Paolo Nutini

Paolo Nutini
Paolo Nutini in 2006
Paolo Nutini in 2006
Background information
Birth name Paolo Giovanni Nutini
Born January 9, 1987 (1987-01-09) (age 22)
Origin Paisley, Scotland
Genre(s) Blue-eyed soul
Instrument(s) Vocal, guitar
Years active 2005–present
Label(s) Atlantic
Website http://www.paolonutini.com/

Paolo Giovanni Nutini (born 9 January 1987) is a Scottish singer/songwriter from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, and his mother is Scottish, although his father's family has been in Scotland for four generations.

Contents

Musical career

Paolo Nutini was taught singing by Avril McCusker for three and half years, but was expecting to follow his father into the family fish and chip shop business. He was first encouraged to sing by his music-loving grandfather, Jackie, and a teacher at his school who recognised his talent. He left school to work as a roadie and to sell t-shirts for Speedway. He spent three years learning the music business, performing live, alone and with Dome and Dick from the Dongues. He mentions Dome and Dick as great influences on his later career, especially Dick's singing. He later worked as a studio hand at Glasgow's Park Lane Studio.

He has often collaborated with musician Sam Willetts and the hit single 'New Shoes' was written about Sam after he bought Paolo a pair of shoes for his birthday.

His big chance came when he attended a concert for David Sneddon's return to his home town of Paisley at the beginning of 2003. Sneddon was delayed, and as the winner of an impromptu pop quiz, Nutini was given the chance to perform a couple of songs on stage during the wait. The favourable reaction of the crowd impressed another member of the audience, who offered to become his manager.

Daily Record journalist John Dingwall saw him performing at the Queen Margaret Union, and invited him to appear live on BBC Radio Scotland. Only 17, he moved to London and performed regularly at The Bedford pub in Balham while still legally too young to drink alcohol himself. Other radio and live appearances followed, including two live acoustic spots on Radio London, The Hard Rock Cafe, and support slots for Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall.

Nutini performing in September 2006.

Throughout 2006 he played a number of sold-out concerts in the UK and performed at a wide variety of venues worldwide, including King Tut's Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, a TV appearance on Later with Jools Holland, Carnegie Hall in New York, The Montreux Jazz Festival, The Wireless Festival, Oxegen and T in the Park. He supported the Rolling Stones in Vienna and was invited to appear with them again at the Don Valley Stadium in August 2006. He was also booked to appear at the V Festival and The Austin City Limits Music Festival, Texas later in 2006, with a European tour in the autumn. In May 2006, he also played at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Dundee.

On Hogmanay 2006, Paolo appeared on BBC Scotland's Hogmanay Live celebrations, after the official celebrations in Princes Street Gardens were cancelled at short notice due to abysmal weather. He performed several songs in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle for the TV audience with little or no rehearsal.

On Wednesday, April 11, 2007, Paolo performed in a concert that was streamed live via MSN Music.

Paolo is a big Celtic F.C. supporter and was criticised by fans for allegedly coming on stage seemingly drunk after celebrating Celtic's title win in April 2007. This has been vigorously denied by Paolo himself and his management, who said that Paolo was just mumbling as he sang, and that the set was subject to several technical problems that made him difficult to hear.

Paolo performed at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2007 on the famous Pyramid Stage on the second day of the event. Nutini also performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium on July 7, 2007 with his set including a cover of Louis Armstrong's What A Wonderful World. He performed the following day at T in the Park, in Scotland. [1]

Scottish independent TV company Volt MediaFix are currently making a one-off special documentary on Paolo's recent US tour. The program, for the BBC, was scheduled for broadcast on BBC2, 10pm, Thursday 7th June throughout Scotland and on Sky channel 990 throughout the rest of the UK.

His song 'Last Request' featured at the end of the Scrubs episode My Words of Wisdom from season 6.

His song 'Million Faces' was featured at the end of the Grey's Anatomy episode 'Testing 1-2-3' from Season 3 and is on the Volume 3 Soundtrack of the show.

His song 'Rewind' was also played at the end of CSI:Miami episode 'Broken Home' in season 5. His song 'Jenny, Don't Be Hasty' was also featured on another member of the CSI franchise when it was played on the Season 3 finale episode of CSI: NY, 'Snow Day'.

His song 'New Shoes' was featured in The Jane Austen Book Club and in a TV ad for Puma AG during summer 2008.

On July 7, 2007 he performed Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World at Live Earth

On September 17, Paolo performed on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno performing the song Last Request.

In September 2007, Paolo recorded a short radio show with imeem.com where he listed his top 10 favourite tracks and the reasons behind his choices. [2]

In October 2007, Paolo performed for the annual Voodoo Fest held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

In 2008, Paolo's music will also be featured in a movie adaptation of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.

Recording history

As a young boy Paolo used to hang out with Flossi Jnr in Monaco where he used to busk and she used to sell fairy floss to make them some pocket money this is how he managed to fund the recording of his first demo. Paolo Nutini was signed to Atlantic Records in May 2005, shortly after his 18th birthday. He released his first single "These Streets" as a free download in May 2006, this was then followed by his next single "Last Request" which was released on 4 July 2006 and charted at #5 in the official UK charts. In the video for "Last Request", Nutini plays the part of a robber - though this is not revealed until the end. Nutini's third single, "Jenny Don't Be Hasty", was released on 25 September 2006 and got to #20 on the UK Singles Chart. "Rewind" was Nutini's fourth single. It was released on 4 December 2006, and reached #27 in the UK.

His debut album These Streets, produced by Ken Nelson (Coldplay/Gomez), was released on 17 July 2006 and immediately entered the UK album charts at #3. Many of the songs on the album, including "Last Request" and "Rewind", were inspired by a turbulent relationship with his current girlfriend, Teri Brogan, and "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" is a true story about encounters with an older woman. These Streets, as Paolo himself puts it on his official website, he states, "The album is a little glimpse of some of the experiences I have been through in the last three years".

Paolo is releasing a new album early 2009

Discography

Albums

Singles

Year Single UK U.S. Adult Top 40 AUS ITA BRA Album
2006
 "Last Request"
5
30
—
15
27
These Streets
"Jenny Don't Be Hasty"
20
—
40
—
—
"Rewind"
27
—
—
—
—
2007
 "New Shoes"
21
24
—
—
—

Charity

On 24 July, 2007, Paolo was awarded The Golden St. Christopher medal by the city of Barga in Italy, the highest honour the city can give, to celebrate his extraordinary contributions to Barga and its people. Other artists to receive this award include the band 'Keane'.

References

  1. ↑ BBC Scotland: T in the Park [1]
  2. ↑ Paulo Introduces His Top Ten Tunes [2]

External links

Official

Others

Paolo Nutini
Studio albums
These Streets
Singles
"Last Request" · "Jenny Don't Be Hasty" · "Rewind" · "New Shoes"