Virginio (singer)

Virginio Simonelli (; born January 31, 1985), simply known as Virginio, is an Italian pop singer.

He made his debut in 2006 in the Sanremo Festival's New Proposals category with the song ''Davvero''. In 2011 he won the tenth edition of the Italian singing competition ''Amici di Maria De Filippi'' in the singers-songwriters category and published his record ''Finalmente''. Between 2012 and 2023 he has released fourteen singles. He has sold more than 30,000 copies of his albums and won a Gold Wind Music Award.

Biography

As a child, Virginio showed a natural predisposition to music. As a teenager, he learned to play the piano, sing, and compose his first songs, also experimenting with dancing and acting. After graduating from the Gobetti High School in his hometown, Fondi, he moved to Milan. There, he enrolled in the Nuova Accademia Delle Belle Arti (New Academy of Fine Arts), where he graduated in Graphic Design And Art Direction, getting in touch with producers Paolo Agosta (his professor) and Ivo Grasso, with whom he began collaborating.

First steps in music: '' Sanremo Nuove Proposte '' and the first album '' Virginio ''

In 2006 he took part in the 56th Sanremo Music Festival in the category ''New Proposals'' with a song written by him, ''Davvero'' that anticipated his first album ''Virginio'', produced by Ivo Grasso and Fabrizio Grenghi. The album contains ten tracks and the lyrics were written by the singer along with Paolo Agosta, who also composed the music. The second single ''Instabile'' was released in May and the third one ''Novembre'' in October.

In 2010 he made his first experience as an author, writing with Paola & Chiara the tracks ''Milleluci'' and ''Adesso Stop!'', of which he also composed the music, contained in their album ''Milleluci''.

Winner of "Amici di Maria De Filippi" and the EP "Finalmente"

In September 2010 Virginio passed the selections of the tenth edition of ''Amici di Maria De Filippi''. During the contest Virginio presented '' Ad Occhi Chiusi'', ''Non Ha Importanza'' and ''Dolcenotte'' and won the competition in March 2011.

On March 8, 2011, he published his second studio album ''Finalmente'' promoted by the singles ''Ad occhi chiusi'' and ''Sale''.
The album sold over 30,000 copies and it was certified gold and therefore awarded at the Wind Music Awards.

"Ovunque" and second experience in ''Amici''

On March 26, 2012, Virginio published his third album "Ovunque", featuring the singles ''Alice'' and ''La Dipendenza'' and a song, ''Catch Me'', that Gary Barlow, leader of Take That, gave to Virginio, who translated it into Italian with the title ''Tu Mi Senti''.

From March 31, 2012 Virginio attended the eleventh edition of ''Amici'' in a special contest, called ''Big'', where former contestants of previous editions of the show challenged each other, but Virginio was eliminated during the 3rd episode.

In 2013 he composed and wrote for and with Laura Pausini the songs ''Limpido'', in duet with Kylie Minogue, and ''Dove resto solo io''.

2015-2019

In 2015 he was the opening act for one of the shows of Malika Ayane's Naïf tour and released the single ''Hercules'', produced in San Francisco by Corrado Rustici and written with Andy Marvel, Dimitri Ehrlich and Jesse Harris. In the same year he was one of the authors of the lyrics to Raf's ''Rimani tu''. In 2016, together with Andrea Ferrara, he wrote and composed the m music for ''Weird'' by Lorenzo Fragola.

In 2016, Virginio participated with a cover of ''Royals'' by Lorde to the compilation A.M.I. - Rarities of Artists for Amatrice was released. In 2017 he co-authored lyrics and music for Chiara Galiazzo's song ''Chiaroscuro''.

In July 2017 he participated to the festival ''Symphonic Night Vol 2 Napoli Fantasy'' at Shibuya O-EAST in Tokyo, as the guest vocalist of Corrado Rustici's prog-rock band Cervello, an event from which a live CD and DVD entitled Live in Tokyo 2017 was released. In September 2018 she is part of the cast, at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan, of the musical event Buon compleanno Mimì, organized by the cultural association Minuetto in memory of Mia Martini. In 2017 he released the single ''Semplifica'', produced by Gianluigi Fazio and written in collaboration with Fazio himself and Edwyn Roberts, which was promoted live by Virginio during the 2018's edition of the Italian event ''Festival Show''.

