|
|
Biography
of Adriano Celentano
Born in Milan (1938)
to parents from Italy's Puglia region,
Adriano Celentano first began his
performing career as a comedian and
impressionist in Milanese cabarets, then
made his official singing debut at Milan's
ice-skating rink during the First Festival
of Rock And Roll in 1957. After that, all
it took was three or four singles to turn
him into one of the most idolised (and
often most criticised) stars of Italian
pop music. Already well known as a rocker,
he went on to perform highly original
ballads drawing from the most diverse
genres (soul, tango, waltz, shimmy). From
1965 onwards he achieved similar success
in the cinema, both as a director ("Super
rapina a Milano") and as an actor
(Serafino, 1968, by P. Germi), revealing a
unique comic vein accentuated by a sly
look and a springy step that came to be
his hallmark. During a career that has
lasted some 40 years, he has collected a
staggering number of record hits, but his
acting career has been no less successful.
He appeared in "The Sin (Bianco, rosso e...") (1972) by A.
Lattuada, "Rugantino"
(1973), "Give Me Five (Qua la mano")
(1979), "Il bisbetico domato" (1980),
and "Segni particolari: bellissimo"
(1988), and he directed "Yuppi Du"
(1975), "L'altra metà del cielo"
(1976) and "Geppo il folle". In the
winter of 1987-1988, in response to his
television popularity he accepted the job
of hosting the Saturday evening variety
show, "Fantastico 8". He proved
immensely controversial, prompting entire
pages in the daily papers. Most
significantly, however, he drew record
audience figures and recorded yet another
successful album. Celentano will go down
in the history of Italian music for many
songs. Some, like "Azzurro", "Una
carezza in un pugno" and "Il ragazzo
della via Gluck", are small
masterpieces. His most recent recordings
include "La pubblica ottusità"
(1989), "Il re degli ignoranti"
(1991) and "Quel punto" (1994),
although all his records continue to sell
well, as do various anthologies such as
the recent "Le origini di Adriano
Celentano".
His latest release is the CD "Io non so
parlar d'amore", produced
in collaboration with Mogol
for the lyrics and Gianni Bella for the
music.
In the year 2000 he hosted a programme for
Rai entitled "Francamente me ne
infischio", which combined music -
featuring numerous Italian and
international guest artists - and social
issues. The programme again proved highly
controversial due to the harsh nature of
some of the images broadcast. In November
2000 he released his new album produced in
collaboration with Mogol and Gianni Bella, "Esco di rado (e parlo ancora meno)".
His latest offering, which hit record shop shelves in 2003 in
the wake of two hugely successful previous albums, is the CD
“Per Sempre".
|



  |