Alan Sorrenti

Alan Sorrenti 1980

Alan Sorrenti (born December 9, 1950 in Naples ) is an Italian singer, guitarist and songwriter.

Life

Alan Sorrenti's mother was Welsh and he also spent some time in Wales during his childhood . His music career began in Italy in the early 1970s with his debut album Aria (1972) and Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villagio deserto (1973). Both were progressive rock albums and the Italian played out the instrumentation and wide range of his voice in an experimental way, especially in the respective 20-minute title tracks. Even if his early works are little known today, they were on an international level, as proven by guest musicians such as David Jackson from Van der Graaf Generator and Francis Monkman from Curved Air . The drummer on both albums was Tony Esposito , who later became known as a soloist .

In the following years, however, he turned away from experimental rock. His recording of the Neapolitan folk song Dicitincello vuje on the third album Alan Sorrenti was a success and hit the charts as a single. He then moved in the direction of disco - pop . With Figli delle stelle (1977) and LA & NY (1979) on the major label EMI , the great commercial success came. His biggest hit, for which he is still famous today, was Tu sei l'unica donna per me (translated: You are the only woman for me), with which he first won the renowned festival bar competition in 1979. After that, the song he wrote himself became a summer hit not only in Italy but across Europe . In Switzerland, the song was number 1 in the charts for nine weeks and it was the second most successful song of the year. In Austria it had a number 2 hit, in Germany it only reached number 13, but was in the charts for a full 39 weeks.

In the following year, Sorrenti then represented Italy at the Grand Prix Eurovision and took 6th place with the title Non so che darei , which he also wrote himself. This song was also internationally successful. After that, however, the success quickly faded and it disappeared from the spotlight internationally. With Angeli di strada , a rockier album was released in 1983 before he personally turned to Buddhism and converted. His album Bonno Soku Bodai (1987) was inspired by his religious development. In 1988 Alan Sorrenti took part in the Sanremo Festival with Come per miracolo , but finished 26th and last. Since the 1990s, other albums with old and new material have been released at longer intervals. In 2003 he reached the charts again with the song Paradiso Beach together with the singer Jenny B. He had a bigger appearance in 2006 at the Festival 'O Scià in Lampedusa . After the earthquake in Nepal in 2015 , he gave a series of benefit concerts on site.

Cover versions

Tu sei l'unica donna per me

• Hoffmann & Hoffmann (1979), German version: All I need is you
• Nino de Angelo (2004)
• Claudia Jung (2015), revised German version: All I need is you

No so che darei

• Hoffmann & Hoffmann (1980), German version: If I lose you '

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		IT
1972	Aria	IT14 (21 weeks) IT	Harvest
1973	Come un vecchio incensiere all'alba di un villaggio deserto	IT14 (7 weeks) IT	Harvest
1975	Alan Sorrenti	IT20 (5 weeks) IT	Harvest was published in 1974
1978	Figli delle stelle	IT1 (29 weeks) IT	EMI was published in 1977
1979	LA & NY	IT1 (24 weeks) IT	EMI
1980	Di notte	IT3 (22 weeks) IT	CBO

More albums

• Sienteme, It's Time to Land (Harvest, 1976)
• Angeli di strada (CBO, 1982)
• Bonno soku bodai (Warner, 1987)
• Radici (1992)
• Sott'acqua (Sony, 2003)

Compilations (selection)

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		IT
1997	Miami	IT41 (1 week) IT

Singles (selection)

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)				Remarks
		IT	DE	AT	CH
1974	Dicitencello vuie Alan Sorrenti	IT9 (19 weeks) IT	-	-	-	Harvest, 3C 06 - 18017 B-side: Poco più piano
1978	Figli delle stelle Figli delle stelle	IT1 gold (23 weeks)IT	-	-	-	EMI, 3C 006 - 18307, B-side: E tu mi porti via sales: + 25,000; IT Gold 2019
1979	Tu sei l'unica donna per me L.A. & NY	IT1 (22 weeks) IT	DE13 (39 weeks) DE	AT2 (14 weeks) AT	CH1 (16 weeks) CH	EMI, 3C 006 - 62764 B-side: All Day in Love
1980	Not so che darei Di notte	IT1 (26 weeks) IT	DE22 (20 weeks) DE	AT14 (12 weeks) AT	CH3 (10 weeks) CH	CBO, CBN 106 B-side: Corro
	Prova con me Di notte	-	-	-	CH9 (4 weeks) CH	CBA, 6.12878 AC B-side: Ora 06
2003	Paradiso Beach Sott'acqua	IT45 (5 weeks) IT	-	-	-	feat. Jenny B.

Web links

• Official website (Italian)
• Alan Sorrenti at Rockol.it (Italian)
• Biography and Discography (Italian)
• Alan Sorrenti at Discogs (English)
• Works by and about Alan Sorrenti in the catalog of the German National Library

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b} Alan Sorrenti . Italianprog.com. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources (albums):
   • M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi , accessed on August 16, 2018 (Italian, paid subscription access). 
   • Guido Racca & Chartitalia: Top 100 FIMI album . Lulu , 2013, p. 170 .
3. ↑ Chart sources (singles):
   • M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi, accessed on August 16, 2018 (Italian, paid subscription access). 
   • Guido Racca & Chartitalia: Top 100 FIMI Singoli . Lulu, 2013, p. 147 .
   • Alan Sorrenti. In: Official German charts. GfK Entertainment , accessed on August 16, 2018 . 
   • Songs by Alan Sorrenti. In: Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien, accessed August 16, 2018 . 
   • Songs by Alan Sorrenti. In: Hitparade.ch . Hung Medien, accessed August 16, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Awards archive . FIMI , accessed May 13, 2019 (Italian).