Jovanotti
Encyclopedia
Lorenzo Cherubini, better known as Jovanotti, is an Italian
singer-songwriter
and rapper.
The name Jovanotti derives from the plural form of the Italian word giovanotto ("young man"), i.e. giovanotti. Lorenzo Cherubini originally auditioned a band with the name "I Giovanotti", but the record producer only was interested in him. He then decided on an Italo-American name of "Joe Vanotti" before conjugating it to his famous moniker "Jovanotti". The spelling Jovanotti is anglicised, the letter j not often used in Italian.
Jovanotti gradually departed from his early mix of hip hop
, rap and disco
, taking in funk
, world music
and even classical arrangements and ska
influences. As his musical influences changed, so too did his lyrics, which, over time, began to increasingly address philosophical, religious and political issues, which are more typical of the Italian cantautore tradition. His social and political commitment increased as well. Some of his earlier work is also closer to keyboard-heavy 1980s pop.
Most of his songs are sung in Italian
; he also released a Spanish-language greatest hits album. His live album includes a short version of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Jovanotti appears on several international compilations, most notably Red Hot + Rhapsody, a 1998 tribute to George Gershwin
, on which he performed "I Got Rhythm". His most famous songs are "L'Ombelico del Mondo" and "Serenata Rap". Jovanotti has also appeared in one of Luciano Pavarotti
's charity concert in 1996.
, but he spent part of his childhood in his parents' hometown, Cortona
, in the Province of Arezzo
(Tuscany
).
After completing his high-school studies, he started working as a disc jockey
in several discothèques and radio station
s in the province of Rome.
In 1985 he moved in Milan
. Two years later, while he was making a DJ set in Palinuro
during the summer of 1987, he met the record producer
and talent scout Claudio Cecchetto, who proposed him to start working together. During the same year Jovanotti released his first single
, "Walking", and he started working as a DJ in one of the most important national radio stations, Radio DeeJay
, founded by Cecchetto five years before.
, Jovanotti for President, was released in 1988 and became the symbol of the youth of the eighties, without any interest in ideologies
and politics
. Despite receiving strongly negative critics, the album became a big commercial success, reaching the third position on the Italian Musica e Dischi
Albums Chart and selling over 400,000 copies in Italy. Moreover, the album spawned five singles, including the number-one hits, "Gimme Five" and "Gimme Five (Rasta Five)" and the songs "Go Jovanotti Go" and "Mix, Remix & The singers", which entered the Italian top 5.
In 1998, Jovanotti played a brief role in the movie I Giardini dell'Eden, directed by Alessandro D'Alatri.
The song "Piove" was released for the second season of The Sopranos
as an ending credits track.
collaborated on one track, while bass player Saturnino co-wrote two of the songs.
In 2007, he was featured at the end of Negramaro
's song, "Cade la Pioggia", of their CD, La Finestra, and in 2008 he released the new album Safari.
In 2008, he performed as guest artist on the track "Lugar Comum" on Encanto (Sérgio Mendes album)
At the end of 2009 he collaborated with Claudio Baglioni
and Fabrizio Bosso, along with 70 other artists, in the song "Con tutto il mio cuore (With All My Heart)". On 1 January 2010 the group released "Baciami Ancora (Kiss Me Again)" for the soundtrack of a film by Gabriele Muccino
.
.
In 2011 he will play at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
, Amnesty International
, and he has contributed to events dedicated to debt relief (Global Call to Action Against Poverty
).
Jovanotti has a friendship with Bono
due to their mutual quest for the cancellation of foreign debt in poor African countries. He also collaborated with Michael Franti
of Spearhead on his Capo Horn and "Ora" albums. Both Michael Franti and U2
"misspelled" his name as Giovanotti in the liner note credits.
as the presenter of the DEF II
programme Gimme 5. The show, which featured a brief introduction each week by Jovanotti, showcased youth television programmes from around the world.
tracks in the early 1990s. His Gino Latino single, "Welcome", reached Number 17 on the UK Top 75 Singles chart.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and rapper.
The name Jovanotti derives from the plural form of the Italian word giovanotto ("young man"), i.e. giovanotti. Lorenzo Cherubini originally auditioned a band with the name "I Giovanotti", but the record producer only was interested in him. He then decided on an Italo-American name of "Joe Vanotti" before conjugating it to his famous moniker "Jovanotti". The spelling Jovanotti is anglicised, the letter j not often used in Italian.
