Romanza

Romanza
Greatest hits album by Andrea Bocelli
Released 1997
Recorded 1996
Genre Adult Contemporary, Easy Listening, Operatic Pop, Pop
Length 70:13
Label Sugar, Philips, Universal
Producer Mauro Malavasi
Michele Torpedine
Beppe Vessicchio
Celso Valli
Frank Peterson
Andrea Bocelli chronology
Viaggio Italiano
(1996)
Romanza
(1997)
Aria - The Opera Album
(1998)

Romanza is the first greatest hits album by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, released internationally in 1997.

The album is considered Bocelli's breakthrough album, with more than 20 million copies sold,[1] and remains his most commercially successful to date, topping charts all across Europe and Latin America.

Contents

Background

The album is a compilation of Bocelli's two previous pop albums, Il Mare Calmo della Sera, released in 1994, and Bocelli, released in 1995.

Promotion

North America

Being Bocelli's first album released in the United States and Canada, the album and Bocelli himself, were heavily promoted. This included Bocelli being featured in Hotel Bellagio's commercials in North America, as well as his voice being heard on its Fountain show.[2]

PBS also played a big part in Bocelli' early success in the States, with the airing of A Night in Tuscany, Bocelli's first Great Performances special, of a concert filmed in 1997, in his native Tuscany.

Europe

In August, Bocelli first appeared at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago, Italy, and then at the World Youth Festiva, in Paris, where he sang, in the presence of Pope John Paul II, to an audience of 800,000 people.[3]

In 1997, Bocelli won 3 major awards in Germany. On March 3, Bocelli appeared in Hamburg, with Sarah Brightman to receive the ECHO music award for "Best Single of the Year", for "Time to Say Goodbye",[3] on September 14, he received an ECHO Klassik, in Munich, for "Best seller of the year", for his previous album, Viaggio Italiano,[4] and finally, on October 25, Bocelli received a Bambi award, an annual television and media prize awarded by the German media company Hubert Burda Media, in Cologne.[3] All 3 ceremonies were broadcast live in Germany.

The album was also supported in Germany, by a series of concerts, including 22 open air concerts in the country, as well as an indoor concert in Oberhausen.[3] The German Tour, started in Locarno, Switzerland, on June 6, and ended in Berlin, on August 30, with other venues including, Hannover, Hamburg, Münster, Rügen, Koblenz, Aachen, Wiesbaden, Kiel, Stuttgart, Leverkusen, Baden-Baden, Dresden, Coburg, Leipzig, München, Kassel, Halle, Essen, Aschaffenburg, Nuremberg.[5]

In the United Kingdom, Bocelli held a concert with Sarah Brightman, at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, in the fall.[6]

Back in Italy, on September 27, Bocelli sang again before the Pope at the International Eucharistic Congress, in Bologna. On October 19, he sang at the TeleFood benefit concert held in Vatican City, and organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization to raise awareness about world hunger.[3]

On December 15 and 20, 1997, Bocelli held a concert in Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, in Paris, France, and a concert in Seefeld, Austria.[7]

Bocelli also performed the French version of Vivo per lei with French singer, Hélène Ségara, on television programms in France and Belgium, the Spanish version of song with Spanish singer, Marta Sánchez, on television programms in Spain, and the German version of the song with German singer, Judy Weiss, on television programms in Germany and Switzerland. A music video for each of those three versions was released in those countries. In addition, a music video of the Portuguese version of the song, sang with Brazilian singer Sandy Leah, was also released in Brazil and Portugal, contributing to Romanza's success in the two countries.

Track listing

International standard listing
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Con te partirò"   Francesco Sartori, Lucio Quarantotto - 4:09
2. "Vivere" (with Gerardina Trovato) Gerardina Trovato - 4:41
3. "Per Amore"   Mariella Nava - 4:42
4. "Il Mare Calmo Della Sera"   Gianpietro Felisatti, Malise,[8] Gloria Nuti - 4:40
5. "Caruso"   Lucio Dalla - 5:16
6. "Macchine da Guerra"   Angus Smith - 4:08
7. "Le Tue Parole"   Joe Amoruso, Sergio Cirillo - 3:57
8. "Vivo per lei" (with Giorgia) Valerio Zelli, Art Mengo, Gatto Panceri - 4:23
9. "Romanza"   Mauro Malavasi - 3:41
10. "La Luna Che Non C'è"   Dario Farina, Antonella Maggio - 4:30
11. "Rapsodia"   Malise[8] - 5:28
12. "Voglio Restare Così"   Andrea Bocelli - 3:51
13. "E Chiove"   Amoruso, Cirillo - 4:21
14. "Miserere" (with John Miles - bonus track) Bono, Zucchero - 4:05
15. "Time To Say Goodbye" (with Sarah Brightman) Sartori, Quarantotto, Frank Peterson - 4:04

