Niccolò Fabi (born 16 May 1968) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He rose to national fame after competing in the Newcomers' section of the

Sanremo Music Festival 1997 The Sanremo Music Festival 1997 was the 47th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, province of Imperia, in the late February 1997 and broadcast by Rai 1. The show was presented by Mike Bongiorno (in his eleventh an ...

, receiving the

Mia Martini Mia Martini (; born Domenica Rita Adriana Bertè ; 20 September 1947 – 12 May 1995) was an Italian singer, songwriter and musician.James Christopher MongerMia Martini allmusic.com

Early life

Niccolò Fabi was born in Rome on 16 May 1968. His father,

Claudio Fabi Claudio Fabi (born 29 July 1940) is an Italian record producer, composer, conductor, pianist and arranger. Life and career Born in Rome, Fabi studied at the Pesaro Conservatory and later at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he graduated i ...

, was a record producer mainly active in the 1970s, when he was the artistic director of Lucio Battisti's label Numero Uno, producing artists including the Premiata Forneria Marconi and Alberto Fortis. When he was 5 years old, he started studying piano and classical music. In 1981, he started playing drums. He later entered a band performing songs by artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, and he also became the drummer of the Fall Out, a Police cover band. He started writing songs at the age of 14. In 1986, Fabi also worked as a stage assistant during a tour by Alberto Fortis, tuning his guitars. In 1994, Fabi graduated in Philology.

Music career

1996–1997: breakthrough

Fabi released his first single, "Dica", in 1996. Thanks to the success of the song, the following year he took part in the Sanremo Music Festival, competing in the Newcomers' section with the song "Capelli". The song received the Mia Martini Critics' Award in its category. Shortly after the competition, Fabi released his debut album, ''Il giardiniere'', which sold more than 100,000 copies in Italy. Thanks to the success of his first album, in April 1998 Fabi received a nomination for Revelation of the Year at the Premio Italiano della Musica, sponsored by the Italian radio network Radio DeeJay and the music magazine ''Musica!''.

1998: second studio album

In 1998, Fabi competed once again in the Sanremo Music Festival, performing the song "Lasciarsi un giorno a Roma" in the "Big Artists" section. The song was chosen as the lead single from Fabi's second studio set, released by Virgin Records on 10 April 1998. The album also includes "Vento d'estate", a duet with

Max Gazzè Max Gazzè (born 6 July 1967 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He is known for his high-pitched voice. He is also a member of the trio Fabi Silvestri Gazzè with Niccolò Fabi and Daniele Silvestri. Biography Max ...

, which was performed won the music competition ''

Un disco per l'estate Un disco per l'estate (translation "A Record for the Summer") was an Italian Summer festival held from 1964 to 2003. It was organized and sponsored by the Italian record industry association, AFI, and by RAI, except for the editions between 1995 ...

''. As of February 1999, the album had sold 80,000 copies in Italy.

2000–2001: ''Sereno ad ovest'' and Spanish-language debut

In 2000, Fabi released his third studio album, preceded by the single "Se fossi Marco". The single was also performed during the itinerant music competition Festivalbar, held throughout Italy during the summer of 2000 on broadcast by Italia 1. In 2001, Fabi also released his first album for the Hispanic maret. The self-titled set is a compilation album composed of tracks from ''Il giardiniere'' and ''Niccolò Fabi'', including five Spanish language adaptation of his best-known hits.

2003–2005: ''La cura del tempo''

In January 2003, Fabi released the single "È non è", preceding his third studio album, ''La cura del tempo''. The album also includes "Offeso", a duet with Fiorella Mannoia. Italian jazz musician Stefano di Battista also appears playing sax on the tracks "Il negozio di antiquariato" and "Ora e qui". In 2004, he took part in the music festival O'Scià, organized by Claudio Baglioni in Lampedusa in order to bring attention to the illegal immigration phenomenon affecting the southernmost Italian island. Two years later, Fabi recorded a duet with Edoardo Bennato. The song, "Non è amore", was included in Bennato's album ''La fantastica storia del pifferaio magico''.

2006–2007: ''Novo Mesto'' and compilation albums

Niccolò Fabi's fifth studio album was released in February 2006. Titled ''Novo Mesto'', it was named after the Slovenian city in which it was recorded. The album was preceded by the single "Costruire", released on 23 December 2005. In 2012, the song won the Lunezia Award in the section "Elite Award". In order to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Fabi's debut single, his first compilation album, ''Dischi volanti 96-06'', was released in November 2006. The standard edition of the album is composed of two CDs, but a deluxe edition with an additional DVD was also released. The only new song of the album, "Milioni di giorni", was released as a single. It was also chosen as one of the ten finalists of the Premio Amnesty Italia Voices for Freedom in 2007, a prize recognizing songs with lyrics focusing on social themes. In 2007, Fabi also released his second album for the Spanish market. Titled ''Dentro'', it included both Italian-language tracks taken from his previous works and Spanish-language adaptations of previously released songs. During the same year, he also appeared on the album ''

Adelantando ''Adelantando'' is the seventh album by the Spanish Latin rock group Jarabe de Palo, released on April 10, 2007, following the release of the single "Olé" on March 17. Track listing # Adelantando (Con La Shica)- 3:37 # Olé - 3:44 # No Escond ...

'' by Spanish band Jarabe de Palo, performing the Italian version of the song "Me gusta como eres", titled "Mi piace come sei".

2008–2009: ''Violenza 124'' and ''Solo un uomo''

In 2008, Fabi produced the project ''Violenza 124'', featuring Italian artists with different musical styles and backgrounds. The involved artists, beside Fabi himself, are Subsonica's keyboardist Boosta, pop-rock singer-songwriter Roberto Angelini, strings group Gnu Quartet,

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band Mokadelic and the duo composed of Olivia Salvadori and Franco Mussida, two artists mixing opera with electronic music. Each one of them was asked to independently develop the same basic idea on the theme of violence, and Fabi later mixed the produced results in a 36-minutes-long song which was released both as a freely available track on the Web and as a double CD, also including the original contributions of the involved artists as separate tracks. In 2009, he was among the 56 artists composing the

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

Artisti Uniti per l'Abruzzo. The band recorded the song " Domani 21/04.09", a cover of Mauro Pagani's "Domani" released as a charity single to raise funds in support of the victims of the

2009 L'Aquila earthquake The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake occurred in the region of Abruzzo, in central Italy. The main shock occurred at 03:32 CEST (01:32 UTC) on 6 April 2009, and was rated 5.8 or 5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale and 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale; ...

. After splitting with Virgin Records, which released all his previous albums, Fabi signed a new contract with Universal Music, which released Fabi's sixth studio album, ''Solo un uomo'', in May 2010. The single with the same title was released to Italian radio stations on 17 April 2009. Fabi later revealed he submitted the song for the Sanremo Music Festival 2009, it was rejected by the jury during the internal selection.

''Parole di Lulù'' and ''Ecco''

In July 2010, Fabi's daughter, Olivia, died from a

meningococcal meningitis Meningococcal disease describes infections caused by the bacterium ''Neisseria meningitidis'' (also termed meningococcus). It has a high mortality rate if untreated but is vaccine-preventable. While best known as a cause of meningitis, it can a ...

. After canceling his scheduled tour, Fabi decided to organize a mega-concert in her memory, involving several Italian singers and friends, including Elisa, Jovanotti, Fiorella Mannoia, Giuliano Sangiorgi,

, Daniele Silvestri, Samuele Bersani and Subsonica. All the proceedings from the concert were donated to build a children's hospital in Angola. The concert was also released as a DVD, which also contributed raising funds for the same purpose. The DVD, titled ''Parole per Lulù'', also included the track "Parole parole", recorded in studio with Mina and released as a single. In 2011, Fabi penned the song "Lontano da tutto", performed by Serena Abrami during the 61st Sanremo Music Festival, and the track "Nel primo sguardo", performed by

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

as a duet with her sister Silvia and included in the album ''

Inedito ''Inedito'' (English: ''All New'' or ''Unpublished'') is the eleventh studio album by Italian singer Laura Pausini, released by Atlantic Records in November 2011. This is Pausini's comeback album, after two years of silence. The name of the a ...

''. Niccolò Fabi's seventh studio album, ''Ecco'', was released on 9 October 2012. The album, featuring guest appearances by artists including trumpeter

Roy Paci Rosario (Roy) Paci (born September 16, 1969 in Augusta) is an Italian trumpeter, singer, composer and arranger. Music and career Born in Sicily, Paci started playing the piano as a young child and picked up the trumpet at age 10. By 13, he w ...

and singer-songwriter Roberto Angelini, was preceded by the single "Una buona idea". ''Ecco'' debuted at number 3 on the Italian Albums Chart, becoming his first top ten album.

Fabi-Silvestri-Gazzè and ''Una somma di piccole cose''

In 2014 Fabi started together with Daniele Silvestri and

the musical project Fabi-Silvestri-Gazzè. The trio released a studio album (''Il padrone della festa''), a live album (''l padrone della festa – Live'') and made an extensive tour in Italy and Europe. In April 2016 Fabi released his eighth studio album, ''Una somma di piccole cose''. The album peaked at the first place on the Italian hit parade.

Personal life

Fabi lives with his partner Shirin Amini, an Italian painter of Iranian origins. In 2008, Shirin gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Olivia. Nicknamed Lulubella, she died on 4 July 2010 from a

. After canceling the scheduled summer tour, Fabi confirmed his daughter's death through his Facebook account. The couple's second child, Kim, was born on 17 September 2012.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Awards and nominations

Notes

External links

Niccolò Fabi
at Allmusic {{DEFAULTSORT:Fabi, Niccolo 1968 births Italian male singers Italian pop singers Living people Musicians from Rome Italian male singer-songwriters Italian singer-songwriters