Lucio Battisti

Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 - 9 September 1998) was an Italian singer-songwriter. He is considered one of the best and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history.

Battisti started his career in 1966 and from 1969 to 1994 he released 18 albums in his home country. A significant part of his production was translated into Spanish (various albums) and English (one album). He was renowned to be an extremely reserved artist: during his successful career he performed only a relatively small number of live exhibitions and, in 1976, he stated he would communicate only through his studio albums, completely disappearing from Italian public scene.

Biography

Musician and composer

Battisti was born in Poggio Bustone, a town in the province of Rieti (Northern Latium), and moved with his family to Rome in 1947. A self-taught guitarist, Battisti made his debut as musician in the 1960s, performing in local bands in Rome, Naples and later in Milan: here he joined I Campioni (The Champions), the support band of then famous singer Tony Dallara.

In Milan he found the aid of a French talent scout, Christine Leroux, who worked for the Ricordi musical label. Leroux took Battisti under her wing, as he penned three sizeable hits in 1966 for other artists ("Per una lira" for Ribelli, "Dolce di giorno" for Dik Dik, and "Uno in Più" for Riki Maiocchi). Leroux also introduced Battisti to songwriter Giulio Rapetti, better known as Mogol: though not impressed at first by Battisti's music, Mogol declared later to have decided to start the collaboration anyway after recognizing Battisti's humble, though determined, desire to improve his work. Mogol also pushed Ricordi to allow Battisti to sing his own songs: Lucio's voice became a point of strength and originality. As a singer, he made his debut with his tune "Per una lira" in 1966: despite the relatively mediocre success (100,000 copies sold, not much for the times), it allowed him to begin building a career as soloist.

Battisti continued to write tunes for others in the late 1960s: the US rock group The Grass Roots scored a hit stateside with one of Battisti's compositions, "Balla Linda". With the same song, Battisti classified fourth in the Cantagiro, a then popular competition. 1969 saw another one of Battisti's compositions, "Il Paradiso", become a hit in the UK when it was covered by the group Amen Corner, hitting the number one spot on the singles chart.

uccess as a solo singer in 1970s - The Mogol-Battisti duo

In the same year Battisti took part in the Festival of Sanremo, with the song "Un'avventura" ("An Adventure"), and his popularity began to increase. His first great hit was "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara" ("Blue Water, Clear Water"), which won the Festivalbar. The same year, Battisti issued his self-titled debut LP, which topped the Italian charts and included another of his most famous songs, "Mi ritorni in mente". During this successful year he also met Grazia Letizia Veronese, who lived with Battisti until his death.

In the 1970s Battisti won Festivalbar for the second time in a row, with the song "Fiori rosa, fiori di pesco". He started to collaborate with Mina, who sang one of Mogol-Battisti's finest tunes, "Emozioni" ("Emotions"), also the title of the second Battisti's LP. Forming a strong and highly successful duo with songwriter Mogol, Battisti continued to issue solo albums on a regular basis throughout the 1970s: in almost every case they reached the highest places in his country's charts, and are regarded as classics of Italian pop music ("musica leggera"). He also became a popular TV presence. In order to preserve their creative freedom, Battisti and Mogol switched to a label of their own, Numero Uno, founded by the latter back in 1969.

Under the new label "Amore e non amore" ("Love and Not Love") was released in 1971, followed by the even more successful "Umanamente uomo: il sogno" (1971) and "Il mio canto libero" (1972). The latter topped the Italian charts for 8 weeks: one of its songs was later reissued by Mick Ronson with lyrics translated by David Bowie, as "Music Is Lethal". Until 2006, the eponymous song "Il mio canto libero" has remained one of the most popular songs among Italians. Another successful album was "Il nostro caro angelo" ("Our Dear Angel") (1973).

1974 "Anima latina" ("Latin Soul") is considered Battisti's most complex and multi-layered work, a new personal approach to progressive music with an increased attention to rhythms and increasingly cryptic lyrics by Mogol; nonetheless, their work enjoyed enormous success, remaining for 13 weeks at number one in Italian charts.

Battisti released an even luckier work in 1976, "La batteria, il contrabbasso, ecc.", including the tune "Ancora tu"; many of the songs clearly showed the artist's interest toward then-emerging disco sounds and production values that will have a large influence on his three subsequent albums. In the same year Battisti married Veronese and, most of all, declared he would no longer make public appearances nor release any interview. A rather shy person, he had been always reticent to talk about his work: now, according to the words with which he accompanied his retiration, " [he was going to] speak no more, since an artist must communicate with the public only through his work". In some very rare occasions, though, he appeared as a tv guest in other countries such as France, Switzerland and Germany, and only after 1982 his vow can be considered completely fulfilled, with a perseverance similar to that of J. D. Salinger and other famous recluses.

In 1977 he released "Io tu noi tutti". He also relocated to Los Angeles, and issued an album, Images, that featured some of his biggest hits re-recorded in English. However, the attempt to equal his European success in the United States failed.

