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Claudio BaglioniOMRI (Italian pronunciation:[ˈklaudjobaʎˈʎoːni]; born 16 May 1951) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. His career has been going on for over 50 years.[1]
Considered one of the most successful pop rock singer-songwriters in the history of Italian music, he has sold over 60 million records, among which Questo piccolo grande amore from 1972 stands out, of which the song of the same name was awarded «song of the century»,[2]Strada facendo from 1981, one of the albums the artist's most successful album and La vita è adesso from 1985 which is the best-selling album of all time in Italy.[3][4]
In the 90s he experiments world music with the discs of the time trilogy, which began with Oltre (1990) considered his masterpiece,[5][6] continued with one of the best-selling albums ever in Italy Io sono qui (1995) and ended with Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo (1999). In 2006 he composed the anthem of the 2006 Winter Olympics.[7][8][9]
Also an innovator in the field of live performances, Baglioni achieved over a million total spectators with the tours Alé Oó in 1982 and Notti di note in 1985.[10] In 1986 he invented a new method of live performance, with the tour Assolo where he performed completely alone accompanied by electric guitar, piano, sequencer and MIDI, a technology never tested at the time.[11]
In 1991 he was the first artist in the world to realize a concert with the stage in the centre, awarded by the magazine Billboard as «the best concert in the world»,[12] on 6 June 1998, again with the same concept of the stage in the centre, he set the record for attendance at a higher event ever; 100,000 spectators at the Olympic stadium in Rome,[13] in 2000 he will perform in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City in the presence of 300,000 people including the Pope.[14] In 2006 he was officially the first Italian artist to perform at the Brussels European Parliament.[15]
Biography
Around 1968 he composed the Annabel Lee musical suite, based on a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. In 1969, he released his first single and recorded the single Signora Lia; a comic song that tells of a lady's marital infidelity. Over time the song became a cult of Italian pop music despite its poor initial success. He collaborated with Italian singer Mia Martini for her debut album.[16]
Baglioni in 1974
Success came only in 1972, with the album Questo piccolo grande amore; the homonymous song in 1985 will be awarded as the Italian song of the century. In 1974, he recorded the album E tu ... with Vangelis. In 1975, it comes out Sabato pomeriggio; a concept album about waiting, based on Giacomo Leopardi's poems. In 1977, the album Solo; was the first in which he made lyrics, music and production on his own. In 1978, comes the incredible success with the album E tu come stai?.
In 1981, he produced the hugely successful album Strada facendo the first Italian album to reach one million copies. The following year the Alé Oó tour starts, the first tour of an Italian singer in the big stadiums. The name of the tour in fact takes its cue from a typical chorus of football matches. In June of the same year (1982) Claudio at the age of 31 becomes a father and in one day writes the worldwide hit song Avrai dedicated to his son.
Baglioni in 1985
In 1985, comes the incredible success of the album La vita è adesso, the best-selling album of all time in Italy with almost 4 million copies sold,[17] immediately after the release of the album begins the 1985 stadium tour began which totaled over 1.5 million spectators with the final concert in Rome which was the first concert in the history of Italian music to be broadcast live on TV.[18]
The overwhelming success of the album kicks off another big tour the following year; Assolo a sensational tour consisting of over 30 concerts in the great stadiums of Italy where Claudio Baglioni performs completely alone, without a band, with the help of classical and electric guitar, pianola, piano, synthesizer and MIDI, a technology never tested at the time.[19] The live album Assolo is based on the concert at the stadium in the city of Milan, the triple album was a commercial success in Europe. The success of Claudio in this decade is so high that around the end of 1985 the first collection for the European market of the singer-songwriter was released, entitled Claudio Baglioni,[20] containing the best ten songs of the singer-songwriter of the 80s.
