CONCERTO

Francesco De Gregori was born to Rome on April 4, 1951. He spent part of his childhood to Pescara and then returned permanently to the capital in the late 1950s. to Rome he attended the Virgilio classical high school, where he experienced firsthand the events and political turmoil of the ´68 student movement. Strongly inspired by the music and lyrics of Fabrizio De André but also later by the songs of Bob Dylan, De Gregori began performing, as soon as he was 16, at the Folkstudio, presented by his older brother Luigi, also a musician. The Folkstudio is frequented from other young singer-songwriters such as Antonello Venditti, Mimmo Locasciulli, Stefano Rosso, Giorgio Lo Cascio, and Paolo Pietrangeli; from jazz musicians such as Mario Schiano and Marcello Melis. 1972 is the year of their recording debut. "Theorius Campus" sees De Gregori share with his friend Venditti, also on his first record, this still unripe work where the most interesting song (at least as far as De Gregori is concerned) is "Signora Aquilone." Despite the disappointing commercial success of "Theorius Campus," the following year, thanks to the courageous production of Edoardo De Angelis, Francesco De Gregori released, for IT by Vincenzo Micocci, the 33 rpm "Alice Doesn´t Know." The title track "Alice" participates in the "Un disco per l'Estate" event, ranking last. The record nonetheless achieves a fair amount of success and confirms De Gregori as one of the most beloved emerging singers among the avant-garde youth audience.

1974 saw the release of the very personal "Francesco De Gregori," in which very personal, visionary and hermetic songs find their place. Prominent among the titles are "Niente from capire," "Bene," and "Cercando un altro Egitto." A collaboration with Fabrizio De André dates back to the same year. De Gregori's signature appears in five songs, including "La cattiva strada" and "Canzone per l'estate," which will be part of "Volume VIII," the Genoese singer-songwriter's new album. 1975 was the year of "Rimmel," an album containing songs destined to to become classics of Italian music. "Rimmel," "Pablo" (co-written to Lucio Dalla), "Buonanotte fiorellino," and "Pezzi di vetro" will boast hundreds of live performances in the future from by their author. "Bufalo Bill," from 1976, is called by De Gregori himself "the most successful record." Highlights include exceptionally beautiful titles such as "Atlantis," "Santa Lucia," "The Killing of Santa Claus," and "Bufalo Bill" itself. After an interval of two years, a new album is released in 1978. "De Gregori" contains other memorable songs such as "Natale," "Raggio di sole," "Due zingari" and "Generale," the latter of which was destined to to become very famous. In 1979 Francesco De Gregori returned to performing in public. Together to Lucio Dalla and to a very young Ron, he brings to Italian stadiums an important and highly successful tour, "Banana Republic," which reopens the era of large mass concerts after the dark period of violence and protests. A record (more than 500,000 copies sold) and a film were made from the successful tour. to a short time later, the studio album "Viva l´Italia" was recorded, for which, with the intention of fusing Italian melody and international sounds, De Gregori availed himself of the production of Andrew Loog Oldham (former producer of the Rolling Stones) and the contribution of excellent U.S. musicians. 1982 is the year of "Titanic." "La leva calcistica della classe ´68," "Caterina," "I muscoli del capitano," and "L´abbabbigliamento del fuochista" are thus added to to a now well-established repertoire. In 1983 Francesco De Gregori released perhaps his most famous song, "La donna cannone," inspired from by a news article recounting the crisis of a circus now orphaned of its most successful act, who had fled to pursue a great love of his. On the same mini-album or Q -Disc (5 songs) are "Flirt," composed for a film with Monica Vitti, and "The Girl and the Mine." The fruit of Ivano Fossati's production is 1985's "Chess and Tarot," an album with which De Gregori ended his relationship with RCA. It includes, among others, "La storia," the melancholy "Ciao ciao" and "to Pa´," ideally dedicated to the figure of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Francesco De Gregori continues to performing until 1987, when the album "Terra di nessuno" was released. The next album is "Miramare 19.4.89" in which the still very topical "Bambini venite parvulos" and other songs such as "Dottor Dobermann" and "Cose" present a De Gregori in continuous evolution. After the 3 live albums "Catcher in the sky", "Musica leggera" and "Niente from capire" (released in 1990 at the same time), in 1992 the Roman songwriter reappears even more musically mature with the album "Canzoni d´amore", produced from Vincenzo Mancuso and capable of alternating great poetry ("Tutto più chiaro che qui", "Povero me") to more muscular episodes such as "Adelante! Adelante!" and "Travels & Mirages." After the two live records, "Il bandito e il campione" and "Bootleg," come four long years of silence, during which De Gregori improvised as a columnist on l'Unità directed from Walter Veltroni. The return to the market is in 1996, when in the album "Prendere e lasciare," produced from Corrado Rustici, De Gregori´s audience discovers new sounds and more modern and disorienting arrangements ("L´agnello di Dio"), to distant features from those acoustic solutions the artist had used at the beginning of his career. But new and bubbly is also the word research, present in songs such as "Un guanto" or "Rosa rosae" and "Compagni di viaggio." From the immediately following tour comes a double CD embellished with the unreleased "La valigia dell´attore," written for Alessandro Haber. "Amore nel pomeriggio," released in January 2001, ushers in the third millennium and the fourth decade of recording activity for Francesco De Gregori.