Commercial performance

First in Europe, then charts around the world, the album amassed a multitude of platinum and multi-platinum awards,[9] outselling even Bocelli's 1995 album, Bocelli, with worldwide sales in excess of 20 million copies to date.[1]

It is one of the biggest-selling albums of all time, having sold more than 7 million units in Europe alone, selling an impressive 500,000 copies in the Far East, one million in Italy, and more than three million in Spain, and Latin America where it became the best-selling album, by an non-Latino artist, of all time. With more than 350,000 units sold in Switzerland, it is also the second best-selling album in history there, and with over 2 million copies sold in France, it is among the Top 10 best-selling albums ever in the country, one of only 2 non-French language albums making the list, the other being Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling album of all time

It also received quadruple platinum status in the United States with 4.2 million copies sold,[10] being Bocelli's first album released in the States, and Diamond status in Canada, with 1,123,000 copies sold,[11] making Romanza the best-selling album by a foreign artist of the SoundScan Era, and the fourth best-selling overall, in Canada.[12][13]

To date, it is Bocelli's most commercially successful album, and is considered his breakthrough album, that launched his career worldwide.

Charts, procession, sales and certificates

Charts

Chart (1997/1998) Peak
position
Austrian Albums Chart 1
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) 2
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) 1
Dutch Albums Chart 1
European Top 100 Albums 1
Finnish Albums Chart 3
French Albums Chart 1
German Albums Chart 2
Hungarian Albums Chart 4
Italian FIMI Albums Chart 1
Norwegian Albums Chart 1
Polish Albums Chart 1
Portuguese Albums Chart 1
Swedish Albums Chart 5
Swiss Albums Chart 1
UK Albums Chart 6
Chart (1997/1998) Peak
position
Argentinian Albums Chart 1
Australian Albums Chart 2
Canadian Albums Chart 5
New Zealand Albums Chart 8
U.S. Billboard 200 Chart 35
U.S. World Albums Chart 1
Chart (2000) Peak
position
U.S. Catalog Albums Chart 1

Chart procession and succession

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Argentina (CAPIF)[14]
Italian edition
3× Platinum 500,000[15]
Argentina (CAPIF)[14]
Spanish edition
3× Platinum
Australia (ARIA)[16] 4× Platinum 280,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[17] Platinum 50,000x
Belgium (BEA)[18] 2× Platinum 100,000*
Brazil (ABPD)[19] Gold 900,000[15]
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Diamond 1,123,000[11]
Chile 120,000[15]
Finland (IFPI Finland)[21] Gold 28,592[21]
France (SNEP)[22] Diamond 1,000,000*
Germany (BVMI)[23] Platinum 500,000^
Hungary (Mahasz)[24] Platinum  
Italy (FIMI)[25] Diamond 800,000*
Mexico 650,000[15]
Netherlands (NVPI)[26] 2× Platinum 200,000^
New Zealand (RIANZ)[27] 3× Platinum 45,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[28] 2× Platinum 100,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[29] Platinum 100,000*
Sweden (GLF)[30] Platinum 80,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[31] 7× Platinum 350,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[33] 3× Platinum 4,200,000[10]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[34] 6× Platinum 6,000,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

PBS Special

A Night in Tuscany, Bocelli's first PBS Great Performances special, filmed in 1997, was designed to promote the album.

