Francesco De Gregori

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Francesco De Gregori (2008)

Francesco De Gregori (born April 4, 1951 in Rome ) is an Italian cantautore (songwriter).

Little noticed at the beginning, De Gregori has been able to make a name for himself in the Roman singer-songwriter scene at the latest since his collaboration with Fabrizio De André in 1974 and also achieve considerable public success. Since his debut in 1972 he has topped the Italian album charts nine times. His multiple collaborations with Lucio Dalla have been particularly successful . Because of his introverted dealings with the press, the Cantautore was nicknamed Il principe ("The Prince", "The Prince"). In his songs, De Gregori combines a diffuse hermeticism in the lyrics with easily accessible melodies. As well as Fabrizio De André, Leonard Cohen and especially Bob Dylan are considered to be his musical role models . De Gregori has received numerous awards for his work, including six Targhe Tenco .

Career

Beginnings

De Gregori began his musical career at the age of 17 with a few appearances in the well-known Roman local folk studio , which had developed into a meeting place for young, aspiring musicians. Together with his fellow musicians Giorgio Lo Cascio , Ernesto Bassignano and Edoardo De Angelis , he also appeared at the I giovani del folk event . On the It label he finally released the album Theorius Campus in 1972 together with Antonello Venditti . While this was a stepping stone for Venditti to a new record deal and greater success, De Gregori was initially denied recognition. However, it developed into an insider tip within left-wing cultural associations.

Breakthrough and setbacks

It was not until 1973 that the musician was able to draw lasting attention to himself with the song Alice at the summer hit competition Un disco per l'estate and to reach a mass audience for the first time. The song entered the Italian single charts and was included on the album Alice non lo sa . After this success De Gregori switched to the big label RCA , where he made his debut in 1974 with the album Francesco De Gregori . In the same year he worked with Fabrizio De André on his album Vol. 8 . In 1975 he performed with Ron , Renzo Zenobi and Lucio Dalla in Milan and released the album Rimmel , with which he had his big breakthrough, initiated by the success of the single of the same name. The album also contained the song Buonanotte fiorellino , which Konstantin Wecker later recorded in German in 2011. The following year the album Bufalo Bill was released , the content of which dealt with mythically inflated human models.

During this time the political discourse hardened in the Italian public and concerts in particular became the scene of protests with increasing frequency. One of the high points of these clashes occurred on April 2, 1976 at a De Gregoris concert in Milan: Aggressive left-wing demonstrators accused the musician of his high salary and lack of solidarity with the labor movement, and suggested that he should commit suicide like Mayakovsky (a reference to the suicide of Luigi Tenco in 1967). The incident plunged De Gregori into an artistic crisis and it was only in 1978 that he returned after a break with the album De Gregori . He achieved great success with the anti-war song Generale .

successes

Then the Cantautore began a joint project with Lucio Dalla: This resulted in the successful single Ma come fanno i marinai / Cosa sarà in 1979 and the live album Banana Republic , the fruit of an extensive tour. Banana Republic was the first number one album for both musicians. Lucio Dalla also appeared on De Gregori's next studio album, Viva l'Italia , which was released that same year. The title song from it was again a great success. In 1982 the album Titanic followed , on which De Gregori played with motifs and metaphors around the sinking of the RMS Titanic . A year later the Cantautore contributed the EP La donna cannone for the soundtrack of the film Flirt by Roberto Russo (with Monica Vitti ) ; this could reach the top of the album charts. Two years after this success, De Gregori released the next album Scacchi e tarocchi , which was received very differently. In 1986 the asteroid (6114) Dalla-Degregori was named after the successful duo.

De Gregori (1990)

After switching to the label CBS ( Columbia Records , later Sony ) De Gregori's album Terra di nessuno was released in 1987 , with which he stylistically came closer to the folk-rock Bob Dylans . It was awarded the Targa Tenco album of the year. In 1989, in the album Miramare April 19 , 1989, he again focused increasingly on socio- critical topics from contemporary Italian times ; this album was also awarded the Targa Tenco. At the end of the decade, De Gregori published a trilogy of three live albums in 1990, Niente da capire , Catcher in the Sky and Musica leggera . The musician remained active throughout the 1990s, with the two studio albums Canzoni d'amore (1992) and Prendere e lasciare (1996; both number one in the charts) as well as the three no less successful live albums Il bandito e il campione ( 1993), Bootleg (1994) and La valigia dell'attore (1997). The song La valigia dell'attore was awarded a Targa Tenco song of the year in 1998.