Jovanotti gradually departed from his early mix of hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, rap and disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, taking in funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
and even classical arrangements and ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
influences. As his musical influences changed, so too did his lyrics, which, over time, began to increasingly address philosophical, religious and political issues, which are more typical of the Italian cantautore tradition. His social and political commitment increased as well. Some of his earlier work is also closer to keyboard-heavy 1980s pop.
Most of his songs are sung in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
; he also released a Spanish-language greatest hits album. His live album includes a short version of the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". Jovanotti appears on several international compilations, most notably Red Hot + Rhapsody, a 1998 tribute to George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, on which he performed "I Got Rhythm". His most famous songs are "L'Ombelico del Mondo" and "Serenata Rap". Jovanotti has also appeared in one of Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
's charity concert in 1996.
Early life
Cherubini was born on 27 September 1966 in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, but he spent part of his childhood in his parents' hometown, Cortona
Cortona
Cortona is a town and comune in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic center of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo.-History:...
, in the Province of Arezzo
Province of Arezzo
The Province of Arezzo or Arretium is the easternmost province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Arezzo.It has an area of 3,232 km², and a total population of 323,288 in 39 comuni . At June 30, 2005, the main comuni by population are:- External links :...
(Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
).
After completing his high-school studies, he started working as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
in several discothèques and radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s in the province of Rome.
In 1985 he moved in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. Two years later, while he was making a DJ set in Palinuro
Palinuro
Palinuro is a small town, the most populated civil parish of Centola, Province of Salerno, in the Campania region of Italy. The name of the town is derived from Palinurus, the helmsman of Aeneas, as recorded in the fifth and sixth books of the Aeneid.- Geography :Palinuro lies on the southern...
during the summer of 1987, he met the record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and talent scout Claudio Cecchetto, who proposed him to start working together. During the same year Jovanotti released his first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Walking", and he started working as a DJ in one of the most important national radio stations, Radio DeeJay
Radio DeeJay
Radio DeeJay is an italian radio station. It was founded on 1 February 1982 by the Italian radio and television personality Claudio Cecchetto and was acquired by the Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso in 1989 .-Overview:Early personalities on this radio station include: Claudio Cecchetto, Gerry Scotti,...
, founded by Cecchetto five years before.
Career breakthrough: 1980s and 1990s
His first studio albumStudio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, Jovanotti for President, was released in 1988 and became the symbol of the youth of the eighties, without any interest in ideologies
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. Despite receiving strongly negative critics, the album became a big commercial success, reaching the third position on the Italian Musica e Dischi
Musica e Dischi
Musica e Dischi is the oldest and most important music industry publication in Italy. It was founded in October 1945 in Milan, Italy on the initiative of the journalist and musicologist Aldo Mario De Luigi, a former senior record of VCM...
Albums Chart and selling over 400,000 copies in Italy. Moreover, the album spawned five singles, including the number-one hits, "Gimme Five" and "Gimme Five (Rasta Five)" and the songs "Go Jovanotti Go" and "Mix, Remix & The singers", which entered the Italian top 5.
In 1998, Jovanotti played a brief role in the movie I Giardini dell'Eden, directed by Alessandro D'Alatri.
The song "Piove" was released for the second season of The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
as an ending credits track.
2000s
His 2005 CD, Buon Sangue, was influenced by both rock and old school hip hop. It is one of his most innovative works to date. Edoardo BennatoEdoardo Bennato
Edoardo Bennato is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is the brother of the singer-songwriter Eugenio Bennato.-Biography:...
collaborated on one track, while bass player Saturnino co-wrote two of the songs.
In 2007, he was featured at the end of Negramaro
Negramaro
Negramaro is an Italian rock band formed in 1999 and successful since 2005. Their name stems from Negroamaro, a wine produced in their native region, Salento....
's song, "Cade la Pioggia", of their CD, La Finestra, and in 2008 he released the new album Safari.
In 2008, he performed as guest artist on the track "Lugar Comum" on Encanto (Sérgio Mendes album)
Encanto (Sergio Mendes album)
Encanto is an album from Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes. It is his thirty-sixth studio album to date. It is also his second work with collaboration from personnel of The Black Eyed Peas.-Track list:-Release history:-Charts:-External links:*...
