Francesco Luigi Simone (born 21 July 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer and television host, known as "il poeta con la chitarra" ("the poet with the guitar") for the poetical value of his lyrics.
Background
Born in
Acquarica del Capo
Acquarica del Capo was a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. In 2019 it was merged with the adjacent Presicce to form Presicce-Acquarica.
It is located in Salento, 10 km from the Ionian Sea and 60 ...
in the province of
Lecce
Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...
, in the salentine peninsula of the region of
Apulia
it, Pugliese
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, Simone started his career winning the
Castrocaro Music Festival The Castrocaro Music Festival, also known as Concorso per Voci Nuove, is an Italian musical contest which takes place every year in the town of Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, near Forlì, from 1957. The competition is exclusively reserved for ne ...
in 1972.
In 1974 he entered the competition at the
Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...
with the song "Fiume grande", obtaining his first success in the Italian hit parade.
[ "Fiume grande" also had a significant international success in its French and Spanish version (under the titles, respectively, "Je ne comprends plus rien" and "Río Grande").][
In 1976, with the LP ''Il poeta con la chitarra,'' Simone got his main success in Italy with the song "Tu e così sia", which peaked fourth in the Italian hit parade.][ In the following years Simone grew his international popularity, especially in ]Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, where he gradually focused his career.Gilda
''Gilda'' is a 1946 American film noir directed by Charles Vidor and starring Rita Hayworth in her signature role and Glenn Ford. The film is known for cinematographer Rudolph Maté's lush photography, costume designer Jean Louis's wardrobe fo ...
and Vicentico
Gabriel Julio Fernández Capello (born July 24, 1964 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a musician and composer better known by his stage name Vicentico. Co-founder and vocalist of the band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs along with Flavio Cianciarulo. He was ...
.
In 1993 his LP ''La Ley del Alma (y de la piel)'', containing the Spanish versions of his songs, reached the 13th position in the USA Billboard Hit Parade, first LP of the parade not sung in English
From 2008 to 2011 he gave singing lessons at "Star Rose Academy" in Rome where he taught to sister Cristina Scuccia
Cristina Scuccia (born 19 August 1988) is an Italian singer.
She won the 2014 season of ''The Voice of Italy'' as part of Team J-Ax, resulting in a record deal with Universal. In 2013, she won a Christian music competition as part of the Good N ...
, the winner of "The Voice of Italy
''The Voice of Italy'' is a reality singing competition and Italian version of the international syndication ''The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol. Th ...
2014".
In 2011 he won the Globo d'oro
The Globo d'oro (internationally known as Italian Golden Globe) is an Italian annual film award. It was established in 1960 and it has as jury the Rome Foreign Press Association.
The first awards ceremony took place in 1960 and was won by the film ...
for Best Song for the song "Accanto" included in the film ''Native''.Stabat Mater
The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Sabatier, Paul ''Life o ...
" (on the 13th century Latin text by Jacopone da Todi) sung together with the rocker Michele Cortese end the Anglo-Italian tenor Gianluca Paganelli.
In 2015 his song "Per Fortuna" ("Por Suerte" in Spanish), sung by Michele Cortese, won the 56th edition of the Latin American Festival of Viña del Mar (Chile).
In 2018 he writes and sings the song ''Ballando sul prato'' in a duet with Rita Pavone
Rita Pavone (; born August 23, 1945) is an Italian-Swiss ballad and rock singer and actress, who enjoyed success through the 1960s.
Singing career
She was born in Turin, Italy. In 1962 she participated in, and won, the first Festival degli Scon ...
and in 2020 he writes and sings the song ''Come gira il mondo'' in a duet with Paolo Belli
Paolo Belli (born 21 March 1962, in Formigine) is an Italian singer and television presenter.http://www.paolobelli.it/pdf/paolo-belli-biografia.pdf
Biography
Singer since 1984, first with Ladri di Biciclette and then as a solo artist, Paolo Be ...
.
In 2020 he began his collaboration with Andrea Morricone
Andrea Morricone (born 10 October 1964) is an Italian composer and conductor, known for his film scores. He is the third child, and second son, of late composer and Academy Award winner Ennio Morricone.