In the new millennium De Gregori reported back in 2001 with the studio album Amore nel pomeriggio , which earned him a Targa Tenco for the third time, and then went on tour again. This resulted in the next live album Fuoco amico (2002). In the summer of 2002 he undertook another tour with Pino Daniele , Fiorella Mannoia and Ron, which led to the album Dal vivo . In the same year he also released the studio album Il fischio del vapore , on which he interpreted Italian folk songs together with Giovanna Marini ; the project was awarded a Targa Tenco for "Performers of the Year". After the live best of mix (2003; with a cover of the Dylan song I Shall Be Released ), the studio albums Pezzi (2005), which received another Targa Tenco, and Calypsos (2006) were released in quick succession . In 2005, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi awarded De Gregori the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Officer). In 2006 the three-part Best-of Tra un manifesto e lo specchio was also released , which also included Diamante , a song whose lyrics De Gregori had written for Zucchero in 1989 . Another live album followed ( Left & Right - Documenti dal vivo , 2007).

Later years with Dalla and Dylan

De Gregori and Lucio Dalla (2010)

In 2008 De Gregori released the studio album Per brevità chiamato artista , the title of which refers to his first record deal with RCA. He then revived the project with Lucio Dalla from 1979 and went on tour with him between 2010 and 2011. The new joint live album was titled Work in Progress and was supposed to represent the last collaboration between the two musicians (Dalla died in early 2012). In 2012 De Gregori was involved in the folk song album Vola vola vola by Ambrogio Sparagna and published a live album as well as the new studio album Sulla strada (released on the Edel label ), the title of which alludes to Jack Kerouac's Unterwegs . In the same year director Stefano Pistolini presented the documentary Finestre rotte about the life of De Gregoris at the Venice International Film Festival . In the 2014 album Vivavoce , however , the Cantautore presented new versions of some of his most famous songs, including a version by Alice with the participation of Ligabue .

In 2015 the song Sei mai stata sulla luna? , which De Gregori had written for the soundtrack of the film of the same name by Paolo Genovese , was awarded a Nastro d'argento for the best film song. In addition, this year the musician received the Premio Chiara in the Le parole della musica category . In the summer of 2015 De Gregori performed as the opening act for Bob Dylan at a concert in Lucca . Based on this, he published the cover album De Gregori canta Bob Dylan - Amore e furto in the same year , in which he interpreted Italian versions of well-known songs from his American role model. The album peaked in Italy. In 2017 the next live album Sotto il vulcano was released , in 2018 the cantautore could be heard in the song Quelli che restano by Elisa .

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT CH CH
1972 Theorius Campus - -
1973 Alice non lo sa - -
It
2000 number 74 (1 week) on the FIMI charts
1974 Francesco De Gregori - -
RCA Italiana
2012 number 55 (2 weeks) on the FIMI charts
1975 Rimmel IT3
Gold (2017)
Gold (2017)

(56 weeks)IT 		-
RCA Italiana
2000 place 23 (8 weeks) on the FIMI charts
2010 place 84 (3 weeks) on the FIMI charts
1976 Bufalo Bill IT2 (31 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
2001 number 64 (2 weeks) on the FIMI charts
1978 De Gregori IT2 (27 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
1979 Viva l'Italia IT2 (29 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
1982 Titanic IT4 (23 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
1983 La donna cannone IT1 (25 weeks)
IT 		-
EP (Q Disc)
RCA Italiana
1985 Scacchi e tarocchi IT2 (20 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
1987 Terra di nessuno IT12 (11 weeks)
IT 		-
CBS
1989 Mira Mare April 19, 1989 IT4 (19 weeks)
IT 		-
CBS
1992 Canzoni d'amore IT1 (21 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia
1996 Prendere e lasciare IT1 (22 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia
2001 Amore nel pomeriggio IT1 (27 weeks)
IT 		CH95 (2 weeks)
CH
Columbia
2002 Il fischio del vapore IT5 (22 weeks)
IT 		-
with Giovanna Marini
Columbia / Caravan
2005 Pezzi IT2 (28 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia / Caravan
2006 Calypsos IT1 (17 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia / Caravan
2008 Per brevità chiamato artista IT1 (21 weeks)
IT 		-
Sony
2012 Sulla strada IT6th
gold
gold

