Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti (born on October 28, 1963), known simply as Eros Ramazzotti, is an Italian singer and songwriter. Ramazzotti, who is one of the most popular artists in Italy is well known not only in most non English-speaking European countries but also in most of the Spanish-speaking world as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish. Since 1984, he has released 11 studio albums, one EP, two compilation albums, two live albums as well as 35 singles, all of which have charted noticeably high in many European countries as well as in South and Central America. Ramazzotti has sold over 40 million records in his 25-year career . The Italian star has done duets with several prestigious artists such as Cher, Tina Turner, Andrea Bocelli, Patsy Kensit, Anastacia, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti, Laura Pausini, and Ricky Martin.
Ramazzotti first gained international success in 1993, after the release of his Tutte storie, with which he managed to occupy the top five in every country wherein he had his previous albums released. After amassing six million in album sales of Tutte storie, in 1994, he got a record contract with BMG International.His success greatly lies beneath his unique voice which could be described as somewhat nasal but yet a bit aggressive at the same time and he always delivers catchy, melodic tunes throughout the refrains of his songs which are passionate autobiographical ballads often rich in soft-rock influence.
Andrea Bocelli, (born 22 September 1958) is a five-time Classical Brit winner and three-time Grammy-nominated Italian tenor.
Since his debut album Il mare calmo della sera, released in 1994, he has recorded over 22 pop and classical albums, including seven complete operas, five of which have made it to the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, and a record-setting 7 have made it to No. 1, on the US Classical albums charts. He has sold over 75 million albums worldwide , and is widely regarded as the most popular Italian singer in the world.
In a 2008 opinion poll, Classic FM (UK) listeners and Radio Times readers voted Bocelli the UK's third favourite male singer, higher than any other non-British artist, including opera legends, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.
Bocelli was born in Lajatico, Tuscany, Italy, about 40 km south of Pisa, in 1958, to parents Alessandro and Edi Bocelli, and grew up on the family farm. Bocelli's parents sold farm machinery and made wine in the tiny village of La Sterza, a frazione of Lajatico. To this day, Bocelli's 70 year old mother Edi and brother Alberto still live in the family home. Bocelli's father died in 2000.
It was evident at birth that he had problems with his sight, and after visits to many doctors Bocelli was diagnosed with glaucoma. In 1970, at the age of 12, he completely lost his sight after an accident during a football game . As a young boy, Bocelli showed a great passion for music. His mother, Edi, has said that music was the only thing that would comfort him. At the age of six he started piano lessons, and later also learned to play the flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, harp, guitar and drums.
Bocelli would also spend time singing during his childhood and would later recall that he was "one of those children who would always be asked to sing for my relatives. I don't think one really decides to be a singer – other people decide it for you by their reactions." At the age of 14 he won his first song competition, the Margherita d'Oro in Viareggio with O sole mio. After he finished secondary school in 1980, he studied law at the University of Pisa. He graduated as a Doctor of Laws and spent one year as a court-appointed lawyer. To earn money Bocelli performed evenings in piano bars. It was there, in 1987, that he met his future wife, Enrica
He deals the cards as a meditation And those he plays never suspect He doesn't play for the money he wins He doesn't play for the respect He deals the cards to find the answer The sacred geometry of chance The hidden law of probable outcome The numbers lead a dance
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier I know that the clubs are weapons of war I know that diamonds mean money for this art But that's not the shape of my heart
He may play the jack of diamonds He may lay the queen of spades He may conceal a king in his hand While the memory of it fades
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier I know that the clubs are weapons of war I know that diamonds mean money for this art But that's not the shape of my heart That's not the shape, the shape of my heart
And if I told you that I loved you You'd maybe think there's something wrong I'm not a man of too many faces The mask I wear is one Those who speak know nothing And find out to their cost Like those who curse their luck in too many places And those who fear are lost
I know that the spades are the swords of a soldier I know that the clubs are weapons of war I know that diamonds mean money for this art But that's not the shape of my heart That's not the shape of my heart
Somebody killed little Susie The girl with the tune Who sings in the daytime at noon She was there screaming Beating her voice in her doom But nobody came to her soon...
A fall down the stairs Her dress torn Oh the blood in her hair... A mystery so sullen in air She lie there so tenderly Fashioned so slenderly Lift her with care, Oh the blood in her hair...
