Eros Luciano Walter Ramazzotti (born on October 28, 1963), is one of the most successful Italian singers and songwriters of all time. [1] Ramazzotti is well known not only in most non English-speaking European countries but also in most of the Spanish-speaking world as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish.

• 1 Biography
• 2 Discography
  • 2.1 Albums
  • 2.2 Singles
• 3 See also
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Eros Ramazzotti was born in Rome, suburb of Cinecittà, Italy the son of a housepainter. At an early age Eros would occasionally appear as an extra in films while spending most of his time dreaming of having a career as a Pop-Star. He would write songs with help of his father Rodolfo, during which time he decided to attend a musical conservatory but instead ended up taking a training-program for a book-keeper, after failing the admission examination. However, this did not last long as all he could think about was music. [2]

Eros first took part in 1981 in a music contest called Voci Nuove di Castrocaro (new voices) with a song Rock 80 which he wrote himself. Not surprisingly, the young talent reached the final and received his first contract with a newly born label DDD. Soon after he moved to Milan with his brother Marco and his mother Raffaella where they, in the beginning, lived in the same building his record label was located.

Ramazzotti's first single Ad Un Amico appeared in 1982; however, success failed to come at this time. Soon after Eros met his mentor Renato Brioschi, who helped the young artist find his first success as in 1984 he took part at the popular San Remo Festival with his song Terra Promessa and won the competition for the category of "Newcomer". The song's triumph drove Eros's career to take off as it was released Europe-wide.

In 1985, once again Ramazzotti took part at San Remo Festival with his Una Storia Importante, a song from his debut album Cuori Agitati. The single became a huge hit in many European countries including France where it sold a million units alone.

At this time Eros could almost see himself as what he once could only dream of. His second album Nuovi Eroi was released in 1986, and one of his most memorable singles ever Adesso Tu was performed at San Remo Festival where Ramazzotti won again.

The popularity kept growing and in 1987 Ramazzotti went on a nine-month long tour after releasing his third album In Certi Momenti performing in front of more than a million people. In Certi Momenti sold more than 3 million copies.[3]

Ramazzotti released a series of albums in quick succession, composed of heartfelt autobiographical ballads as well as powerful rock tunes, which launched him both domestically and internationally (he records most of his albums in Spanish as well as in Italian).

The fifth album entitled In Ogni Senso, released in April of 1990, attracted more than two hundred journalists from around the world who attended the press conference of the album's presentation in Venice. An American record producer Clive Davis amazed by Eros's talent advised him to hold a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York city. Ramazzotti turned out to be the first Italian artist to perform at the renowned concert hall before a huge sell-out crowd.

His 1991 double CD release Eros in Concert was followed by another long tour including the concert Ramazzotti gave before 20 thousand fans on December 4 of that year in Barcelona, Spain, which took place on the day of his live CD's release.

In 1993 he released his Tutte Storie, and besides Europe he also toured in 15 Latin American countries (where he's been releasing his albums in Spanish). Tutte Storie, which sold 6 million copies world-wide turned the year 1994 into a golden year for Ramazzotti as he got his contract with BMG International.

In the summer of 1995 Ramazzotti participated in the European summer festival along with Rod Steward, Elton John and Joe Cocker. A year thereafter, on May 13 of 1996 his album Dove c'è Musica was released, which happened to be the first album that was completely self produced by Eros. The 7 million figure in sales of Dove c'è Musica was enough to say the 33 year old had managed to enter the hearts of many in the world. On December 5th of the same year his wife Michelle Hunziker (Swiss model and television host) gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie.

In October of 1997 Ramazzotti's Eros â€" Greatest Hits CD appeared, a record which contained two unreleased tracks up to now Quanto Amore Sei and Ancora Un Minuto Di Sole as well as several previous hits in a reworked format including Musica è (duet with Andrea Bocelli) and Cose Della Vita-Can't Stop Thinking Of You (duet with Tina Turner). The collection of his hits went on selling well over 5 million units world-wide emphasizing once again how beloved the Italian pop-star is without even appearing in the charts of any English-speaking nation.

Ramazzotti gained reputation of a recognized producer [4] [5] when he produced the album Come Fa Bene L'Amore for Gianni Morandi in the beginning of 2000. In the October of the same year Eros made a come back with his eighth album Stilelibero, which contained a duet with American diva Cher Più Che Puoi. The album was a result of a collaboration of internationally renowned producers such as Celso Valli, Claudio Guidetti, Trevor Horn and Rick Nowels. In the course of the international tour for Stilelibero, Eros also appeared in eastern European counties including Moscow, Russia where he gave two-day sold out concerts at Kremlin Palace.

On May 30, 2003 the longawaited ninth album arrived in stores which was also titled as 9. The first single Un'Emozione Per Sempre was released on May 9th which quickly climbed all the way to the top and stayed at no. 1 position in Italy's official single chart for nine consecutive weeks. The album produced along with Claudio Guidetti and Eros's longtime musical friend Celso Valli perched at no. 1 position for fourteen weeks in Italy's official album chart. The 9 went on selling 3.5 million copies, 1.1 million of which were sold in Italy alone. [6]

He is especially popular in Chile, Germany, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and most Spanish-speaking countries. During his 24 year career he has sold over 36 million records worldwide. [7] Eros has done duets with several prestigious artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Cher, Anastacia, Mustafa Sandal.

In November 2005, his latest album Calma Apparente was released, which he produced together with Claudio Guidetti. This album contains the European hit single I Belong to You, a duet with Anastacia.

The new material from Ramazzotti is expected to appear at the stores on the 26th of October, 2007. The album is going to include a duet with a Latin pop star Ricky Martin Non Siamo Soli, the radio broadcasting of which, according to BMG is to begin on the 29th of September, 2007.[8]

All regularly released albums and their chart peak position in Switzerland (SUI), Austria (AUT), the Netherlands (NL), France (FR), Finland (FIN), Sweden (SWE), U.S. Latin Pop Albums (LPA) and in U.S. Top Latin Albums (TLA).

Released singles and their chart peak position in Swiss Singles Top 100 (SUI), Austrian Singles Top 75 (AUT 75), the Dutch Top 40 (NL 40), German Top 100 Singles (GER 100), Swedish Top 60 Singles (SWE 60), Italian Top 50 Singles (IT 50), French Top 100 Singles (FR 100), U.S. Hot Latin Tracks (HLT), U.S. Latin Pop Airplay (LPA) and U.S. Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay (LT/SA).

• Best selling music artists â€" World's top-selling music artists chart.

• Italian Official Website
• erosramazzotti.TV international website
• German Official Website
• Biography of Eros Ramazzotti, from RAI International
• Eros Ramazzotti Multilingue Site
• Eros Ramazzotti Italian Site by Lella
• Eros Ramazzotti Polish/English Site