Samuele Bersani

Samuele Bersani (born 1 October 1970) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He received the "Mia Martini" Critics Award at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2000 and in 2012, with the songs "Replay" and "Un pallone", respectively.^[1][2] His best known songs also include "Giudizi universali", released in 1997 and certified in 2017 as a platinum-selling single by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry,^[3] and "Spaccacuore," which was later covered by Italian singer Laura Pausini.^[4][5] He wrote the lyrics of Lucio Dalla's song "Canzone."^[6]

Samuele Bersani
Bersani in 2009
Background information
Born	(1970-10-01) 1 October 1970 (age 54) Rimini, Italy
Genres	Pop
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Fuori Classifica
Website	samuelebersani.net

In 2000, Bersani recorded the soundtrack of the film Chiedimi se sono felice, by Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo.^[7] In 2007, he won the Amnesty International Italy "Voci per la liberta" Award for "Occhiali rotti", a song included in his album L'aldiqua (2006) and written in memory of journalist Enzo Baldoni.^[8] His record Cinema Samuele received the Targa Tenco for Best Album in 2021.^[9]

Biography

1970–1991: childhood and early beginnings

Samuele Bersani was born on 1 October 1970 in Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.^[10] His father was a music teacher, while his mother was an employee, and she also became the vice-mayor of Cattolica, the town in which he grew up.^[11][12] He studied at the classical lyceum, but he left school a few months before his "maturity exam".^[12] While he was a teenager, Bersani played in several local bands and took part in local singing competitions. In 1991, he met Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla before a concert Dalla was going to give in San Benedetto del Tronto, in Central Italy. Bersani asked Dalla to listen to a recording of his original song "Il mostro", and a few minutes later Dalla's producer, Renzo Cremonini, told him to open the concert performing the song.^[12] Bersani was then chosen as the opening act for the remaining concerts of Dalla's Cambio tour.^[13]

1992–1996: C'hanno preso tutto and Freak

Bersani's debut album, C'hanno preso tutto, was released in November 1992.^[12] The album included the song "Il mostro", as well as the single "Chiccho e Spillo", which allowed Bersani to receive media attention, becoming a radio hit and supporting sales of the album, which sold more than 20,000 copies in Italy.^[12][13] In 1995, Bersani released his second album, Freak. The album's lead single, "Freak", was released in February of the same year, but some Italian radio stations decided not to air it as a consequence of a line referring both to the Italian conservative coalition and to the Italian Communist Party, which was considered a violation of the "par condicio law", which introduced fees for those stations giving airplay to songs including political messages during the electoral campaign preceding the Italian regional elections.^[14][15][16] As a consequence, Bersani's label decided to anticipate the release of the second single from the album, "Spaccacuore".^[17] Both "Freak" and "Spaccacuore" were later performed by Bersani during the itinerant television show Festivalbar, during the summer of 1995.^[18][19] The album was a commercial success, and it was certified platinum, selling more than 130,000 copies in Italy.^[20]

Discography

• C'hanno preso tutto (1992)
• Freak (1995)
• Samuele Bersani (1997)
• L'oroscopo speciale (2000)
• Che vita! Il meglio di Samuele Bersani (2002)
• Caramella smog (2003)
• L'aldiqua (2006)
• Manifesto abusivo (2009)
• Nuvola numero nove (2013)
• La fortuna che abbiamo – Live (2016)
• Cinema Samuele (2020)