The album contains 11 new songs and is produced from Guido Guglielminetti, from a loyal collaborator of De Gregori´s. In two tracks there are excellent collaborations: in "Il cuoco di Salò" Franco Battiato, as arranger and producer; in "Natale di seconda mano" Nicola Piovani. to starting from March, after three years of absence from stages, De Gregori, under the artistic direction of Guido Guglielminetti, embarks on a new tour, accompanied from Paolo Giovenchi on guitars, Greg Cohen, formerly with Tom Waits, on bass and acoustic double bass, Alessandro Svampa on drums, Alessandro Arianti on piano and keyboards, Marco Rosini on mandolin and acoustic guitar, and, after 25 years since his last appearance, Toto Torquati on Hammond organ and keyboards. The tour successfully touches major Italian theaters and, after a short break, continues until to September giving birth to the live album "Fuoco amico - live 2001," released in January 2002. In the summer of the same year De Gregori embarks on an exceptional tour together to Pino Daniele, Fiorella Mannoia and Ron. The tour was born from the need to verify the "state of the art," of this "popular" art that is quality Italian music, through a new way of proposing it to the public, thus creating an exceptional opportunity for entertainment. In the same period, "Il Fischio del vapore," an album by Francesco De Gregori and Giovanna Marini containing some of the greatest Italian folk songs rearranged for the occasion and interpreted to two voices, was released in stores. Among the titles, in addition to to "Bella Ciao" in the original version by the mondine, are "Sacco e Vanzetti," "I treni per Reggio Calabria," "L´ abbigliamento di un fuochista" and "Il tragico naufragio della Nave Sirio." The album was a huge success, surpassing 150,000 copies sold. In November of the following year, "Mix" and "Mix Film" were released simultaneously, a double CD and a DVD that, without obeying to chronologies or to any other compilation criteria, offer in 31 tracks for two and a half at of music and almost as many images, perhaps the most complete and truthful portrait of an artist at the height of his maturity, free to express himself amidst his full-bodied past.

March 25, 2005: out comes "Pieces," the long-awaited new album to four years later from "Love in the Afternoon" and thirty from "Rimmel." A deliberately keyless title with only (perhaps) a bare reference to a ramshackle and ferocious world that no politics seems to be able to save anymore as in the ruthless "Go to Africa Celestino!", the first of the ten titles that make up the album. "A song," De Gregori declares, "about antinferno and free will." "Pezzi" surprises for the immediacy of the sounds and arrangements that appear more than ever to be the offspring of the live dimension, the artist's favorite: "It's the first time," says Francesco, "that one of my records sounds exactly as it will sound live with my band." to less than a year after the previous "Pezzi," "Calypsos" was released in February 2006.

