MARCO MASINI

Festivalbar, which he won with the best record of the year, while the video for Malinconoia, recorded in a concert at the Palaeur in Rome, won the prize for best live-video of Riminicinema '91. After having shut himself away in a recording studio close to Orvieto, on 14 January 1993, Marco released T'innamorerai, the album that opened the doors of the world for him. However, it was not without problems since it caused a scandal by containing the piece Vaffanculo (Fuck off), resulting in controversy and censorship by both television and radio. In the meantime, in Spain where a collection of songs from his first two albums – titled Marco Masini – had already had enormous success, he won the “Golden Disc” with this album sung in Spanish (as Te enamorarás). T’innamorerai was also issued in Germany and France, confirming the excellent expectations and also here gaining a “Golden Disc”. In January 1995 he made his fourth album, Il cielo delle Vergine, issued in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and, in a Spanish version (El cielo de Virgo), Spain and Latin America. Also this album was criticised for the two songs Bella stronza and Principessa, both of which were very direct and explicit. In 1996, L’amore sia con te was released, a compilation of Marco’s greatest hits, with the addition of the previously unpublished song which gave its name to the compilation, and Meglio solo, a song first appearing in 1989 as the B side of the single Disperato. The collection was issued simultaneously in Spanish-speaking countries under the title Mi amor allí estará and with a slightly different list of tracks. That summer he went on the L’amore sia con te tour. In 1997, Enrico Ruggeri asked Marco to sing La gente di cuore with him, a song included in the album Domani è un altro giorno by Ruggeri. After almost four years of silence, on 12 November 1998, the album Scimmie was released, issued under the label Ma.Ma., founded by him together with Mario Manzani and Marco Poggioni. This new album was a turning point in Marco’s production, who also presented a new look to the public: white beard and hair. But, above all, it marked the split from Bigazzi, Marco’s former maestro who had helped him in his first years of music. This album is much more rock-oriented and the lyrics are, in general, less sentimental, but also more obscure: with Scimmie Marco said he want to go back to the music of the 70s which he had always loved so much and which was beginning to come back into fashion: although critics’ opinions were very positive, the public did not feel the same way, leading to the commercial failure of an album not understood. But, in 1999, he made a return to the past, perhaps because of the difference of opinion with his fans that wanted back the old Masini they loved, with the love songs and the words of incredible poetry and depth. After the single Il giorno più banale had been released at Christmas that year (with its well-wishes to our less fortunate brothers in poor countries), the final confirmation was his return to the Sanremo Festival in 2000 with the song Raccontami di te, where he came fifteenth, the last but one position. Marco very happily accepted this result (considering the fifteenth as a position of honour in view of other illustrious previous songs), despite the fact that there was heated debate from many quarters on the new scoring system which had led to quite unexpected results. At the same time as the Festival (on 22 February 2000), the album Raccontami di te was released, containing the song presented at Sanremo, Il giorno più banale (renamed Il giorno di Natale) and another nine songs which partly unite the new arrangements in Scimmie with the poetic themes and gentle melodies characteristic of his first albums. On 27 March 2000, Marco also began the new Raccontami di te tour, which achieved significant success and was held in two separate moments: one in the spring, in theatres, and a summer one in the town squares of many Italian cities. On completing the tour, not even a year later from publishing the last album, on 26 January 2001, Marco brought out Uscita di sicurezza, a record containing some 14 new songs, written throughout all of his career, a sort of ‘secret diary’ brought to the light of day. One of the new songs that stood out was a cover version of an enormously famous song by the group Thrash dei Metallica, and a song dedicated to child sponsorship, by means of which Marco wanted to embrace the cause of children in the Sudan. This new album marked his artistic reconciliation with Bigazzi, proposing modern sounds and with many influences from foreign music in support of subjects with renewed force and determination. However, this album and the euphoria for the new songs was completely undermined by the lack of promoting by the record company (still BMG Ricordi) and the continual ‘stonewalling’ of Masini by the media. Sales suffered considerably, also because Uscita di sicurezza was an album with many facets and, for this reason, more difficult to understand. Marco, at the end of his