In 2018 he collaborated again with Laura Pausini with whom he co-authored the lyrics of Fantastico (Fai quello che sei), E.sta.a.te and Il caso è chiuso, he was then an opening act of five of Pausini's Fatti sentire World Wide Tour 2018 shows. In November 2018, he performed in Osaka at the "Italia, amore mio!" festival, an event organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce that promotes made in Italy music, art, food and wine in Japan. In the same year, he released the single ''Rischiamo tutto'' and in 2019 ''Cubalibre'', whose video inspired by Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers, directed by Alessandro Congiu, was awarded as ''Video revelation of the year'' at the Premio Roma Videoclip 2019.

With a conference at the Chamber of Deputies in June 2016, it was announced that Virginio would collaborate on ''Parole liberate: beyond the prison wall'', a poetry contest, conceived by Duccio Parodi and Michele De Lucia, reserved for people in prison. The winning poem, ''P.S. post scriptum'', by then inmate Giuseppe Catalano, in fact, was set to music by Virginio and recorded and published in 2019. ''P.S. post scriptum'' was awarded ''Best Lyrics'' at the International Short Film Festival Tulipani di Seta Nera.

Between 2018 and 2019 he collaborated with ''Officine Buone'', a non-profit organization that brings live music to hospitals, also participating in the MTV series ''Involontaria'' inspired by the project. On September 2, 2019 Virginio announced, during the 76th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, that he is the artist who won the SIAE's ''Per chi crea'' contest for the national and international promotion of Italian music, winning the production of a tour in the United States, planned for spring 2020 but currently postponed due to the 2019-2021 COVID-19 pandemic.

2020-today

In 2020, he participated in ''Tale e quale show'' (the Italian version of Sing Your Face Off) and took on the role of music artistic director of MP FILM, a film-music production company. In the same year he also signed the sound direction of ''Donne - Storie che ispirano'', a docu-series about women with breast cancer by Italian TV channel LA7d, and of ''Manteniamoci Informate'', an ovarian cancer awareness campaign. He also supported his hometown, Fondi, which became a "red zone" during the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy with a charitable concert, ''Artisti ProFondi'', streamed on April 2, 2020, featuring Marco Masini, Arisa, Noemi and other colleagues

In 2021 he released the singles ''Rimani'' (also presented in Latin America in its Spanish-language version ''Mañana'' in 2022) and ''Brava gente''. Also in 2021 he co-wrote ''Ti vedo da fuori'' by Alessandra Amoroso, featured on the album ''Tutto accade''.

Between February and April 2022 he co-wrote the song ''Quello che abbiamo perso'' by Giusy Ferreri, featured on the album ''Cortometraggi'' and he sang in duet with Bianca Atzei on ''Collisioni''. In the summer he released the single ''M'incanta'' for Universal Music Italy and wrote with Daniele Coro ''Il panda con le ali'', a song that participated in the 65th edition of the Zecchino d'Oro and was the winner of the event.

In September 2022, he announced, during the 79th edition of the Venice International Film Festival, his new single ''Non dirlo a nessuno'', and its Spanish version ''No le digas a nadie'', the main song of the soundtrack of Alessio Russo's film of the same name, in which Virginio also takes part with a cameo.[59][60][61] On December 11, 2022, he participated in and won the second edition of the Christmas version of the Italian TV program ''Tale e quale show'' with his performance as George Michael, singing '' Last Christmas''.

In winter 2023 he collaborated in the creation of the song ''Un milione di piccole tempeste'' performed by Gianni Morandi. On May 25, 2023, he released his new single ''Il giorno con la notte'' in Italian and ''El día con la noche'' in Spanish, featuring Teo Bok and with the production of Julio Reyes Copello.
In June 2023 he worked again with Laura Pausini, writing for her ''Il primo passo sulla Luna'' and ''Vale la pena'' for her new album Anime Parallele.

