Lucio Battisti
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Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 - 9 September 1998, Milan) was a very respected Italian singer-songwriter. From 1969 to 1994, he released 22 albums, a few of which were translations of his work into other languages.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Musician and composer
Battisti was born in Poggio Bustone, a town in the Province of Rieti (Northern Latium), and moved with his family to Rome in 1947. A self-taught guitarist, Battisti made his debut as musician in the 1960s, performing in local bands in Rome, Naples and later in Milan: here he joined I Campioni ("The Champions"), the support band of then famous singer Tony Dallara.
In Milan he found the aid of a French talent scout, Christine Leroux, who worked for the Ricordi musical label. Leroux took Battisti under her wing, as he penned three sizeable hits in 1966 for other artists ("Per una lira" for Ribelli, "Dolce di giorno" for Dik Dik, and "Uno in Più" for Riki Maiocchi). Leroux also introduced Battisti to songwriter Giulio Rapetti, better known as Mogol: though not impressed at first by Battisti's music, Mogol declared later to have decided to start the collaboration anyway after recognizing Battisti's humble, though determined, desire to improve his work. Mogol also pushed Ricordi to allow Battisti to sing his own songs: Lucio's voice became a point of strength and originality. As a singer, he made his debut with his tune "Per una lira" in 1966: despite the relatively mediocre success (100,000 copies sold, not much for the times), it allowed him to begin building a career as solist.
Battisti continued to write tunes for others in the late 1960s: the US rock group Grass Roots scored a hit stateside with one of Battisti's compositions, "Balla Linda". With the same song, Battisti classified fourth in the Cantagiro, a then popular competition. 1969 saw another one of Battisti's compositions, "Il Paradiso", become a hit in the UK when it was covered by the group Amen Corner, hitting the number one spot on the singles chart.
[edit] Success as a solo singer in 1970s - The Mogol-Battisti duo
In the same year Battisti took part in the Festival of Sanremo, with the song "Un'avventura", and his popularity began to increase. His first great hit was "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara" ("Blue Water, Clear Water"), which won the Festivalbar. The same year, Battisti issued his self-titled debut LP, which topped the Italian charts and included another of his most famous songs, "Mi ritorni in mente" ("You Come Back in My Mind"). During this successful year he also met with Grazia Letizia Veronese, who lived with Battisti until his death.
In the 1970s Battisti won Festivalbar for the second time in a row, with the song "Fiori di rosa, fiori di pesco" ("Flowers of Rose, Flowers of Peach"). He started to collaborate with Mina, who sang one of Mogol-Battisti's finest tunes, "Emozioni" ("Emotions"), also the title of the second Battisti's LP. Forming a strong and highly successful duo with songwriter Mogol, Battisti continued to issue solo albums on a regular basis throughout the 1970s: in almost every case they reached the highest places in his country's charts, and are regarded as classics of Italian pop music ("musica leggera"). He also became a popular TV presence. In order to preserve their creative freedom, Battisti and Mogol switched to a label of their own, Numero Uno, founded by the latter back in 1969.
Under the new label Amore e non amore ("Love and Not Love") was released in 1971, followed by the even more successful Umanamente uomo: il sogno (1972) and Il mio canto libero ("My Freedom Song", 1973). The latter topped the Italian charts for 8 weeks: one of its songs was also reissued by Mick Ronson with lyrics translated by David Bowie, as "Music Is Lethal". Until 2006, the eponymous song "Il mio canto libero" has remained one of the most popular songs among Italians. Another success, though slightly more innovative, was Il nostro caro angelo ("Our Dear Angel") of the same year.
After 1974's Anima latina, characterized by increased attention to rhythms and increasingly cryptic lyrics by Mogol, Battisti released another fortunate work in 1976, La batteria, il contrabbasso, ecc., including the tune "Ancora tu". In the same year Battisti married Veronese and, most of all, declared he would no longer make public appearances. A rather shy person, he had been always reticent to spend words about his work: now, according to the words with which he accompained his retiration, "[he was going to] speak no more, since an artist must communicate with the public only through his work".
In 1977 he released Io tu noi tutti. He also relocated to Los Angeles, and issued an album that featured some of his biggest hits re-recorded in English. However, the attempt to equal his European success in the United States failed.
Battisti returned to Rome and in 1978 released Una donna per amico, which was the best-selling Battisti-Mogol LP ever. Neverthless, it marked the begin of the decline of their relationship. Battisti had started to limit himself to send his music to Mogol by mail, receiving the lyrics in the same way. Critics pointed out that the emotions of the duo's songs had started to wane out. Una giornata uggiosa ("A Gloomy Day") suffered clearly of this lack: Battisti's melodies, moreover, were almost entirely choked by the "international pop" arrangement imposed by English producer Goeff Westley. Although it included Battisti's last great success, "Con il nastro rosa", this was the first Battisti-Mogol LP that not reached the top of the Italian charts.
[edit] The "Second period"
In 1981 Battisti broke the partnership with Mogol, switching to a more experimental, sometimes weird inspiration, based often on electronic instruments. The LPs of his "second period", starting from E già of 1982 (with lyrics by his wife), received a mixed reception from both critics and audiences. Mogol started to work with Riccardo Cocciante; in 1990, he declared he had not listened Battisti's LPs for many years.
From 1986, starting with Don Giovanni, to 1994, the lyrics on Battisti's albums were written by the poet Pasquale Panella. Don Giovanni combined a return to classic "Battistian" melodies with lyrics which some felt were weird and often meaningless. Others, however, understood the lyrics to be cryptic: an intellectual mind game of sorts. It was the first relative success he had since the 1970s. L'apparenza ("The Appearance", 1988), however, again contained rather impervious lyrics. La sposa occidentale (1990) was the first LP for CBS. The declining sales were hardly a concern for Battisti: it was rumoured that in the 1990s he was gaining 4-5 billions lire a year (approximately 3 million Euro in 2006) from author rights of his 1970s songs only.