(35 weeks)IT 		-
Noble / caravan
2014 Vivavoce IT4th
platinum
platinum

(46 weeks)IT 		-
Sony
2015 De Gregori canta Bob Dylan - Amore e furto IT1
platinum
platinum

(39 weeks)IT 		CH54 (1 week)
CH

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Live albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT CH CH
1979 Banana Republic IT1
Gold (2019)
Gold (2019)

(43 weeks)IT 		-
with Lucio Dalla
RCA Italiana
2012 number 27 (8 weeks) in the FIMI charts
1990 Musica leggera IT13 (8 weeks)
IT 		-
Serraglio / CBS
Catcher in the Sky IT16 (8 weeks)
IT 		-
Serraglio / CBS
Niente da capire IT10 (11 weeks)
IT 		-
Serraglio / CBS
1993 Il bandito e il campione IT1
Gold (2016)
Gold (2016)

(22 weeks)IT 		-
Serraglio / Columbia
2010 number 95 (1 week) on the FIMI charts
1994 Bootleg IT5 (6 weeks)
IT 		-
Serraglio / Epic
1997 La valigia dell'attore IT2 (16 weeks)
IT 		-
Serraglio / Columbia
2002 Fuoco amico IT6 (10 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia
In tour IT5 (16 weeks)
IT 		-
2003 Mix IT12 (11 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia
2007 Left & Right - Documenti dal vivo IT19 (6 weeks)
IT 		-
Caravan
2010 Work in progress IT4th
platinum
platinum

(60 weeks)IT 		CH80 (2 weeks)
CH
with Lucio Dalla
Pressing
2012 Pubs and Clubs - Live @ the Place IT31 (9 weeks)
IT 		-
Caravan
2017 Sotto il vulcano IT4 (15 weeks)
IT 		CH54 (1 week)
CH
Caravan

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More live albums

Compilations (selection)

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT CH CH
1987 La nostra storia IT5 (15 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
2011 number 58 (8 weeks) on the FIMI charts
1992 All the best IT22 (3 weeks)
IT 		-
RCA Italiana
1996 Le origini IT9 (9 weeks)
IT 		-
RTI
1998 Curve nella memoria IT28 (3 weeks)
IT 		-
Columbia
1999 I miti musica: Francesco De Gregori IT27 (2 weeks)
IT 		-
BMG Ricordi
2006 Tra un manifesto e lo specchio IT6 (22 weeks)
IT 		-
Caravan
2013 Oggi IT45 (1 week)
IT 		-
Caravan

Singles (selection)

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT CH CH
1973 Alice
Alice non lo sa 		IT21st
Gold (2019)
Gold (2019)

(3 weeks)IT 		-
B-side: I musicanti
1975 Rimmel
Rimmel 		IT18th
Platinum (2017)
Platinum (2017)

(5 weeks)IT 		-
B-side: Piccola mela
1978 Generale
De Gregori 		IT4th
Platinum (2017)
Platinum (2017)

(19 weeks)IT 		-
B-side: Natale
1979 Ma come fanno i marinai
Banana Republic 		IT6 (19 weeks)
IT 		-
B-side: Cosa sarà
with Lucio Dalla
Viva l'Italia
Viva l'Italia 		IT3 (19 weeks)
IT 		CH8 (7 weeks)
CH
B-side: Banana Republic
2006 Diamante
Tra un manifesto e lo specchio 		- -
28th place (4 weeks) on the download charts
2012 Cosa sarà
Work in Progress 		IT42 (2 weeks)
IT 		-
with Lucio Dalla
Sulla strada
Sulla strada 		IT60 (3 weeks)
IT 		-
Guarda che non sono io
Sulla strada 		IT100 (1 week)
IT 		-
2014 Alice
Vivavoce 		IT38 (4 weeks)
IT 		-
with Ligabue
La donna cannone
Vivavoce 		IT47 (4 weeks)
IT 		-
2018 Quelli che restano
Diari aperti (Elisa) 		IT38 (1 week)
IT 		-
with Elisa

