Pierre Michel Nigro (born 4 September 1955), better known as Michael Fortunati, is an

Italo disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...

Eurobeat Eurobeat refers to two styles of dance music that originated in Europe: one is a British variant of Italian Eurodisco-influencedAng, Ien & Morley, David (2005). "Cultural Studies: Volume 3, Issue 2". ''Routledge''. pgs. 171, 173, 170. . "Eurorec ...

singer.

Biography

Pierre Nigro was born in the

province of Brindisi The Province of Brindisi ( it, Provincia di Brindisi) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Brindisi. It has an area of and a total population of 401,652 (2013). Geography The Province of Brindisi is situated in ...

, Apulia, Italy but grew up in

Hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

in the north of France, where he formed the group Carré D'As in the 1970s with his brothers. They released several albums in the 1980s. Nigro then began a solo career under the pseudonym Michael Fortunati, and met success with his first record "

Give Me Up "Give Me Up" is a song by Italian singer Michael Fortunati released as a single in 1986. A pioneering work of Eurobeat, it has since been recorded by several Japanese artists including BaBe, Beni Arashiro, Melon Kinenbi, Yōko Nagayama, Nami T ...

", released in the summer of 1986. It was a big hit in Belgium, France and Japan. He is particularly well known in Japan, where the musical style

is popular, and has released many albums and compilations in Japan alone. In 1987, Fortunati performed at the

Tokyo Music Festival The Tokyo Music Festival was an international music contest that ran from 1972 to 1992. It was organized by the Tokyo Music Festival Association. The first edition of the Tokyo Music Festival took place on 13 May 1972 with 12 participating countri ...

and won the Grand Prix award in the Disco & Dance Division. He has also appeared on several Japanese TV shows. "

" has subsequently been covered by numerous Japanese singers such as

BaBe Babe or babes may refer to: * Babe, a term of endearment * A newborn baby * An attractive (especially female) person People Nickname * Babe Adams (1882–1968), American Major League Baseball pitcher * Babe Barna (1917–1972), American Maj ...

Yōko Nagayama is a Japanese ''enka'' singer, former J-pop singer, and actress. Early life Nagayama was born in Tokyo. At the age of four, she began attending min'yo group singing lessons with her father. Although she originally went because she enjoyed ...

Beni Arashiro is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2008, Arashiro left Avex Trax and transferred to Universal Music Japan where she started to perform as simply Beni (stylized as BENI). She was initially best known fo ...

, Mi,

Melon Kinenbi were an all-girl Japanese pop group within Hello! Project. They were formed after they successfully passed the 2nd Morning Musume & Michiyo Heike Imotobun Audition. Melon Kinenbi is the oldest group in the history of Hello! Project not to have ...

and

Nami Tamaki Nami ( ar, نامي, ja, 波 ('wave'), ('regular'), etc.) may refer to: Given name * Nami (, , , , ), Japanese feminine given name * Nami Akimoto (born 1968), Japanese manga artist * , Japanese film director, screenwriter and editor *, Japanes ...

Discography

Albums

*''Give Me Up'' (1987) *''Alleluia'' (1988) *''Fire'' (1989) *''Big Bang'' (1991) *''Baby Break It Up!'' (1995), Avex Trax *''Dreamin (1997), Avex Trax

Compilation albums

*''The World Remixes'' (1990) *''Remix It Up!'' (1995), Avex Trax *''The Greatest Hits'' (1992) *''The Best of Michael Fortunati (Hyper NonStop Mix)'' (1995), Avex Trax *''Best of 2000'' (2000),

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

*''Give Me Up – The Very Best of Michael Fortunati'' (2002),

Toshiba EMI , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. Whe ...

*''Give Me Up – The Complete Best of Michael Fortunati'' (2008) *''The Best of Disco Covers'' (2018)

Singles

" (1986) *"Alleluia" (1987) *"Gonna Get You" (Remix) (1987) *"Into the Night" (1987) *"Giochi di fortuna" (1987) *"Energyse" / "Mia Liberta" (a.k.a. "Boku No Yume") (1987) *"Let Me Down" (1988) *"Danse avec moi" (1989) *"ABC (It's Called)" (1989) *"Baby You" (1990) *"I'm Not a Freak" (1991) *"Big Bang" / "Tokyo Girl" (1991) *"Take Me On Up" / "Give Me Up" (Remix) (1992) *"Generate" (1993) *"Techno Cha Cha Cha" (1994) *"Baby Break It Up!" (1995) *"Koo Koo"/"C'est You! Oh No!"/"Hoochie Coo"/"Crazy Baby" *"Dreamin'" (1997) *"Give Me Up Is Still Alive" (with Laurent C) (2001) *''Japan Tour E.P. 01'' (2004)

References

External links

MyspaceMichael Fortunati's FacebookMichael Fortunati on Discogs
1955 births Living people Italian Italo disco musicians Eurobeat musicians French people of Italian descent People from the Province of Brindisi People from Nord (French department) 20th-century Italian male singers Avex Trax artists EMI Music Japan artists {{Italy-singer-stub