Vasco Rossi

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Vasco Rossi
Italian singer Vasco Rossi.
Background information
Born	February 7, 1952 (age 55)
Origin	Zocca, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Genre(s)	Rock
Years active	1977–present
Website	VascoRossi.net

Vasco Rossi (born February 7, 1952 in Zocca, Italy) is one of the best-known musicians and songwriters in Italy. His nickname is Blasco. During his 25-year career, he has published 21 albums (including live and collection discs) and has written some 130 songs, as well as lyrics for other artists. He calls himself a "provoca(u)tore" (an Italian neologism for "provoking author") as throughout his career he has been regularly criticized over his choice of lifestyle and the lyrics in his songs.

1 Biography
2 Official discography
- 2.1 Albums
3 External links

[edit] Biography

Rossi was born in Zocca, in the province of Modena (Emilia-Romagna), in 1952. His father, Carlo Rossi, was a truck-driver, and his mother, Novella, a housewife. It was his mother herself who decided to enroll Vasco in singing school when he was a small boy, a choice that must have seemed rather peculiar within the mentality of a small village in the Apennines like Zocca. Nonetheless, Vasco fell in love with music and at the age of 14 began playing with his first band.

Vasco and his family moved to Bologna, Italy, where he studied accounting in high school. Upon graduating he opened a music club, Punto Club, and enrolled in university at the faculty of Economics and Commerce, and later Education. In the meantime he supported himself by working as a DJ and founding, along with friends, one of the first private radio stations in Italy, "Punto Radio," with which he began slowly and timidly showcasing his own songs.

It was only after the pushing and encouragement of one of his friends, Gaetano Curreri (now leading member of Stadio), that Vasco released his first EP on June 13, 1977, which included the songs "Jenny è pazza" and “Silvia," and a full-length album in 1978, Ma cosa vuoi che sia una canzone. In 1979, he released a second album, Non siamo mica gli americani (It's Not Like We Are American), which included, “Albachiara,” one of his biggest hits, and a ballad considered emblematic of Vasco’s poetic style. His most controversial album, Colpa d'Alfredo (Alfredo's fault) followed in 1980; its title-track was censored from the radio and let loose bitter criticism because it contained lyrics such as troia (whore) and stronza (bitch) in a period in which music censorship was widely practiced in Italy. The controversy actually increased Vasco’s popularity, and he quickly saw himself famous on a national level, particularly after performing live on Domenica In, a popular Italian television program. The performance did not particularly please journalist Nantas Salvalaggio, who published a scathing article against Vasco, imploring how a public television station could show a drug-addict of the sort on a Sunday afternoon. Vasco countered that Salvalaggio evidently did not understand his music at all, and remarked how great it is to take arms against a still unknown artist who cannot defend himself.

In 1981, the album Siamo solo noi (It's Just Us) was released --- its title track, another signature song of his, would become commonly recognized as an “inno generazionale,” a generational hymn.

In 1982, Vasco took part for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival, performing the song Vado al massimo (I Go at Full Blast). Here, he once again found himself under the harsh criticism of Salvataggio, and came in last place in the festival. In April of the same year ‘’Vado al Massimo,’’ the album, was released. The following year, he reappeared at the Sanremo Music Festival, this time performing “Vita spericolata,” probably his most popular song, and finishing in second-to-last place due to his apparent state of intoxication. The following album, Bollicine (Bubbles), published in 1983, was his sixth in seven years, and was the album that consecrated him definitively an idol of the new generation and an icon of Italian rock. The title track, whose lyrics are about Coke (but also demonstrate a clear assonance with cocaine), won the Festivalbar ‘83, and his tour that year was an enormous success.

To celebrate this positive period in his career, Vasco released his first live recording in 1984, ‘’Va bene, va bene così’’ (It’s Alright, It’s Alright Like This). In April, however, he was arrested on charges of drug possession. He was immediately granted provisional release from jail, but subsequently sentenced to 2 years and 8 months of probation. Shortly thereafter he released his next album, Cosa succede in città (What’s Happening in the City), which became one of his weakest critically and did not reach past sales.

