Piero Cassano (born 13 September 1948) is an Italian keyboardist, singer and composer, a founding member of the

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

n band

Matia Bazar Matia Bazar () is an Italian pop band formed in Genoa in 1975. The original members of the group were Piero Cassano (keyboards), Aldo Stellita (bass), Carlo Marrale (guitar, vocals), Giancarlo Golzi (drums), and Antonella Ruggiero (vocals ...

Early career and Jet

Cassano started playing the piano at a young age. In 1971 he founded the progressive rock band JET with fellow musicians Aldo Stellita and Carlo Marrale. The band released an album, ''Fede, speranza, carità'' and unsuccessfully participated to the Sanremo Music Festival 1973 with the song ''Anika na-o''.

Matia Bazar: first stint

In 1975 vocalist

Antonella Ruggiero Antonella Ruggiero (born 15 November 1952) is an Italian singer and song-writer, mostly known as a founding member and lead singer of the pop-rock band Matia Bazar. Ruggiero is a light soprano. Her vocal range exceeds 4 octaves thanks to the u ...

and drummer Giancarlo Golzi joined Jet, resulting in a new band: Matia Bazar. In a six-year span, Cassano composed many of their hits, namely ''Stasera...che sera!'' (1975), ''Per un'ora d'amore'' (1975), ''Cavallo bianco'' (1975), '' Solo tu'' (1977), '' ...e dirsi ciao'' – the winning song of the Sanremo Music Festival 1978, ''Raggio di luna'' (the Italian entry for the

Eurovision Song Contest 1979 The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta. Organised by the Euro ...

) and ''C'è tutto un mondo intorno'' (1979). In 1981 Cassano decided to leave Matia Bazar to pursue other projects.

As a composer and producer

In 1983, Cassano started a collaboration with lyricist Adelio Cogliati. Together, they helped launch newcomer

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, writing for him hits like '' Una storia importante'', ''

Adesso tu "Adesso tu" is a 1986 Italian song composed by Eros Ramazzotti, Piero Cassano and Adelio Cogliati and performed by Eros Ramazzotti. The song won the 36th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. The semi-autobiographical lyrics were eventual ...

'', ''Questo mio vivere un po' fuori'', ''Musica è'', ''Ti sposerò perché'', ''Ciao pà'', '' Cose della vita'' from 1985 to 1993. Cassano also collaborated with many other Italian and international artists like

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, Laura Bono, Mina,

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Fausto Leali Faustino (Fausto) Leali (born 29 October 1944 in Nuvolento, Brescia) is an Italian singer. Early life Leali began his musical career as a singer in several bands in his native Brescia. His first guitar teacher was Tullio Romano, of the band ...

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; , ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek-Egyptian singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member, he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a ...

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. He also composed the Italian openings of several popular

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, notably '' Little Pollon'' and ''

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'', sung by

Cristina D'Avena Cristina D'Avena (born 6 July 1964) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. She has sold nearly 7 million copies of her albums. D'Avena was selected to join the prestigious Institute of Antoniano choir, following her debut, ...

Second stint with Matia Bazar

In 2000 Cassano rejoined Matia Bazar, releasing six more studio albums and taking part in five editions of 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 ...

: in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

(with ''Brivido caldo'', reaching the 8th place), in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

(with ''Questa nostra grande storia d'amore'', ranked #3) and in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, this time winning the contest with ''Messaggio d'amore''; then again in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

(with ''Grido d'amore'', #3) and finally in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(with ''Sei tu'', which failed to qualify for the finals). Following a long hiatus due to bandmate Giancarlo Golzi's unexpected death in 2015, Cassano left the band again in May 2017.

Discography

With Jet

* ''Fede, speranza, carità'' (1972)

With Matia Bazar

* ''Matia Bazar 1'' (1976) * ''Gran Bazar'' (1977) * ''Semplicità'' (1978) * ''Tournée'' (1979) * ''Il tempo del sole'' (1980) * ''Brivido caldo'' (2000) * ''Dolce canto'' (2001) * ''Profili svelati'' (2005) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4'' (2007) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4 – Volume 2'' (2008) * ''Conseguenza logica'' (2011)

References

External links

matiabazarofficial.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassano, Piero 1948 births Musicians from Genoa 20th-century Italian musicians 21st-century Italian musicians Italian keyboardists 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 21st-century Italian composers Living people