Recorded to Rome during the month of December, with the musicians who usually accompany him live, the album contains 9 previously unreleased songs, is oriented toward more collected and acoustic sounds and seems to derive its title from Calypso, the nymph who for love held Ulysses captive on an island for seven years. On November 23, 2007, "Left & Right," a new live CD recorded in the summer, was released in stores and online. A dvd, "Takes & Outtakes," containing back-stage scenes, unreleased versions and a lengthy interview, is attached to the CD as a bonus. On April 21, 2008, the singer-songwriter's first official web space is launched: www.francescodegregori.net. to 6 months after the release of the last live show, a new album, "For Shortness Called Artist," is released on May 23, 2008. The album contains 9 unreleased tracks recorded in January of that year. Jan. 22, 2010: Francesco De Gregori is on stage at the Vox Club in Nonantola together to Lucio Dalla, for the first of a series of concerts part of the "Duemiladieci Dalla De Gregori Work in progress tour" that throughout the summer of 2010 stopped in 31 Italian cities, to Zurich (Switzerland) and to Lorrach (Germany), recording a great success with the public and several sold out on subsequent dates from November 2010 to May 2011. On November 16, 2011, "Work in progress" is released, a double live cd + dvd "back to back" with video contributions shot during the tour. to November 2012 the new album "Sulla strada" is released, which immediately climbs the sales charts, confirming the great affection and appreciation of the public for his music. Confirmed, moreover, by the sold-out performances at his latest concerts held to Rome (Atlantico live) and Milan (Alcatraz) to November.

