Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in

French-speaking countries French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the ...

and the United States as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian and French singer, composer, and musician.

Early and personal life

Cocciante was born on 20 February 1946 in

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French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

(now Ho Chi Minh,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

), to an Italian father from Rocca di Mezzo,

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide vall ...

, and a French mother. At the age of 11, he moved to Rome, Italy, where he attended the Lycée français Chateaubriand. He has also lived in France, the United States, and Ireland.

Career

A R&B enthusiast, Cocciante began his musical career as an organ player, and in the late 1960s began performing as a singer at L'Approdo, a Roman club for foreign students. After forming the band GL6 with Marco Luberti and Paolo Casella, in 1971 he started his professional career with the French name Richard Cocciante and three English language songs recorded for the soundtrack of the Carlo Lizzani's film '' Roma Bene''. In 1972, he released his first album, titled ''MU'' in Italy and ''Atlantì'' in France. After the fair commercial results of his 1973 album ''Poesia'', Cocciante had his breakout one year later with " Bella senz'anima", which turned to be a major hit but also raised controversities, being considered sexist and being censored on Italian television. In 1976, he got another number one spot on the Italian hit parade with " Margherita", his signature song. The same year, he covered the Beatles song "

Michelle Michelle may refer to: People * Michelle (name), a given name and surname, the feminine form of Michael * Michelle Courtens, Dutch singer, performing as "Michelle" * Michelle (German singer) * Michelle (Scottish singer) (born 1980), Scottis ...

", featuring the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, for the musical documentary ''

All This and World War II ''All This and World War II'' is a 1976 musical documentary directed by Susan Winslow. It juxtaposes Beatles songs covered by a variety of musicians with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films, in a manner meant by the filmma ...

'', and he released his sole English album in the US, with the single "When Love Has Gone Away" peaking at No. 41 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot 100. In 1980, Cocciante began a decade-long collaboration with the lyricist Mogol, who had just stopped his professional association with Lucio Battisti; their first hit was "Cervo a primavera". In 1983, Cocciante was the first Italian artist to be signed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

, andreleased his album "Sincerità", produced and arranged by the American composer

James Newton Howard James Newton Howard (born June 9, 1951) is an American film composer, music producer and keyboardist. He has scored over 100 films and is the recipient of a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, and nine nominations for Academy Awards. His film scores i ...

. Following several more hits, notably the 1985 duet with Mina ''Questione di feeling'', in 1987 he moved to Florida, and except for a live album he took a long artistic break. Cocciante made his comeback in 1991, winning the 41st edition 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 annua ...

with the song " Se stiamo insieme", and getting a significant success with both the single and the following album ''Cocciante''. In 1997, his friend Plácido Domingo invited him to sing at Domingo's annual Christmas in Vienna concert, together with

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 19 ...

and

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. In 1996, he was chosen as the singer for the Italian versions of the songs in the ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's fi ...

'' movie, singing "Un amico in me", "Che strane cose" and "Io non volerò più". In 1998, Cocciante composed ''

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to th ...

'', a musical adaptation of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

's ''

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of ...

''; the musical, with lyrics by

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ (b. March 2, 1942 in Saint-Raymond, Quebec), is a French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. He is best known for his work on the musicals ''Starmania'' and ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brother of Louis Plamon ...

in its French version and by Pasquale Panella in its Italian version, proved to be a worldwide success, and the relevant CDs sold about 10 million copies. Other two successful musicals followed: ''Le Petit Prince'', and '' Giulietta e Romeo''. He also made a Chinese-language adaptation of

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long l ...

's opera ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'', which was directed by

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

. In 2013, Cocciante was a coach for '' The Voice of Italy'';

Elhaida Dani Elhaida Dani (; born 17 February 1993) is an Albanian singer, songwriter, composer and actress. Born and raised in Shkodër, Dani performed in diverse singing competitions and started to play piano as a child. She rose to national recognition i ...

, one of the contestants he coached, won the first season of the show. Cocciante's oeuvre includes recordings in Italian, French, English, and Spanish.

''Sincerità'' and other foreign-language releases

Cocciante's oeuvre includes recordings in Italian, French, English, and Spanish. In 1976, he released a cover of The Beatles' song "

", featuring the

.Cocciante recorded his hit song "Pour Elle" as a duet with Francesca Bellenis with English lyrics. The song is part of his 1994 album "Un uomo felice". A Spanish version "Por Ella" and an Italian version "Per Lei" were also recorded.

Discography

* ''Mu'' (1972) *''Poesia'' (1973) *''Anima'' (1974) *''L'alba'' (1975) *''Richard Cocciante'' nglish version of ''Anima''(1976) *'' Concerto per Margherita'' (1976) *''

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was b ...

'' (1978) *''...E io canto'' (1979) *''

Cervo a primavera Cervo may refer to: Places Italy * Cervo, Liguria, a comune in the province of Imperia in the region of Liguria * Cervo (river), a tributary of the River Sesia in the Piedmont region Portugal * Cervo (Ribeira de Pena), a civil parish in the mun ...

'' (1980) *''Q Concert'' (1981) *''Cocciante'' (1982) *'' Sincerità'' (1983) *'' Il mare dei papaveri'' (1985) *''Quando si vuole bene'' (1986) *''La grande avventura'' (1988) *''Viva!'' (1988) *''Cocciante'' (also known as ''Se stiamo insieme''; 1991) *''Empreinte'' (1993) *''Eventi e mutamenti '' (1993) *''Il mio nome è Riccardo'' (1994) *''Un Uomo Felice'' (1994) * ''Je Chante'' (1995) *''Innamorato'' (1997) *''Istantanea'' (1998) *''Notre-dame de Paris live Arena di Verona'' (2002) *''Songs'' (2005)

Musicals

*''

'' (1997; lyrics by

) *'' Le Petit Prince'' (2002; lyrics by Elizabeth Anais) *'' Giulietta e Romeo'' (2007; lyrics by Pasquale Panella)

References

External links

RICCARDO COCCIANTE Official Web Site

Biography of Richard Cocciante
from

Radio France Internationale Radio France Internationale, usually referred to as RFI, is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of France. With 37.2 million listeners in 2014, it is one of the most-listened-to international radio stations in the world, along with ...

Biography of Riccardo Cocciante
from RAI International
''AyerHoy.com''
(Cada día un perfil de un artista del ayer) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cocciante, Richard Cocciante, Riccardo Cocciante, Riccardo Cocciante, Riccardo Cocciante, Riccardo Cocciante, Riccardo French male singers French people of Italian descent Italian people of French descent Sanremo Music Festival winners Italian musical theatre composers French musical theatre composers Spanish-language singers of Italy Musicians from Ho Chi Minh City 20th-century Italian composers 21st-century Italian composers 20th-century French composers 21st-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians 21st-century French male musicians