Alice (Italian singer)

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Alice (2009)
Performance 2012 in Florence

Alice ([ aˈliːtʃɛ ]; born September 26, 1954 in Forlì as Carla Bissi ) is an Italian pop singer . She won the Sanremo Festival in 1981 with the song Per Elisa .

Career

Already at the age of 17, Bissi released her first singles under her maiden name, which however remained unsuccessful - as did her first two albums La mia poca grande età (1975) and Cosa resta un fiore (1978), for which she used the pseudonym Alice Visconti used. Only the collaboration with the Cantautore Franco Battiato brought the breakthrough. The first joint album Capo Nord (1980) - now as Alice - was a small success. The single Il vento caldo dell'estate , which was released from it, became a surprise hit. With Per Elisa she won the Sanremo Festival in 1981 , the single reached number one on the Italian charts and sold half a million times. The success was repeated in many European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Finland), where she became part of a wave of Italian pop and rock music together with artists such as Gianna Nannini , Loretta Goggi and Ricchi e Poveri . Two albums with rocked pop music, Per Elisa and Azimut, followed . Both albums were produced by Battiato. Her first self-produced album Falsi allarmi (1983) was less successful than its predecessor. She had her greatest success in Germany with Una notte speciale , which was ranked eighth among the best-selling singles of 1982; it was also recorded in a German version by Tony Holiday .

In 1984 she had two hit singles with duets. On the one hand, too close to the fire with the German singer Stefan Waggershausen , who became number one in the charts in Switzerland and Austria. On the other hand I treni di Tozeur , a renewed collaboration with Battiato, with whom she took fifth place in the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest . This was followed in 1985 by the album Gioielli rubati ("Stolen Jewels") with cover versions of Battiato songs. The album was particularly successful in France and Germany and the single from it, Prospettiva Nevski , reached chart positions in Italy and Austria, despite the very independent character of the piece.

From 1986 onwards, Alice increasingly wanted to implement her own ideas, even more introverted, personal and extremely interesting tone sequences. With each album new musical aspects were added. Influences from folk , new age , hip-hop , dance , electro , rock and other styles of music expanded her spectrum continuously. The first result of this "new artistic life" was the 1986 album Park Hotel , on which she a. a. worked with Tony Levin and Phil Manzanera . From this album comes the most beautiful, very melancholy-looking single Nomadi for interested Alice fans , with a 6-week chart placement in Germany, but not in Italy. During this time of musical reorientation, the success ratio tipped: Alice's popularity in Germany now almost exceeded that in Italy, where her following seemed to be waning. In 1987 she was awarded the “ Golden Europe ” of the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation . Her 1987 album Elisir with new, z. In some cases, significantly improved versions of their well-known titles, only reached lower chart positions in Germany.

By the late 1980s, Alice's commercial success waned, but her own quality continued to increase. Albums such as Il sole nella pioggia (1989) or Charade (1995) were largely ignored, although they were clearly influenced by the current music trends and are still released worldwide. Her involvement in the experimental ambient project Devogue also received no noteworthy response. In 2000 Alice took part in the Sanremo Festival again after 19 years , but the hoped-for commercial comeback did not materialize. Her title Il giorno dell'indipendenza landed in one of the lower ranks. In 2003 Viaggio in Italia came out - a kind of musical journey through Italian sensitivities. With songs like Auschwitz , she combines serious topics with harmonious pop sounds. Her excursions into demanding musical areas are also worth mentioning, for example when she gives guest performances with Pasolini texts or sings spiritual songs from her album God Is My DJ in churches . Her two most recent studio albums, Samsara, from 2012 and Weekend from 2014, and her live albums from 2013 and 2016, again enjoyed considerable success in Italy.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT DE DE AT AT CH CH
1981 Alice / Per Elisa IT21 (5 weeks)
IT 		DE16 (26 weeks)
DE 		- -
EMI
Capo North - - AT17 (2 weeks)
AT 		-
first published in 1980
1982 azimuth IT15 (8 weeks)
IT 		DE48 (5 weeks)
DE 		- -
EMI
1983 Falsi allarmi IT18 (5 weeks)
IT 		DE49 (3 weeks)
DE 		- -
EMI
1985 Gioielli rubati IT19 (2 weeks)
IT 		DE42 (15 weeks)
DE 		AT12 (28 weeks)
AT 		CH13 (11 weeks)
CH
EMI
1987 Park Hotel - DE34 (14 weeks)
DE 		AT24 (4 weeks)
AT 		CH21 (5 weeks)
CH
EMI
1988 Elisir - DE54 (6 weeks)
DE 		- -
EMI
1989 Il sole nella pioggia IT15 (6 weeks)
IT 		- - -
EMI
1995 Charade IT33 (1 week)
IT 		- - -
WEA
1998 Exit IT25 (2 weeks)
IT 		- - -
WEA
2000 Personal juke box IT37 (2 weeks)
IT 		- - -
WEA
2003 Viaggio in Italia IT28 (4 weeks)
IT 		- - -
Well / noble
2012 Samsara IT10 (6 weeks)
IT 		- - -
Arecibo
2014 Weekend IT19 (4 weeks)
IT 		- - -
Arecibo