Battisti returned to Rome and in 1978 released "Una donna per amico", which was the best-selling Battisti-Mogol LP ever. Nevertheless, it marked the begin of the decline of their relationship. Battisti had started to limit himself to send his music to Mogol by mail, receiving the lyrics in the same way. Critics pointed out that the emotions of the duo's songs had started to wane out. 1980 album "Una giornata uggiosa" clearly suffered of this lack: Battisti's melodies, moreover, were sometimes covered by the "international pop" arrangement proposed by English producer Geoff Westley, although Battisti's last great success, "Con il nastro rosa", was able to emerge as one of the duo's finest compositions ever.

The "Second period"

In 1981 Battisti broke the partnership with Mogol, switching to a more experimental, sometimes weird inspiration, based often on electronic instruments. The LPs of his "second period", starting from "E già" of 1982 (with lyrics by his wife), received a mixed reception from both critics and audiences. Mogol started to work with Riccardo Cocciante; in 1990, he declared he had not listened to Battisti's LPs for many years.

From 1986, starting with "Don Giovanni", to 1994, the lyrics on Battisti's albums were written by the poet Pasquale Panella. "Don Giovanni" combined a return to classic "Battistian" melodies with lyrics which some felt were weird and often meaningless. Others, however, understood the lyrics to be cryptic: an intellectual mind game of sorts. It was the first relative success he had since the 1970s. "L'apparenza" ("The Appearance", 1988), however, again contained rather impervious lyrics. "La sposa occidentale" (1990) was the first LP for CBS. The declining sales were hardly a concern for Battisti: it was rumoured that in the 1990s he was gaining 4-5 billion lire a year (approximately 3 million Euro in 2006)from author rights of his 1970s songs only.

Battisti's last album was "Hegel", recorded in 1994.

On September 9 1998, Battisti died in a Milan hospital. The news was immediately reported by the media and spread quickly throughout the country, generating an unprecedented wave of emotion for a singer. He was later buried in the cemetery of Molteno, the town where he had spent his last years with his family, far from the circus of the show business .

Several compilations of his best tracks have surfaced after Battisti's death, including 2000's "Battisti" and 2001's "Canzoni d'Amore". His catalogue is published by BMG Music Publishing.

Influence and praise

Through the years, Battisti consolidated his status as one of the most well-known Italian singers. His songs remain immensely popular in Italy, and are often performed live by other notable musicians.

Discography

Albums

Singles

English Language Recordings

A few of his songs were translated into the English language. The album "Images" was the only official worldwide release, however in Britain a single was published with two other translations: "Baby It's You"("Ancora tu") and "Lady" ("Donna selvaggia donna"). A full translation of the album "Una donna per amico", to be called "Friends", which had the above songs, was recorded but never published. The two songs and the album were translated and produced by Frank Musker. ( [http://www.luciobattisti.info/disc/inediti/index.php] , [http://www.luciobattisti.info/disc/stran/uk.php] , [http://www.debaser.it/recensionidb/ID_13243/Lucio_Battisti_Friends.htm] )

Here is a full list of his English recordings, according to [http://www.luciobattisti.info/disc/inediti/index.php] :
* RELEASED:* "Images":* "Baby it's you" ("Ancora tu"):* "Lady" ("Donna selvaggia donna")
* UNRELEASED:* "My father told me" - instrumental of "Nel sole, nel vento, nel sorriso, e nel pianto":* "Wake me I'm dreaming - "Mi ritorni in mente":* "You and your tomorrow" - "Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara":* The following were considered for "Images", translated not by Peter Powell but by Marva Jan Marrow:::* "Star in a film" - "L'interprete di un film"::* "Since I have forgotten about you" - "Eppur mi son scordato di te" with different accompaniment melody and an acoustic guitar::* "Our dear angel" - "Il nostro caro angelo"::* "Freedom song" - An alternate translation of "Il mio canto libero", sung solo and with guitar::* "The sun song" - An alternate translation of "La canzone del sole", set to the original Italian version's melody::* "To love a bit" - "Amarsi un po'", the words were changed into "To feel in love" for the album:* "Friends" - A translation of the album "Una donna per amico", replacing the song "Maledetto gatto" with translations of two of his other hits. All the songs were translated by Frank Musker.::# "Baby it's you" - shorter version::# "I think of you" - previous hit "E penso a te", different from the tribute by Tanita Tikaram::# "Take it as it comes" - "Prendila così"::# "Lady" - slightly different from released version::# "Day to day" - "Perché no"::# "Afraid of falling" - "Aver paura di innamorsi troppo"::# "Pain is gone" - "Nessun dolore"::# "A woman as a friend" - "Una donna per amico"::# "Goin' to the movies" - "Al cinema":* "Pain is gone" and "A woman as a friend" were recorded twice. The first version of "Pain is gone" places an emphasis on bongos and the chorus sings "Nessun dolore" in the background; the second version has an English repetition in the background. The only major difference between the two "A woman as a friend" versions is the second verse.

External links

* [http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/discografie/d_battistil.htm Full discography]
* [http://www.luciobattisti.info Italian website with discography and others information about the singer]
* [http://battisti.altervista.org Little italian website about Lucio Battisti]
* [http://www.europopmusic.eu/Italy_pages/Battisti.html Lucio Battisti on Europopmusic.eu] (English)
* [http://battisti.altervista.org/videoclip.htm Lucio Battisti's videoclips]