At the end of 2009 he collaborated with Claudio Baglioni
Claudio Baglioni
Claudio Baglioni is an Italian musician. His various works include the official Anthem for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. He has also written for previous sporting events....
and Fabrizio Bosso, along with 70 other artists, in the song "Con tutto il mio cuore (With All My Heart)". On 1 January 2010 the group released "Baciami Ancora (Kiss Me Again)" for the soundtrack of a film by Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino is an Italian film director. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother's films....
.
2010s
In December 2010 he achieved a number one hit on the Italian Top 20 charts with "Tutto l'amore che ho". On January 25, 2011 has been released his eighteenth album OraOra (album)
Ora is the twelfth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter and rapper Jovanotti, released by Universal Music on 25 January 2010.Preceded by the single "Tutto l'amore che ho", released on 2 December 2010, the album debuted atop the Italian Albums Chart and peaked at number one for three...
.
In 2011 he will play at the Bonnaroo Music Festival
Bonnaroo Music Festival
The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an annual four day music festival created and produced by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment, held at Great Stage Park on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. It hosted its tenth annual event June 9–12, 2011...
Commitment
Along with the evolution of his sound, his social and political commitment increased since the 1990s. As a convinced pacifist, he frequently worked with organizations such as Make Poverty HistoryMake Poverty History
Make Poverty History is the name of a campaign that exists in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark , Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and Ireland...
, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, and he has contributed to events dedicated to debt relief (Global Call to Action Against Poverty
Global Call to Action Against Poverty
The Global Call to Action Against Poverty is a growing worldwide alliance consisting of national coalitions of campaigns to end poverty....
).
Jovanotti has a friendship with Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
due to their mutual quest for the cancellation of foreign debt in poor African countries. He also collaborated with Michael Franti
Michael Franti
Michael Franti is an American poet, musician, and composer. He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock...
of Spearhead on his Capo Horn and "Ora" albums. Both Michael Franti and U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
"misspelled" his name as Giovanotti in the liner note credits.
Television
Even though Jovanotti has never had a UK chart hit under his own name, he was briefly known in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as the presenter of the DEF II
DEF II
DEF II was a programming strand on BBC Two, which aired at 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 May 1988 to 23 May 1994, to serve the teenage market. It was produced by Janet Street-Porter, and followed on from her influential youth TV show Network 7, on Channel 4...
programme Gimme 5. The show, which featured a brief introduction each week by Jovanotti, showcased youth television programmes from around the world.
Gino Latino
Jovanotti was behind one of two rival Gino Latino italo houseItalo house
Italo house is a form of house music popular in Italy, Britain and United States since the late 1980s. It fuses house music and Italo disco. The genre's main musical characteristic is its use of predominantly electronic piano chords in a more lyrical form than classic Chicago House records...
tracks in the early 1990s. His Gino Latino single, "Welcome", reached Number 17 on the UK Top 75 Singles chart.
Private life
On 6 September 2008 Jovanotti married Francesca Valiani at Cortona, in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova. Their daughter Teresa was born in 1998. He dedicated the lullaby "Per te" to Teresa, one of the successes of the album Capo Horn (1999).Discography
Studio albums- 1988: Jovanotti for President
- 1989: La mia moto
- 1990: Giovani Jovanotti
- 1991: Una tribù che balla
- 1992: Lorenzo '92
- 1994: Lorenzo '94
- 1997: Lorenzo 1997 - L'albero
- 1999: Lorenzo 1999 - Capo Horn
- 2002: Lorenzo 2002 - Il quinto mondoLorenzo 2002 - Il quinto mondoLorenzo 2002 - Il quinto mondo is a 2002 album by Italian rapper Lorenzo Cherubini, also known as Jovanotti. As with Jovanotti's previous releases, Il quinto mondo reflects the singer's activism in areas such as politics, globalization, human rights and ecology, as well as his interest in world...
- 2005: Buon sangueBuon SangueBuon Sangue is the sixteenth album by Lorenzo Cherubini, known as Jovanotti. It was followed up by a live DVD of the albums songs. In Italy the album is 4x platinum with 290,000+ copies sold.-Tracks:#"³" - 3:33#"Mi fido di te" - 4:33...
- 2008: Safari
- 2011: OraOra (album)Ora is the twelfth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter and rapper Jovanotti, released by Universal Music on 25 January 2010.Preceded by the single "Tutto l'amore che ho", released on 2 December 2010, the album debuted atop the Italian Albums Chart and peaked at number one for three...