In 1990, after 3 years of work he released the double album Oltre, an ambitious project with 20 songs that contains experiments with world music and the participation of great international artists; the album will radically change the Italian music industry. The concert of 1991 will be decreed by Billboard magazine as the best concert of the year in the world, thanks to the stage that is located in the center of the stadium with the public surrounding it in the round. In the same year the European version of the record Oltre is marketed.[21] In 1992 the tour Oltre il concerto began, held in palasport with the stage in the centre, marking the return of Baglioni throughout Italy, with over 50 dates it was a huge success.[22]
Baglioni in 1996
In 1995, the album Io sono qui was released, which marks Claudio's return to the scene, the disc deals with the theme of comedy, everyday life is in fact a bit of a comedy for everyone where everyone wears a mask without knowing if he is an actor or a spectator of life. The album is structured as if it were a film with a beginning, an end, the interlude and then the first, second, third and fourth time which anticipate the subsequent songs by describing them as cinematic scenes.[23] The album has sold 1.5 million copies to date.[24] Baglioni initially presents the album with a series of surprise concerts held on a yellow truck which once opened became a stage, the concert tour is called Tour Giallo.[25] Subsequently, the 1996 tour called Tour Rosso began in the palasport with the stage in the center without barriers between the public and the artist with the band, with over 51 dates it became an incredible success.[26]
On 6 June 1998, he held the concert event of the year at the Olympic stadium in Rome, the concert totaled over 100,000 spectators thanks to the stage in the center and the spectators who filled the stadium, still this record remains undefeated by any event, both musical and sporty.[27]
Baglioni in 1998
And in 1999, the album Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo, with the imminent arrival of the new millennium, considered one of the most ambitious, complex and cultured projects of the musician's entire recording work, it marks the passage of the millennium through a traveler's journey between space and time. The album sells half a million copies in a month.[28] Baglioni will subsequently declare that the three albums (Oltre, Io sono qui and Viaggiatore sulla coda del tempo) make up a trilogy of time where each represents the past, present and future respectively. The tour that follows this album made between January and March 2000, called Tour Blu, it is characterized by a futuristic cut like the 1999 album with projection screens and laser lights, the concerts began with a sort of three-dimensional hologram that had the appearance of a robotic face named Claud; an alter ego of the artist who announced that he came from the future and appeared between one song and another to tell his story accompanied by thoughts and messages from the future, the virtual image mentions that as long as his music is listened to the traveler will not he will have left in vain.[29]
On 31 December 1999, for New Year's Eve, he performed in the last concert of the millennium in St. Peter’s Square, in the Vatican, in the presence of approximately 380,000 spectators including the Pope and on live national TV, he is the first and only artist in history to have held a concert in Vatican Square.[30]
In the summer of 2000, he brought the tour Acustico. Sogno di una notte di note to the amphitheatres, rearranging all his most famous songs in an acoustic key, in 2001 he was the first artist to bring pop music to traditional theaters with the tour Incanto tra pianoforte e voce performing completely alone accompanied by just the piano.
In 2003 the album Sono io was released which sold 300,000 copies in just one month, followed by the stadium tour with the stage at the center.
In 2005 his first official collection Tutti qui was released which soon became a commercial success and from which the tour which lasted from 2006 to 2007 began in palasport with the stage at the centre.[31]
In 2009 he launched the ambitious Q.P.G.A. project which includes a novel, an album, a film and a series of concerts.[32]
In 2010, he did a series of concerts around the world, the last concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London was recorded and broadcast on Sky and transposed onto the live album World Tour which met with incredible success. On New Year's Eve 2011 he held a concert at the Imperial fora in Rome which attracted over 300,000 people.
In 2013 he released the album Con voi. In 2019, to celebrate 50 years of career, he realizes an incredible concert at the Verona Arena which for the first time is open to the public in its entirety. With the stage in the center and the spectators filling the entire arena in the round.[33][34][35]
In 2020 the last album In questa storia, che è la mia was released. In the summer of 2022, he made the Tutti su! tour in the amphitheaters and in the summer of 2023 aTuttoCuore tour with an incredible concert at the Foro Italico in Rome then continued in 2024 around Italy in palasport and in the Arena of Verona with eight stages in September 2024.[36]
