Luciano Ligabue

Infobox musical artist |
Name =Luciano Ligabue

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Born =Birth date and age|1960|3|13|mf=y
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Origin =Correggio, Italy
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Genre =Rock music, Pop rock
Occupation =Singer
Years_active =1987–Present
URL = [http://www.ligabue.com/ ligabue.com]
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Luciano Ligabue (born March 13, 1960), more commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an Italian rock singer-songwriter, film director and writer.

Biography

Ligabue was born in Correggio, in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna). Before becoming a successful singer, he held various jobs, working in agriculture and in factories. He entered the music world in 1987, when he founded the amateur band Orazero. For this band he wrote several original songs, with which they participated in several local and national contests. The following year his fellow Emilian singer-songwriter Pierangelo Bertoli was the first to discover Ligabue's writing talents, and included one of Ligabue's songs, "Sogni di Rock'n'Roll" ("Rock'n'Roll Dreams"), in his new LP.

The following year Bertoli introduced him to producer Angelo Carrara, to finish an LP of his own, "Ligabue", which was released in May 1990. Ligabue soon gained fame as one of the most successful Italian rock stars, finding fans mainly among younger audiences. His most famous hits include "Balliamo sul mondo" (Let's Dance On The World), "Ho perso le parole" (I lost my words) and the most successful of all, "Certe Notti" (Certain Nights), which was voted as "Italian song of the 1990s" in a poll held by a popular music magazine. He also collaborated with another famous singer-songwriter, Francesco Guccini, who also had a part in Ligabue's first movie (see below).

Ligabue directed his first movie, "Radiofreccia", in 1998, a semi-autobiographical story of a local radio station. Critics acclaimed it as surprisingly well shot for a newcomer, and the film received 3 David di Donatello (the highest award in Italian cinema). He also composed the soundtrack. Four years later he shot "DaZeroADieci" ("From Zero to Ten"): however, it was not as well received as the first work, by both critics and fans.

On September 10, 2005, Ligabue held a concert in Reggio Emilia to celebrate his first 15 years of activity. This attracted the record audience for a single artist pay concert in Europe, with a crowd of about 180,000 coming to listen to his songs. However, due to technical problems with the audio system, several thousands of people were unable to listen to the music and left the concert. After the event, Ligabue publicly apologized for the inconvenience.

Ligabue has also published a short story collection, "Fuori e dentro il Borgo" ("In and out the village"), which won several literary awards, a science fiction novel "La neve se ne frega" ("Snow doesn't care") (2005), and a collections of poems "Lettere d'Amore nel frigo" ("Love Letters in the fridge") (2006).

Political involvement

In the 1980s Ligabue was member of the communal council of his native Correggio, elected for the Italian Communist Party. Though no more assuming a public high level political position, Ligabue, together with Jovanotti and Piero Pelù, released the single "Il mio nome è mai più" ("My Name Is Never Again"), a song against the war in Kosovo to collect funds for the Italian NGO Emergency.

Discography

*"Anime in plexiglass" (1989, single)
*"Ligabue" (1990)
*"Lambrusco coltelli rose & popcorn" (1991)
*"Sopravvissuti e sopravviventi" (1993)
*"A che che ora è la fine del mondo?" (1994)
*"Buon compleanno Elvis!" (1995)
*"Su e giù da un palco" (1997, live)
*"Radiofreccia" (1998, soundtrack)
*"Il mio nome è mai più" (1999)
*"Miss Mondo" (1999)
*"Fuori come va?" (2002)
*"Giro d'Italia" (2003, live)
*"Nome e cognome" (2005)
*"Primo tempo" (2007, greatest hits '89-'95 + 2 new songs)
*"Secondo tempo" (2008, greatest hits '96-'05 + 3 new songs)

Filmography

*"Radiofreccia" (1998)
*"DaZeroaDieci" (2001)

Screenplay of both films was by Ligabue.

Bibliography

*"Fuori e dentro il Borgo" (1997)
*"La neve se ne frega" (2004)
*"Lettere d'amore nel frigo" (2006)

External links

* [http://www.ligabue.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.allmusicitalia.com/ligabue/ Ligabue]
* [http://www.ligachannel.com LigaChannel]
* [http://www.tuttoliga.com/ Ligabue]