He composed the film scores for the Americ ...
with whom he wrote 2 songs (''Azzurri gli Oceani'' and ''Cambia la città'') included in the album ''Franco è il nome'' (first of a trilogy) released in 2021 which contains, in addition to his hits (''Respiro, Cara Droga, A quest'ora, Tentazione, Gocce, Tu per me'') revisited and rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, the cover of Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards.
Dalla was the composer of " Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enrico Caruso, and ...
's Caruso and the translation of ''Hello'' (''Solo se mi vuoi'') by Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...
, together with the duets with Rita Pavone and Paolo Belli, and other unpublished pieces, including those sung in duet with Cinzia Marzo (by Officina Zoè) and with Zeta (Benedetta Zuccaro).
In 2022 he celebrated his 50 years of career with the nomination of Mario Draghi as Cavaliere, a triumphal tour in Chile and the release of a new album, ''Simone è il cognome'' (second in the trilogy), which contains, in addition to his successes (''Paesaggio, La casa in via del Campo, Ritratto, Capitano, L'infinito tra le dita, Sogno della Galleria, Sono nato cantando, Notte di San Lorenzo'' and ''Totò'') rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, covers of ''Povera Patria'' by Franco Battiato
Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, a ...
and Mina's ''L'ultima occasione'' and other new songs such as ''Figlia, Acqua e Luce'', and duets with Paola Arnesano and Antonio Amato.
Discography
*1972 - Se di mezzo c'è l'amore (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14226)
*1974 - La notte mi vuole bene (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14240)
*1976 - Il poeta con la chitarra (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14274)
*1977 - Respiro (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14287)
*1978 - Paesaggio (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14300)
*1979 - Franco Simone (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9001)
*1980 - Racconto a due colori (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9002)
*1982 - Gente che conosco (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9004)
*1984 - Camper (SGM, 91001)
*1986 - Il pazzo, lo zingaro ed altri amici (Targa, TAL 1413)
*1989 - Totò (Skizzo / Fonit Cetra, LPX 233)
*1990 - Vocepiano - dizionario dei sentimenti (Skizzo - Discomagic, LP 486)
*1995 - Venti d'amore (2 inediti) (Nibbio / Skizzo - Fonit Cetra, CDL 391)
*1996 - Una storia lunga una canzone (Nibbio / Skizzo - Fonit Cetra, CDL 410)
*1998 - Notturno fiorentino (Nibbio / Skizzo - RTI, CNT 21132)
*2001 - Eliopolis - La città del sole (Segnali Caotici, 253750053-2)(with the Great Balkanic Orchestra of Nikos Papakostas)
*2003 - Dizionario (rosso) dei sentimenti - VocEpiano (Azzurra, DA1012) (+ DVD)
*2010 - Nato tra due mari (CD La musica del mare + DVD Le parole del mare - Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/05)
*2011 - C'era il sole ed anche il vento... - Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/06
*2011 - La musica del mare (reprint of the CD "La musica del mare" of the CD box "Nato tra due mari" in 2010 with bonus track "Accanto" winner of the Golden Globe 2011 for the best film song (Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/07)
*2014 - Stabat Mater, symphonic rock opera (Latin text by Jacopone da Todi) featuring Michele Cortese e Gianluca Paganelli, special guest Rita Cammarano
*2016 - Carissimo Luigi (Franco Simone canta Luigi Tenco)
*2018 - ''Per fortuna (Compilation) “Per fortuna” vincitrice “Festival di Viña del mar” 2015 miglior canzone internazionale''.
*2021 - ''Franco è il nome'' (Skizzo Edizioni Musicali)
*2022 - ''Simone è il cognome'' (Skizzo Edizioni Musicali)
References
Bibliography
*Stasi, Carlo (2016). ''Sono nato cantando... tra due mari (radici e canto nella poetica di Franco Simone, cantautore salentino).'' Sannicola: iQuadernidelBardo. p. 38. .
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Franco
1949 births
People from the Province of Lecce
Italian singer-songwriters
Italian pop singers
Living people
Italian composers
Italian male composers
Spanish-language singers of Italy