Calogero
(born Calogero Maurici
on July 30, 1971 in Échirolles, near Grenoble) is a French singer.
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CALOGERO TICKETS
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Early years
By the age of six, Calogero had already taken an interest in music. He quickly learned to play several instruments, including the
flute,
piano, and
bass, and in 1986 became the lead singer and song-writer for a band called
Les Charts he started with his brother, Gioacchino, and a childhood friend, Francis Maggiulli. Between 1989 and 1997, Les Charts released five albums.
Solo career
As the band began to lose its momentum, Calogero decided to launch himself as a solo artist and gathered important connections by writing songs and collaborating with already popular artists such as
Zazie and
Pascal Obispo. The latter helped produce Calogero's first solo album
Au milieu des Autres
(2000). His second album,
Calogero
(2002) was a huge success with the hit singles "En apesanteur" (In Weightlessness), "Aussi libre que moi" (As Free as Me), "Tien an men" and "Prendre racine" (To Take Root). Finally, in 2004, Calogero released
3
, featuring "Face à la mer" a duet with French rapper
Passi and several other top singles such as "Yalla" and "Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer".
Calogero's moving lyrics and frail, tender voice have made him one of France's top pop/rock singers.
Calogero released his fourth studio album
Pomme C
on 12 March 2007.
Collaborations as composer
Since the late 1990s, Calogero composed songs for many artists, often in collaboration with his brother Gioacchino. For example, he composed songs for
Florent Pagny ("Châtelet-les-Hâlles"),
Hélène Ségara ("Au Nom d'une Femme" and "Regarde"),
Ismael Lo ("L'Amour a tous les droits" and "Faut qu'on s'aime"),
Pascal Obispo ("Millesime"),
Jenifer Bartoli ("C'est de l'or"),
Julie Zenatti ("La Vérité m'attire" et "Toutes les douleurs"),
Patrick Fiori ("Que tu reviennes", "Être là", "Encore", "Tout le monde", "Tera umana" et "Il n'y a pas grand chose à dire"),
Fred Blondin ("Je manque de toi" and "Perso et les Aimants"), Mario Barravecchia ("On se ressemble"). He also composed three songs for the musical
The Ten Commandments
: "Je n'avais jamais prié", "Une Raison d'espérer" and "Y'a tant d'amour".
Calogero also participates in numerous charities. He is currently member of
Les Enfoirés, he also participated in the single "Noël ensemble" recorded by many artists in 2002, he sang for the
Sidaction
with Jenifer, and recently, he participated in the single "Douce France" led by
Marc Lavoine to fight discrimination and help young people to have work.
In 2008,
Stanislas Renoult recorded a duet with Calogero entitled "La Débâcle des sentiments".
Musical style
Calogero describes his own musical style as "pop rock". He also said that he listens musical work of various artists such as
Barbara,
William Sheller,
The Cure and
The Who and that "words and melodies are very important to [him]".
He has a great admiration for
the Beatles, especially for
Paul McCartney whose song "Live and Let Die" is covered on
Live 1.0
. Calogero said about McCartney, "Paul McCartney? A myth [legend]! For all bassists he is Uncle Paul". Between his first solo album and his last tour, the musical style evolved significantly to a more percussive rock, and he also said that his fourth album,
Pomme C
, had the closest sound to him.
Calogero is a bass player but he also plays
keyboards and
guitar. His initial musical training was on the organ. On his first solo album, he plays the guitar, while on the next two he plays bass.
Discography
Albums
- Au milieu des autres
, 1999
- Calogero
, 2002
- 3
, 2004
- Live 1.0
(double live album), 2005
- Pomme C
, 2007
- L'Embellie
, 2009
Singles
- "Prendre l'air", 1999
- "De Cendre et de Terre", 2000
- "Devant toi", 2000
- "Aussi libre que moi", 2001
- "En apesanteur", 2002
- "Tien An Men", 2003
- "Prendre Racine", 2003
- "Yalla", 2003
- "Face à la mer", 2004
- "Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer", 2004
- "Safe Sex", 2005
- "Devant toi", 2005
- "Un Jour parfait", 2005
- "Le Saut de l'ange", 2007
- "Pomme C", 2007
- "Danser encore", 2008
- "La débâcle des sentiments", 2008
- "C'est dit", 2009
|- style="text-align: center;"
|- style="text-align:center;"
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"|Preceded by
Renaud Séchan
|width="40%" style="text-align: center;" rowspan="1"|
Victoires de la Musique
Victoires_de_la_Musique#Male_group_or_artist_of_the_year
2004
|width="30%" align="center" rowspan="1"| Succeeded by
Matthieu Chédid
|-
References