In January 2024 he wrote for and with Alberto Urso ''Mille domande''. In February he participated in ''Tale e quale Sanremo''. On March 16 and on March 30, he was the opening act for the tour dates in Mexico City and Miami of Laura Pausini's World Tour 2023-2024. During an interview on Telemundo's talk show ''Conectados con Daisy'' he announced his new single ''Noche Negra'' which was released on June 4. On November 7, 8, and 9, he was the opening act for the dates in Houston, Miami, and Orlando of Carlos Baute's ''De mi puño y letra'' tour.

Private life

On May 24, 2023, he came out as gay in an interview with Vanity Fair Italy.

Discography

Albums

*2006 – ''Virginio'' (March 3, 2006)
*2011 – ''Finalmente'' (March 8, 2011) (ITA #4; Gold – 30,000+ copies)
*2012 – ''Ovunque'' (March 26, 2012) (ITA #12)

Compilation

*2011 – ''Amici 10'' (with other contestants of ''Amici'')

Singles

*2006 – ''Davvero''
*2006 – ''Instabile''
*2006 – ''Novembre''
*2011 – ''Ad occhi chiusi''
*2011 – ''Sale''
*2012 – ''Alice (Elis)''
*2012 – ''La Dipendenza''
*2015 – ''Hercules''
*2018 – ''Semplifica''
*2018 – ''Rischiamo tutto''
*2019 - ''Cubalibre''
* 2019 - ''P.S. post scriptum''
* 2021 - ''Rimani''
* 2021 - ''Brava gente''
* 2022 - ''Collisioni'' feat. Bianca Atzei
* 2022 - ''Mañana''
* 2022 - ''M'incanta''
* 2022 - ''Non dirlo a nessuno''
* 2023 - ''El día con la noche'' feat. Teo Bok
* 2024 - ''Noche negra''

Videos

* 2006: ''Davvero''
* 2006: '' Instabile ''
* 2011: ''Ad occhi chiusi ''
* 2011: ''Sale ''
* 2012: ''Alice (Elis)''
* 2012: ''La Dipendenza''
*2015: ''Hercules''
* 2018 - ''Semplifica''
* 2018 - ''Rischiamo tutto''
* 2019 - ''Cubalibre''
* 2019 - ''P.S. post scriptum''
* 2021 - ''Rimani''
* 2021 - ''Brava gente''
* 2022 - ''Collisioni'' feat. Bianca Atzei
* 2022 - ''Mañana''
* 2022 - ''M'incanta''
* 2022 - ''Non dirlo a nessuno''
* 2023 - ''Il giorno con la notte''
* 2023 - ''El día con la noche''
* 2024 - ''Noche negra''

Tours

*2011
**''Finalmente Tour''
*2012
**''Ovunque Tour''
*2017
**''Acoustic Live Tour''
*2024
**''Virginio 2024''

Other tours

*2011
**''Nokia Amici in Tour''
**''Sete di Radio Tour''
**''Radio Bruno estate tour''
**''Radionorba Battiti Live''
**''Company Contatto''

Author and composer for other singers

Awards

* 2011 - Winner of the singer category of '' Amici di Maria De Filippi''
* 2011 - Gold Wind Music Award for ''Finalmente''
* 2018 - Premio internazionale Palinuro (International Award of Palinuro)
* 2018 - Riconoscimento Giovanni Paolo II (Recognition Pope John Paul II)
* 2019 - Premio (Award) Roma Videoclip for ''Cubalibre''
* 2020 - Premio #SocialClip for ''P.S. post scriptum'' at Tulipani di Seta Nera 2020
* 2022 - Premio speciale al Fara film festival (Fara Film Festival Special Award) 2022
* 2022 - Premio persona dell'anno 2022 di Fondi (Person of the year 2022 of the city of Fondi)
* 2022 - Zecchino d'oro as an author of ''Il panda con le ali''
* 2023 - Premio (Award) Roma Videoclip for International Video for ''El día con la noche'' https://www.allmusicitalia.it/news/teo-bok-e-virginio-premio-roma-videoclip.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonelli, Virginio
1985 births
Living people
Singing talent show winners
People from the Province of Latina
Italian pop singers
21st-century Italian male singers