The concert held in his native Tuscany, at the Piazza dei Cavalieri, in Pisa, saw Bocelli perform two opera duets with soprano Nuccia Focile, sing "Miserere" with Italian rock star Zucchero, who discovered him in 1992, and finally "Time To Say Goodbye" with English soprano Sarah Brightman.[35] The DVD of the full program was Internationally released November 10, 1998.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Crossover superstar Andrea Bocelli finds beauty in wide range of music The Columbus Dispatch, Nov 27, 2011.
  2. ^ "Bellagio Fountains - Las Vegas". Bellagio.com. http://www.bellagio.com/pages/attrac_highfountain_pop.asp. Retrieved 2011-08-17. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Andrea Bocelli Chronicle: 1995 - 1997, Official Fan site.
  4. ^ "ECHO Klassik 1997 winners" (in German). ECHO. http://www.echo-deutscher-musikpreis.de/echo/echo_klassik_1997_gewinner.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-20. 
  5. ^ Andrea Bocelli's 1997 German tour, Official Fan site.
  6. ^ Sarah Brightman's 1997 concert at Royal Albert Hall, Official Fan site.
  7. ^ Andrea Bocelli's 1997 concerts in Torre del Lago, Paris-Bercy, and Seefeld, Official Fan site.
  8. ^ a b Malise is a pseudonym of Zucchero
  9. ^ "artist info". http://www.getmusic.com.sg. http://www.getmusic.com.sg/artistdtl.aspx?n=andrea_bocelli. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  10. ^ a b Boyle's 'Dream' Continues At No. 1 On Billboard 200 Billboard Magazine.com Dec 9, 2009 article.
  11. ^ a b "The Nielsen Company and Billboard’s 2009 Canadian Industry Report". Businesswire.com, Feb 04, 2010 article. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100204007048&newsLang=en. Retrieved 2010-02-10. 
  12. ^ Top 10 Selling Albums Of The SoundScan Era (1995-2008), Chart Attack, 2009 article.
  13. ^ TOP TEN SELLING ALBUMS OF SOUNDSCAN ERA (since 1995), Jam!, 2007 article.
  14. ^ a b "Argentinian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=Andrea+Bocelli&album=Romanza&LanDesde_MM=0&LanDesde_AA=0&LanHasta_MM=0&LanHasta_AA=0&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP. 
  15. ^ a b c d "Andrea Bocelli in Latin America". Billboard Magazine 2001 article.. http://www.billboard.com/news/andrea-bocelli-aims-for-latin-favor-1070499.story. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  16. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1999 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-accreditations-albums-1999.htm. 
  17. ^ "Austrian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in German). IFPI Austria. http://www.ifpi.at/?section=goldplatin.  Enter Andrea Bocelli in the field Interpret. Enter Romanza in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  18. ^ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina - 1998". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. http://www.ultratop.be/xls/Awards%201998.htm. 
  19. ^ "Brazilian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos. http://abpd.org.br/certificados_interna.asp?sArtista=Andrea+Bocelli&tmidia=1. 
  20. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Romanza&sa=Andrea+Bocelli&smt=0. 
  21. ^ a b "Finnish album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. http://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/artistit/Andrea+Bocelli. 
  22. ^ "French album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. http://www.disqueenfrance.com/fr/pag-259165-CERTIFICATIONS.html?year=1997&type=15. 
  23. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Andrea Bocelli; 'Romanza')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Romanza&strInterpret=Andrea+Bocelli&strTtArt=alben&strAwards=checked. 
  24. ^ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2000" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. http://www.mahasz.hu/?menu=arany_es_platinalemezek&menu2=adatbazis&ev=2000. 
  25. ^ "Italian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Italian) (PDF). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. http://www.fimi.it/temp/cert_Gfk_week4911.pdf. 
  26. ^ "Dutch album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. http://www.ifpi.nl/nvpi/pagina.asp?pagkey=61112&documentid=1236761. 
  27. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. http://rianz.org.nz/rianz/oldchart.asp?chartNum=1146&chartKind=A. 
  28. ^ "Norwegian album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. http://www.ifpi.no/sok/lst_trofeer_sok.asp?type=artist. 
  29. ^ "Polish album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza" (in Polish). Polish Producers of Audio and Video (ZPAV). http://www.zpav.pl/rankingi/wyroznienia/platynowe/index.php. 
  30. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (in Swedish) (PDF). IFPI Sweden. http://www.ifpi.se/wp/wp-content/uploads/guld-platina-1987-1998.pdf. 
  31. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Andrea Bocelli; 'Romanza')". Hung Medien. http://www.swisscharts.com/search_certifications.asp?search=Andrea+Bocelli+Romanza. 
  32. ^ "British album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Romanza in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  33. ^ "American album certifications – Andrea Bocelli – Romanza". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Romanza%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  34. ^ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2001". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/plat2001.html. 
  35. ^ "Andrea Bocelli: A Night In Tuscany (1997) article". The New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/177255/Andrea-Bocelli-A-Night-In-Tuscany/overview. 

External links