More singles

  • 1982 - La leva calcistica della classe '68 (Platinum (2019)Platinum (2019) )
  • 1983 - La donna cannone (Double platinum (2017)× 2Double platinum (2017) )
  • 1975 - Buonanotte fiorellino (Gold (2017)Gold (2017) )

bibliography

literature

  • Michelangelo Romano, Paolo Giaccio, Riccardo Piferi (eds.): Francesco De Gregori. Un mito. Lato Side, Rome 1980.
  • Massimo Cavezzali: A ovest di De Gregori. L'Isola Trovata, Bologna 1981, ISBN 88-7225-000-5 .
  • Alberto Stabile: Francesco De Gregori. Gammalibri, Milan 1987.
  • Giorgio Lo Cascio: De Gregori. Franco Muzzio, Padua 1990, ISBN 88-7021-500-8 .
  • Mario Bonanno: Francesco De Gregori. Cercando un altro Egitto. Giunti, Florence 2001, ISBN 88-8185-392-2 .
  • Pino Casamassima: Francesco De Gregori. La valigia del cantante. De Ferrari, Genoa 2002, ISBN 88-7172-428-3 .
  • Enrico Deregibus: Francesco De Gregori. Quello che non so, lo so cantare. Giunti, Florence 2003, ISBN 88-09-03231-4 .
  • Andrea Podestà: Francesco De Gregori. Camminando su pezzi di vetro. Zona, Civitella in Val di Chiana 2003, ISBN 88-87578-54-0 .
  • Vincenzo Mollica: Francesco De Gregori - Parole e Canzoni. Einaudi Stile Libero, 2004, ISBN 978-88-06-17201-5 .
  • Giommaria Monti: Francesco De Gregori. 1972-2004: Dell'amore e di altre canzoni. Editori Riuniti, Rome 2004, ISBN 88-359-5593-9 .
  • Antonio Piccolo: La storia siamo noi. Francesco De Gregori. Bastogi, Foggia 2007, ISBN 88-8185-925-4 .
  • Andrea Podestà: Francesco De Gregori. A piedi nudi lungo la strada. Zona, Civitella in Val di Chiana 2007, ISBN 978-88-89702-83-3 .
  • Paolo Jachia: La donna cannone e l'agnello di Dio. Tracce Cristiane in Francesco De Gregori. Con un intervento sui construction site. Ancora, Milan 2009, ISBN 978-88-514-0706-3 .
  • Claudio Fabretti: Francesco De Gregori. Fra le pagine chiare e le pagine scure. Arcana, Rome 2011, ISBN 978-88-6231-148-9 .
  • Silvia Viglietti, Alessandro Arianti: Francesco De Gregori. Guarda che non sono io. SVpress, Turin 2014, ISBN 978-88-909930-0-8 .
  • Enrico Deregibus: Francesco De Gregori. Mi puoi leggere fino a tardi. Giunti, Florence 2015, ISBN 978-88-09-80572-9 .

Web links

Commons : Francesco De Gregori  - Collection of Images

supporting documents

  1. ^ A b Marisa Brown: Francesco De Gregori, Biography & History. In: Allmusic . Retrieved May 26, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c De Gregòri, Francesco. In: Enciclopedia Treccani. Retrieved May 26, 2020 (Italian).
  3. ↑ Leonardo Colombati (Ed.): La canzone italiana, 1861-2011 . Mondadori, Milan 2011, p. 1328, 1477-1479, 1933 .
  4. ^ Jacopo Tomatis: A Portrait of the Author as an Artist: Ideology, Authenticity, and Stylization in the Canzone d'Autore . In: Franco Fabbri, Goffredo Plastino (Ed.): Made in Italy: Studies in Popular Music (=  Global Popular Music ). Routledge, London 2016, ISBN 978-1-138-21342-5 , pp. 95 .
  5. ^ Canzoni contro la guerra: Francesco De Gregori - Generals. In: Antiwarsongs.org. Retrieved May 26, 2020 (Italian).
  6. ↑ (6114) Dalla-Degregori = 1978 QS2 = 1984 HS1. IAU Minor Planet Center, accessed May 26, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f Albo d'oro Targhe Tenco. Club Tenco, accessed May 26, 2020 (Italian).
  8. ↑ Onorificenze De Gregori Sig. Francesco. In: Quirinale.it. Presidenza della Repubblica, accessed May 26, 2020 .
  9. ^ Il Club Tenco sceglie Francesco De Gregori per il 'Premio Chiara - Le Parole della Musica'. In: Sanremo News. April 24, 2015, accessed May 26, 2020 (Italian).
  10. ↑ a b c Chart sources (albums):
  11. ↑ a b c d Certificazioni. FIMI, accessed May 25, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Chart sources (singles):
personal data
SURNAME De Gregori, Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian Cantautore (songwriter)
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome