita" at MTV Europe Music Awards in Berlin. The album Tutte Storie, which sold 6 million copies world-wide turned the year 1994 into a golden year for Ramazzotti as he got his contract with BMG International.[3]
[edit] 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 album Dove c'è Musica was released, which happened to be the first album that was completely self produced by Eros. The 7 million figure in sales of Dove c'è Musica was enough to say the 33 year old had managed to enter the hearts of many in the world. On December 5 of the same year his ex-wife Michelle Hunziker (Swiss model and television host) gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie.
In October 1997 Ramazzotti's Eros – Greatest Hits CD appeared, a record which contained 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 world-wide emphasizing once again how beloved the Italian pop-star is without even appearing in the charts of any English-speaking nation.
The year 1998 was seen with the release of Eros's live CD Eros Live which contained 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[6][7] 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 Eros made a come back with his eighth album Stilelibero, which contained a duet with the American diva Cher in the song "Più Che Puoi". The album was a result of a collaboration of internationally renowned producers such as Celso Valli, Claudio Guidetti, Trevor Horn and Rick Nowels. In the course of the international tour for Stilelibero, Eros also appeared in eastern European counties including Moscow, Russia where he gave three-day sold out concerts at Kremlin Palace.
Eros has done duets with several prestigious artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Cher, Anastacia, Luciano Pavarotti, and Laura Pausini.
[edit] 2003–Forward
On May 30, 2003 the long-awaited ninth album arrived in stores which was also titled as 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. The album produced along with Claudio Guidetti and Eros’s longtime musical friend Celso Valli perched at no. 1 position for fourteen weeks in Italy's official album chart. The 9 went on selling 3.5 million copies, 1.1 million of which were sold in Italy alone. He began his world tour in Ancona, Italy which was set to have 100 dates in front of as many as one million audience. (56 dates of which were done in Europe in front of 550,000 people).[8]
He is especially popular in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Venezuela, and most Spanish-speaking countries. During his 25 year career he has sold over 40 million records worldwide.[2]
In October 28, 2005, Ramazzotti's 10th album Calma Apparente was released on the day of the 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, contains the European hit single "I Belong to You", a duet with Anastacia. The album, eventually, ended up being a 4 million units seller.
After more than ten years from Ramazzotti's last complition album Eros which has sold well over 7.5 million copies world-wide and has reached no. 1 in many countries including Germany's Media Control album chart, the Italian superstar 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 big-hits 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 appeared in the music stores starting October 5, 2007. The single available both in Italian and Spanish is written by Ramazzotti and his longtime songwriting partner Claudio Guidetti.[9][10]
[edit] Personal life
Although the Italian pop-star has managed to enter the hearts of millions with his music especially female-fans, in his personal life he remains with only few good friends mostly due to his suspicious personality. As a son of amateur drummer he's become a pop star filling stadiums full of teens and adults, in real life; however, the destined singer feels as if he constantly must struggle against array of barriers. Even during his childhood it was difficult as priests would refuse to baptize those suburb rascals with offensive names. However, they did not take the motherly stubbornness of a Roman housewife under consideration as Ramazzotti’s mother who was of Greek heritage had made up her mind about getting her youngest son baptized regardless of what catholic priests believed. And she proved her pig-headedness by going as far as calling her future pop-star-son after a Greek Love God just to achieve her goal by which name she’s been calling him ever since.[11]
Even though, Ramazzotti owns two houses, one on Lake Como with complete glassed-ceiling which has everything from a cinema hall, banquet hall, fitness rooms, swimming pool to tennis court and football field and the other happens to be a four thousand square-meter castle, in the garage of which one could find cars like Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes Benz as well as countless motorcycles, he looks back at his childhood and recalls:
| “ | 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.[11] | ” |
As a young Roman in the early 80’s, Ramazzotti went to Milan in order to develop his musical skills. He recalls:
| “ | I was 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.[11] | ” |
After the release of the single "Adesso Tu" (with which he won the first place prize at San Remo Festival) and his second album Nuovi Eroi, he became an Italian artist whom people desired, worshipped and loved.
| “ | I began to swim in millions soon , which I wasn’t ready for, as I was never taught how to deal with money either. The period, especially between 1995 and 2000 was a party time for me as I occupied myself by purchasing houses, cars, motorcycles, clothes[11] | ” |
he recalls.
Although Ramazzotti has been singing about endless love and consumptive passion for over 20 years, his own romantic life ended up in an unfortunate marriage. It’s clear that it’s not an enjoyable topic for Ramazzotti as the star’s face-expression immediately becomes gloomy when he's asked about his ex-wife Michelle Hunziker during an interview which he responds to with the following statement:
| “ | I would have never stood before an altar if it wasn’t for Michelle’s insistence. I am an atheist myself, and I don’t consider marriage something natural but rather I view it as something that God wishes, I will never get married again. All I have left from the marriage which lasted three years ten months and eighteen days is my daughter Aurora, who’s my biggest treasure and finding.[11] | ” |
In his 320 pages of autobiographical book which was published on April 13, 2006, one could find details about his extravagant production of his album Calma Apparente put together in Los Angeles, London, and Milan. One could also find out everything else from his childhood and youth years spent in a shabby apartment of suburb, his first love, false friends, scandals, missteps to the crazy times with former lingerie model Michele Hunziker whose posters once decorated the billboards of Milan.
| “ | I mainly wrote the book to help my fans understand who I really am, since I find most of interviews unsympathetic and very difficult to get my messages across through[11] | ” |
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- 1985: Cuori agitati
- 1986: Nuovi eroi
- 1987: In certi momenti
- 1990: In ogni senso
- 1993: Tutte storie (Todo historias)
- 1996: Dove c'è musica (Donde hay música)
- 2000: Stilelibero (Estilo libre)
- 2003: 9
- 2005: Calma apparente
[edit] Live albums
- 1991: Eros in Concert
- 1998: Eros Live
[edit] Compilation albums
- 1997: Eros
- 2007: e²
[edit] Extended plays
- 1988: Musica è
[edit] See also
- Best selling music artists — World's top-selling music artists chart.
[edit] References
- ^ "news/German-official-web-site".erosramazzotti.de/bio.
- ^ a b "bio/BMG/Sony"sonybmg.de.
- ^ a b "Ramazzotti's_bio_on_SONY/BMG"sonybmg.de.
- ^ "eros/bio/the_beginning".ramazzotti.com/erosramazzotti_eros.asp.
- ^ "eros/bio/1987"ramazzotti.com/erosramazzotti_eros.asp.
- ^ "eros/bio/2000"ramazzotti.com/erosramazzotti_eros.asp.
- ^ "bio/German-official-web-site"erosramazzotti.de/bio.
- ^ "eros/bio/May-30-2003"ramazzotti.com/erosramazzotti_eros.aspp.
- ^ "news/German-official-web-site"erosramazzotti.de/news.
- ^ "ramazzotti.com/e2/infotrack/album_uk.html.
- ^ a b c d e f [1]stern.de/e2/infotrack/album_uk.html.
