"Il mare calmo della sera" is a song written by Zucchero Fornaciari, Giampiero Felisatti and Gloria Nuti, for

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...

. Bocelli won the

Sanremo 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 1994, singing the song, which was later released as his debut single. It is among Bocelli's most popular and well-known songs. The chorus opening phrase is virtually the same as the chorus opening phrase in "

She Believes in Me "She Believes in Me" is a song recorded by American country music singer Kenny Rogers. It was released in April 1979 as the second single from his 1978 album '' The Gambler''. The song was written by American singer-songwriter Steve Gibb (not to ...

", the title of a song recorded by American country music singer

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

released in April 1979 as the second single from his album The Gambler.

History

In 1992, Bocelli's first break as a singer came when

Italian rock Italian rock is a form of rock music produced primarily in Italy. The music genre has roots in the country as it spread in the early 1960s from the United States with the earliest versions of rock and roll during this period being cover versions ...

singer Zucchero Fornaciari auditioned tenors to record a demo version of " Miserere", which he had co-written with U2's

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

. Passing the audition, Bocelli recorded the tune as a duet with

Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

, with whom he became very close friends, even singing at his second wedding, and funeral. After touring all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with Zucchero in 1993, Bocelli was then invited to perform at the ''Pavarotti & Friends'', held in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label= Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and '' comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. A town, and seat o ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in September 1994. Bocelli was then signed to

Sugar Music Sugar Music is a vertically integrated, family owned, independent business, active globally as a record label, music publisher, soundtrack and audio-visual producer. The company is headquartered in Milan, Italy. History Established in 1932 by Lad ...

Caterina Caselli Caterina Caselli (born 10 April 1946) is an Italian record producer, music executive, singer and bass player. Biography Caselli was born in Modena but grew up in Sassuolo. She started her music career by playing bass in local clubs. In 1966 s ...

, who persuaded him to participate in 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 annua ...

. He eventually won the newcomer section of the competition in 1994, with "Il mare calmo della sera". After the festival, Bocelli released his first studio album, also titled ''

Il mare calmo della sera ''Il mare calmo della sera'' is the debut album by Italian tenor singer Andrea Bocelli, following his win of the Sanremo Festival in 1994, singing his first single and the leading single of the album of the same name. It was certified Gold in the ...

''. The single was also included in both of Bocelli's

Greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

albums, '' Romanza'' in 1997, and '' The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere'' in 2007. Bocelli also recorded a Spanish-language version of the song, titled "El silencio de la espera", which peaked at number one in Panama. This version appeared on the Spanish edition of ''Romanza'' (1997).

Si (Forever Diamond Edition version/ English Chorus version)

In 2019, following the 1 millionth selling of Si, was also the 25th anniversary of Il Mare Calmo De La Sera’s release. Zucchero returned along with Giampiero Felisatti and Gloria Nuti, moving away from the track’s Italian-language pop-rock format in exchange for an epic orchestral crossover combined with Andrea singing the chorus in English.

Charts

Weekly charts

Italian version

Spanish version

References

External links

Bocelli on Ultratop.be

Bocelli on acharts.us
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mare Calmo Della Sera, Il) Andrea Bocelli songs 1994 debut singles Songs written by Zucchero Fornaciari Sanremo Music Festival songs 1994 songs Sugar Music singles