Francesco Luigi "Franco" Simone (born 21 July 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer and television host, known as ''il poeta con la chitarra'' ("the poet with the guitar") for the poetical value of his lyrics.

Background

Born in Acquarica del Capo in the

province of Lecce The province of Lecce (; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-populous province in Ap ...

, Simone started his career winning the Castrocaro Music Festival in 1972. In 1974 he entered the competition at the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

with the song "Fiume grande", obtaining his first success in the Italian hit parade. "Fiume grande" also had a significant international success in its French and Spanish version (under the titles, respectively, "Je ne comprends plus rien" and "Río Grande"). In 1976, with the LP ''Il poeta con la chitarra'', Simone got his main success in Italy with the song "Tu e così sia", which peaked fourth in the Italian hit parade. In the following years Simone grew his international popularity, especially in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

, where he gradually focused his career. In 1977 his LP ''Respiro'' was a great success, and ''Respiro'', the song that gives the title to the album, is still the best known and loved by the Italian public. The following year (1978) he released the album ''Paesaggio'' (Landscape) which will obtain a resounding success in Latin America and in particular in Argentina, where, with the following albums, he will repeatedly reach the first position of the charts in the hit parade. The song ''Paisaje'' will become one of the most popular songs in the Spanish language with dozens of coves like those of Gilda and Vicentico. In 1993 his LP ''La Ley del Alma (y de la piel)'', containing the Spanish versions of his songs, reached the 13th position in the USA Billboard Hit Parade, first LP of the parade not sung in English From 2008 to 2011 he gave singing lessons at "Star Rose Academy" in Rome where he taught to sister Cristina Scuccia, the winner of ''

The Voice of Italy ''The Voice of Italy'' is a reality singing competition and Italian version of the international syndication '' The Voice'' based on the reality singing competition launched in the Netherlands, created by Dutch television producer John de Mol Jr ...

2014''. In 2011 he won the Globo d'oro for Best Song for the song "Accanto" included in the film ''Native''. In 2013-2014 he composed the symphonic-rock opera '' Stabat Mater'' (on the 13th century Latin text by Jacopone da Todi) sung together with the rocker Michele Cortese end the Anglo-Italian tenor Gianluca Paganelli. In 2015 his song "Per fortuna" ("Por Suerte" in Spanish), sung by Michele Cortese, won the 56th edition of the Chilean Festival of Viña del Mar. In 2018 he writes and sings the song "Ballando sul prato" in a duet with Rita Pavone and in 2020 he writes and sings the song "Come gira il mondo" in a duet with Paolo Belli. In 2020 he began his collaboration with Andrea Morricone with whom he wrote 2 songs ("Azzurri gli oceani" and "Cambia la città") included in the album ''Franco è il nome'' (first of a trilogy), released in 2021 which contains, in addition to his hits ("Respiro", "Cara droga", "A quest'ora", "Tentazione", "Gocce", "Tu per me") revisited and rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, the cover of

Lucio Dalla Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards. Dalla was the composer of "Caruso (song), Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor Enri ...

's Caruso and the translation of "Hello" ("Solo se mi vuoi") by

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

, together with the duets with Rita Pavone and Paolo Belli, and other unpublished pieces, including those sung in duet with Cinzia Marzo (by Officina Zoè) and with Zeta (Benedetta Zuccaro). In 2022 he celebrated his 50 years of career with the nomination of Mario Draghi as Cavaliere, a triumphal tour in Chile and the release of a new album, ''Simone è il cognome'' (second in the trilogy), which contains, in addition to his successes ("Paesaggio", "La casa in via del Campo", "Ritratto", "Capitano", "L'infinito tra le dita", "Sogno della galleria", "Sono nato cantando", "Notte di San Lorenzo" and "Totò") rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, covers of "Povera patria" by Franco Battiato and Mina's "L'ultima occasione" and other new songs such as "Figlia, acqua e luce", and duets with Paola Arnesano and Antonio Amato.

Discography

*1972 - Se di mezzo c'è l'amore (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14226) *1974 - La notte mi vuole bene (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14240) *1976 - Il poeta con la chitarra (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14274) *1977 - Respiro (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14287) *1978 - Paesaggio (Ri-Fi, RDZ-ST S 14300) *1979 - Franco Simone (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9001) *1980 - Racconto a due colori (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9002) *1982 - Gente che conosco (Franco Simone & C. / WEA, FS 9004) *1984 - Camper (SGM, 91001) *1986 - Il pazzo, lo zingaro ed altri amici (Targa, TAL 1413) *1989 - Totò (Skizzo / Fonit Cetra, LPX 233) *1990 - Vocepiano - dizionario dei sentimenti (Skizzo - Discomagic, LP 486) *1995 - Venti d'amore (2 inediti) (Nibbio / Skizzo - Fonit Cetra, CDL 391) *1996 - Una storia lunga una canzone (Nibbio / Skizzo - Fonit Cetra, CDL 410) *1998 - Notturno fiorentino (Nibbio / Skizzo - RTI, CNT 21132) *2001 - Eliopolis - La città del sole (Segnali Caotici, 253750053-2)(with the Great Balkanic Orchestra of Nikos Papakostas) *2003 - Dizionario (rosso) dei sentimenti - VocEpiano (Azzurra, DA1012) (+ DVD) *2010 - Nato tra due mari (CD La musica del mare + DVD Le parole del mare - Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/05) *2011 - C'era il sole ed anche il vento... - Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/06 *2011 - La musica del mare (reprint of the CD "La musica del mare" of the CD box "Nato tra due mari" in 2010 with bonus track "Accanto" winner of the Golden Globe 2011 for the best film song (Skizzo distribuzione Self, ICEBOX 10/07) *2014 - Stabat Mater, symphonic rock opera (Latin text by Jacopone da Todi) featuring Michele Cortese e Gianluca Paganelli, special guest Rita Cammarano *2016 - Carissimo Luigi (Franco Simone canta Luigi Tenco) *2018 - ''Per fortuna (Compilation) “Per fortuna” vincitrice “Festival di Viña del mar” 2015 miglior canzone internazionale''. *2021 - ''Franco è il nome'' (Skizzo Edizioni Musicali) *2022 - ''Simone è il cognome'' (Skizzo Edizioni Musicali)

References

Bibliography

*Stasi, Carlo (2016). ''Sono nato cantando... tra due mari (radici e canto nella poetica di Franco Simone, cantautore salentino).'' Sannicola: iQuadernidelBardo. p. 38. .

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simone, Franco 1949 births People from the Province of Lecce Italian male singer-songwriters 20th-century Italian singer-songwriters 21st-century Italian singer-songwriters Italian pop singers Italian pop rock singers Living people 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 21st-century Italian composers Italian male composers Spanish-language singers of Italy