In 1987 Vasco Rossi’s ninth album, C'è chi dice no (There Are Those Who Say ‘No’), was released; the ever-increasing numbers of fans showing up to his concerts forced him to quit performing in bars and normal-sized venues and begin the era of something for which he is known to this day—playing in and selling out stadiums.

His tenth studio album, Liberi liberi (Free Free), followed in 1989. The incredible success of his 1989 tour brought the release of the live album Fronte del palco and the organization of two concerts in 1990, one at the San Siro stadium in Milan and the other at the Flaminio in Rome; events of the sort were without precedent it Italy, and the album ‘’Vasco Live 10.7.90 San Siro’’ (1990) and video ‘’Guarda Dove Vai’’ (Look Where You’re Going) remain as testament of the concerts.

Vasco's next album, Gli spari sopra (The Shots Above), released in 1993, went platinum ten times, and in 1994 he gave the unreleased ‘’Senza Parole’’ (Without Words) as a gift to members of his official fan-club.

In 1995, Vasco was again the star at San Siro with a double concert, Rock Sotto l’Assedio (Rock Under Siege), which protested the war in Yugoslavia. Vasco was heavily criticized because the proceeds were never given to charity, despite the fact they were never meant to.

In 1996, a new album, “Nessun Pericolo… Per Te” (No Danger… For You), featured songs “Sally” and “Gli angeli,” with the latter characterized by a video directed by film director Roman Polanski. In 1997 ‘’Rock’’ was released, a recording of old songs rearranged, and it would bring Vasco to perform at the Neapolis Rock Festival in an old manufacturing plant.

In 1998 Vasco rediscovered his singer-songwriter side, recording and releasing the album Canzoni per me (Songs for Me) with a softer and less “rock” sound, even remaking never-published songs written at the beginning of his career. The nature of the songs, however, did not impede Vasco from winning his second Festivalbar with the song, L'una per te (The One for You). Given the low propensity of these songs to fit in his live show with the songs his fans had up to that time become accustomed, he decided to hold just one concert in 1998, accepting the proposal to be a guest star on the first evening of the new Heineken Jammin’ Festival in Imola, Italy. The evening is immortalized in both video and in the 1999 live album ‘’Rewind’’, and was followed by a tour of the same name. Sadly, a few days into the tour, Vasco’s inseparable companion, as well as guitarist and writer/cowriter of many songs and lyrics, Massimo Riva, died unexpectedly. He would be remembered and celebrated by Vasco and fans in nearly every concert that followed.

In 2001, Stupido Hotel (Stupid Hotel), was released, and Vasco won his third Festivalbar, this time with the song “Siamo Soli” (We Are Alone). In 2002 Vasco released his first official recording of remastered songs in their original version, ‘’Tracks,’’ which was followed by a triple concert again at San Siro, and at which was filmed the video ‘’Vasco a S. Siro ’03.’’ In 2004, his album ‘’Buoni o cattivi’’ (Good or Bad) sold the most records in Italy in that year.

On May 12, 2005, Milan’s IULM conferred an honorary degree in Communication Sciences to Vasco Rossi, where he wore the traditional Italian graduation toga in front of a frenetic crowd.

On September 9, 2005, Vasco released the douple DVD ‘’È solo un Rock'n'Roll show’’ (It’s Only a Rock’n’Roll Show), launching the concept of the ‘movieclip,’ in which all the songs from ‘’Buoni o cattivi’’ are used in a 2-hour long music video. Three months later, ‘’Buoni o cattivi live anthology 04.05’’ was released, a comprehensive box-set comprised of a double CD and a triple DVD, recorded live from the record-setting ‘’Buoni o cattivi tour’’ of 2004 and 2005. In December 2005 he returned to Zocca, the town of his birth, where his childhood friends and the rest of the community organized a tribute in his honor, including a photo display and other celebrations.

In 2006, Vasco participated in the election campaign of the Italian radical-socialist party Rosa nel Pugno.