Luciano Riccardo Ligabue (born 13 March 1960), commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

singer-songwriter, film director and writer.

Biography

Ligabue was born in

Correggio Antonio Allegri da Correggio (August 1489 – 5 March 1534), usually known as just Correggio (, also , , ), was the foremost painter of the Parma school of the High Italian Renaissance, who was responsible for some of the most vigorous and sens ...

, in the

province of Reggio Emilia The Province of Reggio Emilia ( it, Provincia di Reggio nell'Emilia, Emilian: ''pruvînsa ed Rèz'') is one of the nine provinces of the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna. The capital city, which is the most densely populated comune in the provin ...

(

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

in northern Italy). Before becoming a successful singer, he held various jobs, working in agriculture and in factories. He entered the music world in 1987 when he founded the amateur band Orazero. For this band, he wrote several original songs, with which they participated in several local and national contests. The following year his fellow Emilian singer-songwriter

Pierangelo Bertoli Pierangelo Bertoli (5 November 1942 – 7 October 2002) was an Italian singer-songwriter and poet. Close to libertarian communist issues his works told mainly about environment, laïcité, antimilitarism and social issues regarding marginalized ...

was the first to discover Ligabue's writing talents, and included one of Ligabue's songs, "Sogni di Rock'n'Roll" ("Rock n roll dreams"), in his new LP. The following year Bertoli introduced him to producer Angelo Carrara, to finish an LP of his own, '' Ligabue'', which was released in May 1990. Ligabue soon gained fame as one of the most successful Italian rock stars, finding fans mainly among younger audiences. His most famous hits include ''Balliamo sul mondo'' (Let's Dance on the World), ''Ho perso le parole'' (I've lost words) and the most successful of all, ''Certe Notti'' (Certain Nights), which was voted as "Italian song of the 1990s" in a poll held by a popular music magazine. He also collaborated with another famous singer-songwriter,

Francesco Guccini Francesco Guccini (, born 14 June 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter, considered one of the most important '' cantautori'' of his time. During the five decades of his music career he has recorded 16 studio albums and collections, and 6 live a ...

, who also had a part in Ligabue's first movie. Ligabue directed his first movie, '' Radiofreccia'', in 1998, a semi-autobiographical story of a local radio station. Critics acclaimed it as surprisingly well shot for a newcomer, and the film received three David di Donatello Awards (the highest award in Italian cinema). He also composed the soundtrack. Four years later he shot '' Da zero a dieci'' ("From Zero to Ten"): however, it was not as well-received as the first work, by both critics and fans. Ligabue 2010-09-18 Torino 1

On 10 September 2005, Ligabue held a concert in

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abo ...

to celebrate his first 15 years of activity. The audience of around 180,000 set a European audience record for the one, non-free event for a single artist. However, due to problems with the audio system, several thousand people were unable to listen to the music and left the concert early. Ligabue later apologized for the problems. Ligabue has also published a short story collection, '' Fuori e dentro il Borgo'' ("In and out the village"), which won several literary awards, a science fiction novel '' La neve se ne frega'' ("Snow doesn't care") (2005), and collections of poems '' Lettere d'Amore nel frigo'' ("Love Letters in the fridge") (2006). He considers himself a "believer", even if he shows strong criticism towards the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. He is a passionate

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

fan.

Political involvement

In the 1980s Ligabue was a member of the communal council of his native Correggio, elected for the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

. Though he no longer assumes a public high-level political position, Ligabue, together with

Jovanotti Lorenzo Cherubini (; born 27 September 1966), better known as Jovanotti (), is an Italian singer-songwriter, rapper and disc jockey. The name Jovanotti derives from ''giovanotti'', the plural form of the Italian word ''giovanotto'' ("young man") ...

and

Piero Pelù Pietro "Piero" Pelù (born 10 February 1962) is an Italian singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the Italian band Litfiba. He was born in Florence. In July 1999, Pelù quit Litfiba. In 2000, he released his first solo album ''N ...

, released in 1999 the single "Il mio nome è mai più" ("My Name Is Never Again"), a song against the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

to collect funds for the Italian NGO

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

Discography

*''Ligabue'' (1990) *''Lambrusco coltelli rose & popcorn'' (1991) *''Sopravvissuti e sopravviventi'' (1993) *''A che ora è la fine del mondo?'' (1994) *''Buon compleanno Elvis!'' (1995) *''Su e giù da un palco'' (1997) *''Radiofreccia'' (1998) *''Miss Mondo'' (1999) *''Fuori come va?'' (2002) *''Giro d'Italia'' (2003) *'' Nome e Cognome'' (2005) *''Primo tempo'' (2007) *''Secondo tempo'' (2008) *''Sette notti in Arena'' (2009) *'' Arrivederci, mostro!'' (2010) *''Campovolo 2.011'' (2011) *'' Mondovisione'' (2013) *''Giro Del Mondo'' (2015) *''Made in Italy'' (2016) *''Start'' (2019) *''7'' (2020)

Tour and live

Filmography

Bibliography

*''Fuori e dentro il Borgo'' ("In and out the village") (1997) *''La neve se ne frega'' ("Snow doesn't care") (2004) *''Lettere d'amore nel frigo'' ("Love Letters in the fridge") (2006) *Made in Italy (2018)

References

External links

* * Ligabue on AllMusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ligabue, Luciano 1960 births Living people People from Correggio, Emilia-Romagna Italian deists Italian rock singers Italian singer-songwriters Italian male singers Italian film directors Italian male writers David di Donatello winners Nastro d'Argento winners Ciak d'oro winners