Everyone came to see The girl that now is dead So blind stare the eyes in her head... And suddenly a voice from the crowd said This girl lived in vain Her face bear such agony, such strain...
But only the man from next door Knew Little Susie and how he cried As he reached down To close Susie's eyes... She lie there so tenderly Fashioned so slenderly Lift her with care Oh the blood in her hair...
It was all for God's sake For her singing the tune For someone to feel her despair To be damned to know hoping is dead and you're doomed Then to scream out And nobody's there...
She knew no one cared...
Father left home, poor mother died Leaving Susie alone Grandfather's soul too had flown... No one to care Just to love her How much can one bear Rejecting the needs in her prayers...
Neglection can kill Like a knife in your soul Oh it will Little Susie fought so hard to live... She lie there so tenderly Fashioned so slenderly Lift her with care So young and so fair
Aprendimos a quererte Desde la historica altura Donde el sol de tu bravura Le puso cerco a la muerte Aqui se queda la clara La entrñable transparencia De tu querida presencia Comandante Che Guevar
Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte sobre la historia dispara cuando todo Santa Clara Se despierta para verte
Aqií se queda la clara La entrañable transparencia De tu querida presencia Comandante Che Guevara
Vienes quemando la brisa con soles de primavera para plantar la bandera con la luz de tu sonrisa
Aqui se queda la clara La entranable transparencia De tu querida presencia Comandante Che Guevara
Tu amor revolucionario te conduce a nueva empresa donde espera la firmeza de tu brazo libertario
Aqui se queda la clara La entrañable transparencia De tu querida presencia Comandante Che Guevara Seguiremos adelante como junto a ti seguimos y con Fidel te decimos
"Hasta siempre Comandante"
Aqui se queda la clara La entranable transparencia De tu querida presencia Comandante Che
James Blunt’s family have served in one kind of army or another since 995A.D. A long line of warriors. Savages really. Not a musical bone in any one of their bodies. The only music he heard growing up was “Happy Birthday” and “Silent Night”. His father considered all music, even classical, to be unnecessary noise. Although James was not one to rock the family boat, he didn’t really think he was going to join the army - it sort of crept up on him. Plus his family didn’t have a boat. Aged fourteen he just held the teenage conviction that he would have an interesting life - maybe that’s why he picked the guitar? Then again, maybe if he hadn’t, he would have tripped over it. He went to University and studied Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering and Sociology, spending most lectures asleep on the floor at the back. In much the same way, he ended up in the army. In essence, one day he was sleeping off a hangover at the back of a sociology lecture hall and the next thing he knew he was in Kosovo with a gun and a guitar strapped to the side of a tank, wondering who he could possibly sleep with to get out of this war. To break up the super attenuated monotony, James would sometimes stroll through Serb villages wearing an East German cap singing, “All we are saying is give peace a chance”. “We were peace-keepers at that point,” he explained, shrugging helplessly.So how did the music get into him, you might ask? Well if you were sent to boarding school aged seven, studied Engineering by mistake (”I thought we were going to fly planes, but we just pulled metals apart - the brochure was very misleading.”), joined the army by default, guarded The Queen, buried The Queen Mother and pranced around London like a tit for Japanese tourists to photograph, what you’re going to want to do very much after that, besides getting stoned and laid, is put your gun down, pick up a guitar and make an album in America with Linda Perry. So James came to Los Angeles in September 2003 to record with Tom Rothrock et al. At night he’d go to bars, bringing with him his valuable British accent (in the U.K., too posh for some people - in LA, the best thing she’d heard all night) and the fact that like 50 Cent he’d been shot at numerous times, but unlike the Cent, had dodged the bullets. One song, “Goodbye My Lover”, was recorded in his landladies’ bathroom (”She was a frequenter of mental hospitals and in general, a freak - but pleasant”) where, naturally, she kept a piano.
From birth in a military hospital in Tidworth, to Harrow School, to Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering, to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, to The Household Cavalry, to Kosovo, to Buckingham Palace, to a recording studio in Los Angeles. How did James get from there to here? Only James Blunt’s hairdresser knows for certain, and either he isn’t talking or James cuts his own hair, and it’s up to you to join the dots - there are ten of them on the album.