Battisti's last album was Hegel, recorded in 1994.
On September 9, 1998, Battisti passed away in a Milan hospital at the age of 55. The news was immediately reported by the media and spread quickly throughout the country, generating an unprecedented wave of emotion for a singer. He was later buried in the cemetery of Molteno, the town where he had spent his last years with his family, far from the circus of the show business .
Several compilations of his best tracks have surfaced after Battisti's death, including 2000's Battisti and 2001's Canzoni d'Amore. His catalogue is published by BMG Music Publishing.
[edit] Influence and praise
Through the years, Battisti has consolidated his status as probably the most popular Italian singer. His songs remain immensely famous in Italy and are often performed live by other notable musicians.
[edit] Discograhpy
[edit] Albums
| Name | Year | Hit Parade position. |
Weeks in Hit Par. |
Released byy | Year Hit Parade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucio Battisti | 1969 | 1 | 9 | Ricordi | 3 |
| Emozioni | 1970 | 1 | 11 | Ricordi | 4 (1971) |
| Amore e non amore | 1971 | 1 | 7 | Ricordi | 10 |
| Lucio Battisti Vol. 4 | 1971 | 3 | 5 | Ricordi | 19 |
| Umanamente uomo: il sogno | 1972 | 1 | 9 | Numero Uno | 2 |
| Il mio canto libero | 1972 | 1 | 8 | Numero Uno | 1 |
| Il nostro caro angelo | 1973 | 1 | 7 | Numero Uno | 2 |
| Anima latina | 1974 | 1 | 6 | Numero Uno | 8 (1975) |
| La batteria, il contrabbasso, ecc. | 1976 | 1 | 7 | Numero Uno | 3 |
| Io tu noi tutti | 1977 | 1 | 6 | Numero Uno | 2 |
| Images | 1977 | 11 | 2 | RCA-Victor | 59 |
| Una donna per amico | 1978 | 1 | 6 | Numero Uno | 4 |
| Una giornata uggiosa | 1980 | 1 | 6 | Numero Uno | 5 |
| E già | 1982 | 1 | 4 | Numero Uno | 14 |
| Don Giovanni | 1986 | 1 | 5 | Numero Uno | 3 |
| L'apparenza | 1988 | 2 | 4 | Numero Uno | 17 |
| La sposa occidentale | 1990 | 4 | 2 | CBS | 34 |
| Cosa succederà alla ragazza | 1992 | 8 | 1 | Sony/Columbia | 57 |
| Hegel | 1994 | 11 | 1 | Numero Uno | 68 |
[edit] Singles
| Single | Year | Weekly Hit Parade |
Weeks on the top |
Released by | Year Hit Parade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Per una lira" / "Dolce di giorno" | 1966 | Ricordi | - | ||
| "Luisa Rossi" / "Era" | 1967 | Ricordi | - | ||
| "Prigioniero del mondo" / "Balla Linda" | 1968 | 17 | Ricordi | 87 | |
| "La mia canzone per Maria" / "Io vivrò (senza te)" | 1968 | Ricordi | - | ||
| "Un'avventura" / "Non è Francesca" | 1969 | 15 | Ricordi | 70 | |
| "Dieci ragazze" / "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara" | 1969 | 3 | Ricordi | 19 | |
| "Mi ritorni in mente" / "7 e 40" | 1969 | 1 | 2 | Ricordi | 11 |
| "Fiori rosa fiori di pesco" / "Il tempo di morire" | 1970 | 2 | Ricordi | 10 | |
| "Anna" / "Emozioni" | 1970 | 1 | 7 | Ricordi | 6 |
| "Pensieri e parole / "Insieme a te sto bene" | 1971 | 1 | 14 | Ricordi | 1 |
| "Dio mio no" / "Era" | 1971 | 5 | Ricordi | 38 | |
| "Le tre verità" / "Supermarket" | 1971 | 9 | Ricordi | 69 | |
| "La canzone del sole" / "Anche per te" | 1971 | 1 | 1 | Numero Uno | 7 |
| "Elena no" / "Una" | 1972 | 21 | Ricordi | 91 | |
| "I giardini di marzo" / "Comunque bella" | 1972 | 1 | 7 | Numero Uno | 4 |
| Il mio canto libero" / "Confusione" | 1972 | 1 | 9 | Numero Uno | 3 |
| "La collina dei ciliegi" / "Il nostro caro angelo" | 1973 | 1 | 12 | Numero Uno | 6 |
| "Due mondi" / "Abbracciala, abbracciali, abbracciati" | 1974 | Numero Uno | - | ||
| "Ancora tu" / "Dove arriva quel cespuglio" | 1976 | 1 | 12 | Numero Uno | 1 |
| "Amarsi un po'" / "Sì, viaggiare" | 1977 | 1 | 8 | Numero Uno | 1 |
| "Una donna per amico" / "Nessun dolore" | 1978 | 1 | 11 | Numero Uno | 2 |
| "Una giornata uggiosa" / "Con il nastro rosa" | 1980 | 2 | Numero Uno | 17 | |
| "E già" / "Straniero" | 1982 | 6 | Numero Uno | 52 |
[edit] Trivia
- Battisti was renowed to be extremely reserved: during his successful career he performed only a handful of live exhibitions, in which was backed by the band Formula 3.
[edit] External links