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

  • La mia poca grande età (as Alice Visconti; 1975)
  • Cosa resta… un fiore (as Alice Visconti; 1978)
  • Mélodie Passagère (1988)
  • Mezzogiorno sulle Alpi (1992)
  • God Is My DJ (1999)

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT DE DE AT AT CH CH
2009 Lungo la strada Live IT34 (6 weeks)
IT 		- - -
EMI
2013 Del suo veloce volo - Live /
Arena di Verona 		IT7 (15 weeks)
IT 		- - -
2016 Live in Roma IT8 (13 weeks)
IT 		- - -
Universal
Battiato and Alice + Ensemble Symphony Orchestra

Compilations (selection)

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT DE DE AT AT CH CH
2011 The Platinum Collection IT73 (1 week)
IT 		- - -
EMI

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT DE DE AT AT CH CH
1980 Il vento caldo dell'estate
Capo Nord 		IT8 (12 weeks)
IT 		- - -
B-side: Sera
1981 Per Elisa
Alice / Per Elisa 		IT1 (14 weeks)
IT 		DE17 (19 weeks)
DE 		AT4 (14 weeks)
AT 		CH5 (7 weeks)
CH
B-side: Bael
1982 Una notte speciale
Alice / Per Elisa 		- DE7 (28 weeks)
DE 		- -
B-side: Senza cornice
Messaggio
azimuth 		IT6 (19 weeks)
IT 		DE24 (17 weeks)
DE 		- -
B-side: La mano
1983 A cosa pensano
azimuth 		- DE74 (1 week)
DE 		- CH11 (3 weeks)
CH
B-side: Principessa
Chan-son égocentrique
azimuth 		IT23 (2 weeks)
IT 		- - -
B-side: azimuth
Il profumo del silenzio
Falsi allarmi 		IT16 (7 weeks)
IT 		- - -
B-side: Solo un'idea
1984 Too close to the fire - DE13 (18 weeks)
DE 		AT1 (14 weeks)
AT 		CH1 (12 weeks)
CH
with Stefan Waggershausen
B-side: Stefan Waggershausen Unfortunately only love
I treni di Tozeur IT3 (17 weeks)
IT 		- - CH18 (6 weeks)
CH
with Franco Battiato
B-side: Le biciclette di Forlì
1985 Summer on a Solitary Beach
Gioielli rubati 		- DE61 (2 weeks)
DE 		- -
B-side: Mal d'Africa
Prospettiva Nevski
Gioielli rubati 		IT20 (3 weeks)
IT 		- AT15 (16 weeks)
AT 		-
B-side: Mal d'Africa or Luna Indiana
1987 Nomadi
Park Hotel 		- DE61 (6 weeks)
DE 		- -
B-side: Segni nel cielo
2000 Il giorno dell'indipendenza
Personal Juke Box 		IT28 (1 week)
IT 		- - -

More singles

  • Il mio cuore se ne va / Un giorno nuovo (as Carla Bissi; 1972)
  • La festa mia / Fai tutto tu (as Carla Bissi; 1972)
  • Il giorno dopo / Vivere un po 'morire un po' (as Carla Bissi; 1973)
  • Io voglio vivere / Semper tu semper di più (as Alice Visconti; 1975)
  • Piccola anima / Mondo a matita (as Alice Visconti; 1976)
  • Un'isola / Alberi (as Alice Visconti; 1977)
  • E respiro / Un fiore (as Alice Visconti; 1978)
  • Carthago / Una sera di November (1983)
  • Conoscersi / Volo di notte (1986)
  • The Fool on the Hill / Il vento caldo dell'estate (1987)
  • Visioni / Il sole nella pioggia (1989)
  • In viaggio sul tuo viso (1992)
  • Non ero mai sola (1995)
  • Dammi la mano amore (1995)
  • Open Your Eyes (with Skye by Morcheeba ; 1998)
  • I am a taxi (1998)
  • Come un sigillo (2004)
  • Nata ieri (2012)
  • Orientamento (2012)
  • Tante belle cose (feat. Paolo Fresu ; 2014)

Web links

Commons : Alice  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Golden Europe. In: Chronicle of the ARD . Retrieved November 20, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b c Chart sources (albums):
    • M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi , accessed on November 18, 2017 (Italian, paid subscription access).
    • Guido Racca & Chartitalia: Top 100 FIMI album . Lulu , 2013, p. 67 .
    • Alice albums. In: Italiancharts.com. Hung Medien, accessed November 18, 2017 (IT).
    • Alice. In: Official German charts. GfK Entertainment, accessed on November 18, 2017 (DE).
    • Alice albums. In: Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien, accessed November 18, 2017 (AT).
    • Alice albums. In: Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien, accessed on November 18, 2017 (CH).
  3. ↑ Chart sources (singles):
    • M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi, accessed on November 18, 2017 (Italian, paid subscription access).
    • Alice. In: Official German charts. GfK Entertainment, accessed on November 18, 2017 (DE).
    • Songs from Alice. In: Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien, accessed November 18, 2017 (AT).
    • Songs from Alice. In: Hitparade.ch. Hung Medien, accessed on November 18, 2017 (CH).
personal data
SURNAME Alice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bissi, Carla (real name); Visconti, Alice (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Forlì , Italy