tether, publicly announced on television news on 17 April that year that he was retiring from the career of singer/songwriter and that he would perhaps become a producer of other young groups. All efforts by certain important personalities, such as Adriano Celentano and Maurizio Costanzo, who wanted him to take part in their television programmes to reveal what was happening, were in vain. In order to not renege on commitments undertaken several months earlier, he began his 2001 tour at the end of April, which went on until October and was held in the town squares of many provincial areas all over Italy. Thus the exceptional but brief career of a singer/songwriter, who had certainly given a lot to Italian music and who would have been able to give even more, seem to be coming to a close. A singer/songwriter with sensational aspects, in all ways, who had turned his simplicity, his weaknesses, and also his artistic, introspective and defiant abilities into a winning formula, who was to ensure that the memory of himself and of his songs remained in the hearts of thousands (and maybe even millions) of people in Italy and around the world. The autumn of 2003 was the moment of Marco Masini’s momentous comeback under the independent label MBO Music by Mario Ragni (his discoverer at the times of Ricordi). This was a difficult return for Marco, but was bolstered by the great love Marco has for music. The new work was presented to the Press on 7 October 2003 with the title “…IL MIO CAMMINO”: an album that chronicles his musical past with new arrangements and which was filled out by three completely new songs, “GENERATION”, “IO NON TI SPOSERO’” and “BENVENUTA”. Fate decreed that, for this new adventure, Marco Masin would, for the fourth time, be on the stage of the Ariston for the 54th Sanremo Festival of Italian songs. The title of the song was “L’UOMO VOLANTE”, a poetic view of the wish to be a parent, which was backed by an easy-going and penetrating musical accompaniment that is memorable right from first hearing, where the voice of Marco Masini adds character and emotion with an intense “ballad” of decidedly softer tones than his previous repertory. On 6 March 2004, Marco Masini won the 54th Sanremo Festival. Concurrently with this major event, the album “MASINI” was released, a new edition of “…Il mio cammino”, with the addition of two completely new songs, “L’uomo volante” and “E ti amo”; this new direction meant a new Marco, not just in terms of music but also in terms of image. On 17 March 2004 at the Auditorium of Rome, Marco Masini’s theatre tour was presented. This was a tour taking place in the principal Italian cities, starting at the Rome Auditorium on 22 March 2004 and ending at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan on 19 April 2004. After the Theatre Tour, which was always sold out, Marco Masini started on a new Tour in the indoor stadiums throughout Italy; to complete this new event, the artist met the young in the schools of the towns where his concerts were being played. In May that year, his new single “E ti Amo” was released. With this song, Masini, “L’uomo volante”, took part in the main television events of the summer of 2004, without forgetting the Summer Tour where he was the star attraction in the top Italian cities. From the end of September, together with the publication of the CD “MASINI” in European countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany and Austria), he began his international tour. On 19 November 2004, the artist’s first DVD and first CD LIVE were released. The double CD contains the live concert held at the Palasport in Florence on 18 May 2004, while the DVD, in addition to this same concert, shows many of the moments experienced by Masini in this extraordinary year held among his public, with his musicians, the interviews, backstage moments and, of course, his fans. Once again in 2005, Marco Masini took part in the 55th Sanremo Festival of Italian Song with a piece called “Nel mondo dei sogni”. On 10 June 2005, four and half years after his last record, the new CD was released called “Il giardino delle api”. He was one of the figures that enlivened proceedings at the “XX WORLD YOUTH DAY” in Cologne. Two months after its release, he received the Golden Disc. From the end of September 2005 he was on tour in Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. The Italian Theatre Tour started at the Auditorium Pio in Rome, followed by other shows in the main Italian cities. On 11 November, the new single – “RIMANI COSÌ” arrived in the shops, taken from “Il Giardino delle Api”. It contained the theme tune of the cartoon being shown on the ITALIA 1 channel, Shaman King, which was composed and sung by Marco. Spring and summer of 2006 saw the new summer tour “Il Giardino delle Api Tour”. On 24 November, MBO published Masini’s new recording project called TOZZI MASINI, where he performs a new and exclusive production together with his colleague Umberto Tozzi. The first CD single called “Come si Fa?” was released on 10 November.

Written by the MBO Music Press Office.