Piero Cassano (born 13 September 1948) is an Italian keyboardist, singer and composer, a founding member of the

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

n band

Matia Bazar Matia Bazar () is an Italian pop band formed in Genoa in 1975. The original members of the group were Piero Cassano (keyboards), Aldo Stellita (bass), Carlo Marrale (guitar, vocals), Giancarlo Golzi (drums) and Antonella Ruggiero (vocals). T ...

Early career and Jet

Cassano started playing the piano at a young age. In 1971 he founded the progressive rock band JET with fellow musicians Aldo Stellita and Carlo Marrale. The band released an album, ''Fede, speranza, carità'' and unsuccessfully participated to the

Sanremo Music Festival 1973 The Sanremo Music Festival 1973 ( it, Festival di Sanremo 1973), officially the 23rd Italian Song Festival (), was the 23rd annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Casinò Municipale in Sanremo, province of Imperia between 8 and 10 March 1973. ...

with the song ''Anika na-o''.

Matia Bazar: first stint

In 1975 vocalist

Antonella Ruggiero Antonella Ruggiero (born 15 November 1952) is an Italian singer. Biography Antonella Ruggiero was born in Genoa, Liguria and made her first recording, ''Io Matia'' ("I Matia" in English), in 1974. Matia is the stage name under which Antonella Rug ...

and drummer Giancarlo Golzi joined Jet, resulting in a new band: Matia Bazar. In a six-year span, Cassano composed many of their hits, namely ''Stasera...che sera!'' (1975), ''Per un'ora d'amore'' (1975), ''Cavallo bianco'' (1975), ''Solo tu'' (1977), ''...e dirsi ciao'' – the winning song of the Sanremo Music Festival 1978, ''Raggio di luna'' (the Italian entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the ...

) and ''C'è tutto un mondo intorno'' (1979). In 1981 Cassano decided to leave Matia Bazar to pursue other projects.

As a composer and producer

In 1983, Cassano started a collaboration with lyricist

Adelio Cogliati Adelio Cogliati (10 July 1948 – 29 December 2018) was an Italian lyricist and record producer. Life and career Born in Milan, Cogliati started his music career in 1964 as a member of some local musical groups. He is mainly known for his pro ...

. Together, they helped launch newcomer

Eros Ramazzotti Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti (; born 28 October 1963) is an Italian pop singer, musician and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in bo ...

, writing for him hits like ''Una storia importante'', ''

Adesso tu "Adesso tu" is a 1986 Italian song composed by Eros Ramazzotti, Piero Cassano and Adelio Cogliati and performed by Eros Ramazzotti. The song won the 36th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. The semi-autobiographical lyrics were eventually ...

'', ''Questo mio vivere un po' fuori'', ''Musica è'', ''Ti sposerò perché'', ''Ciao pà'', ''

Cose della vita "Cose della vita" (translated: ''Things in life'') is a song originally released in 1993 by Italian musician, singer and songwriter Eros Ramazzotti and included on his fifth album, '' Tutte storie'' (1993). The single's highest chart placing was ...

'' from 1985 to 1993. Cassano also collaborated with many other Italian and international artists like

Anna Oxa Anna Hoxha (; born 28 April 1961), known professionally as Anna Oxa (), is an Italian singer, actress, and television presenter. Oxa has received mainstream popularity and recognition within Italy due to her numerous participations in the Sanremo ...

, Laura Bono, Mina,

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Fausto Leali Faustino (Fausto) Leali (born 29 October 1944, Nuvolento, Brescia, Italy) is an Italian pop singer. Early life Leali began his musical career as a singer in several bands in his native Brescia. His first guitar teacher was Tullio Romano, of the ...

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...

Ginette Reno Ginette Reno (born Ginette Raynault; 28 April 1946) is a Canadian author, composer, singer, and actress. She has received nominations for the Genie and Gemini Awards and is a multi-recipient of the Juno Award. She is a gold and platinum sel ...

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. He also composed the Italian openings of several popular

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

, notably ''

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'' and ''

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'', sung by

Cristina D'Avena Cristina D'Avena (born 6 July 1964) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. She has sold nearly 7 million copies of her albums. D'Avena was selected to join the prestigious Institute of Antoniano choir, following her debut, ...

Second stint with Matia Bazar

In 2000 Cassano rejoined Matia Bazar, releasing six more studio albums and taking part in five editions of 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 ...

: in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

(with ''Brivido caldo'', reaching the 8th place), in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

(with ''Questa nostra grande storia d'amore'', ranked #3) and in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, this time winning the contest with ''Messaggio d'amore''; then again in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

(with ''Grido d'amore'', #3) and finally in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

(with ''Sei tu'', which failed to qualify for the finals). Following a long hiatus due to bandmate Giancarlo Golzi's unexpected death in 2015, Cassano left the band again in May 2017.

Discography

With Jet

* ''Fede, speranza, carità'' (1972)

With Matia Bazar

* ''Matia Bazar 1'' (1976) * ''Gran Bazar'' (1977) * ''Semplicità'' (1978) * ''Tournée'' (1979) * ''Il tempo del sole'' (1980) * ''Brivido caldo'' (2000) * ''Dolce canto'' (2001) * ''Profili svelati'' (2005) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4'' (2007) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4 – Volume 2'' (2008) * ''Conseguenza logica'' (2011)

References

External links

matiabazarofficial.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassano, Piero 1948 births Musicians from Genoa 20th-century Italian musicians 21st-century Italian musicians Italian keyboardists Italian composers Living people