A febbraio 2013 Francesco De Gregori presta per la prima volta la sua voce a un audiolibro, rileggendo “Cuore di tenebra” di Joseph Conrad (edito da Emons Audiolibri). Il 28 maggio 2013, la vita dello straordinario album “Sulla strada”, che testimonia lo stato di grazia di un autore e musicista capace di concepire nuovi capolavori come “Showtime”, “Guarda che non sono io”, “Belle Epoque”, si arricchisce di un nuovo capitolo: “Sulla strada Special Edition”. Solo 5000 copie, una tiratura limitata destinata ad aumentare il suo valore nel tempo, che prevede la ristampa del cd con 2 tracce extra (versioni alternative di “Ragazza del ‘95” e “Guarda che non sono io”), un book fotografico, “Sulla strada Foto Edition”, un DVD contenente immagini dal backstage del nuovo tour, brani live e making of del disco. Un’edizione che, dopo il vinile, completa la gamma dei supporti “fisici” di quello che può definirsi senza esitazioni il nuovo capolavoro di Francesco De Gregori, a quarantuno anni dal suo esordio discografico. A novembre del 2013 Francesco De Gregori viene premiato a Roma, in Campidoglio, dal Sindaco di Roma, dalle cui mani riceve il prestigioso “Premio Vittorio De Sica”, e a dicembre dello stesso anno “Sulla Strada” viene premiato come miglior album 2013 dall’“Academy Medimex”. Agli inizi del 2014 vola a Los Angeles per ritirare il “Premio L.A. Excellence Award” nel corso di uno spettacolo a lui dedicato al Chinese Theater di Hollywood. A fine maggio 2014 abbandona momentaneamente lo studio dove è impegnato con la registrazione di “VIVAVOCE” per collaborare con Lucia Romualdi all´istallazione "Soundings" nella Galleria Trisorio di Napoli. Per l´occasione rivisita e remixa la sua canzone "Cardiologia” per integrarla nell´opera dell´artista concettuale romana. A settembre esce in libreria “Francesco De Gregori. Guarda che non sono io”, a cura di Silvia Viglietti e Alessandro Arianti, una ricca biografia fotografica e non solo, a cui ha collaborato per la prima volta anche lo stesso De Gregori. Il volume viene presentato in anteprima a luglio durante il “Collisioni Festival” e, successivamente, a settembre al “Festivaletteratura” di Mantova. A novembre Francesco De Gregori parte per un tour in Europa che lo porta a suonare a Zurigo, Stoccarda, Lussemburgo, Londra, Bruxelles e Locarno. Anticipato in radio dal primo singolo “Alice”, cantato in duetto con Ligabue, il 10 novembre 2014 esce il doppio album “VIVAVOCE”, in cui l’artista rivisita con arrangiamenti inediti 28 tra i più importanti e significativi brani del suo repertorio, che conquista il disco di platino. L’11 marzo 2015 viene pubblicato l’audiolibro “America” (edito da Emons Audiolibri), dove Francesco De Gregori torna a regalare la sua voce unica rileggendo una delle opere meno conosciute di Franz Kafka. Il 20 marzo dal PalaLottomatica di Roma inizia il “VIVAVOCE Tour” (prodotto e organizzato da Caravan e F&P Group), con cui l’artista presenta live il doppio album “VIVAVOCE”. A maggio Francesco De Gregori si aggiudica il “Premio Chiara - Le parole della musica”, assegnato dal Club Tenco e dall’Associazione Amici di Piero Chiara e nato con l’intento di celebrare il fondamentale legame tra parole e musica, mentre a giugno vince il Nastro D’Argento 2015 nella categoria “Miglior canzone” per il brano “Sei mai stata sulla luna?”, colonna sonora dell’omonimo film di Paolo Genovese. Il 7 settembre si conclude il “VIVAVOCE Tour” dopo più di 50 date nei palasport, nei teatri e nei festival di tutta Italia. Il 22 settembre Francesco De Gregori è protagonista del concerto-evento “RIMMEL2015” durante il quale, in un’Arena di Verona sold out, ha suonato i suoi più grandi successi e per la prima volta integralmente i nove pezzi di “Rimmel”, un disco che nel 2015 festeggia, senza dimostrarli, i suoi 40 anni. Sul palco, Francesco De Gregori si è avvalso dell’aiuto e della complicità di alcuni amici e colleghi: Malika Ayane, Caparezza, Elisa, Fedez, L’Orage, Fausto Leali, Ligabue, Giuliano Sangiorgi, Ambrogio Sparagna e Checco Zalone. Il 30 ottobre esce “DE GREGORI CANTA BOB DYLAN – AMORE E FURTO”, il nuovo album di Francesco, in cui traduce e interpreta, con amore e rispetto, 11 canzoni di Bob Dylan. L’album entra direttamente al primo posto nella classifica dei dischi più venduti e si aggiudica il disco di platino. Il 5 marzo 2016 dall’Atlantico Live di Roma parte l’“AMORE E FURTO tour 2016” (prodotto e organizzato da Caravan e F&P Group), con tappe sold out in tutti i principali club e teatri italiani. Il 5 maggio viene pubblicato “PASSO D’UOMO” (Laterza), libro scritto da De Gregori insieme ad Antonio Gnoli, dove per la prima volta l’artista si racconta attraverso una serie di conversazioni tra pensieri, ricordi ed emozioni. Il 2 luglio riparte da Roma (Cavea – Auditorium Parco della Musica) l’“AMORE E FURTO tour 2016”, con date estive che portano De Gregori a suonare nelle più suggestive location d’Italia fino al 30 agosto. Il 2 dicembre esce “BACKPACK” (Sony Music Italy), un box contenente tutti i 32 album ufficiali, di studio e dal vivo, di Francesco De Gregori, rimasterizzati e riprodotti con le loro copertine originali, e un libro di 268 pagine che racconta la storia degli album con schede scritte da Enrico Deregibus e corredate da foto storiche ed inedite. Il 3 febbraio 2017 esce il doppio album live “SOTTO IL VULCANO” (prodotto da F&P Group e Caravan/distribuito da Sony Music) registrato durante il concerto di Francesco De Gregori al Teatro Antico di Taormina, nel corso del suo “Amore e Furto tour”, con la produzione artistica di Guido Guglielminetti. Il disco è stato anticipato in radio dal brano “4 marzo 1943”, mentre il singolo attualmente in rotazione radiofonica è “Rimmel”.

In October and November, Francesco De Gregori is the protagonist of a club tour, with an unprecedented show that takes him to the stages of some of the most important European and American cities, such as London, Paris, New York and Boston, to perform live his greatest hits and some of the lesser-known songs from his repertoire.