Alexia (singer)

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Alexia
Alexia in 2015.jpg
Alexia on stage in Sofia in 2015
Background information
Birth nameAlessia Aquilani
Born (1967-05-19) 19 May 1967 (age 57)
Arcola, Liguria, Italy
Genres
OccupationSinger
Years active1989–present
Website Official website OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Alessia Aquilani (born 19 May 1967), known professionally as Alexia, is an Italian singer. Before recording in Italian in the 2000s, she made records in English in the 1990s. Many of those were international hits. Before her solo career, she was the vocalist of Ice MC. [1]

Contents

In her career, she has sold over 6 million records with ten top 10 singles, four of which were number-ones with numerous international sales certifications. She has performed at the Festivalbar nine times, and four times at the Sanremo Music Festival in which she has earned, besides several music critic awards, three second-placings, and one first-placing in 2003.

Career

Alexia in 2008 Alexia toccocaudio 2008 04.jpg
Alexia in 2008

Early work

Alexia was born in Arcola, Liguria, and from a young age regularly entered singing talent competitions.

She started working for Italian label Euroenergy (by Disco Magic) in 1989 with the singles (Eurobeat/hi-NRG style) "Boy" as Alexia Cooper and "It's All Right" as Lita Beck. One year later, she provided backing vocals to the singles "Cinema" and "Scream" by Ice MC. Later she worked with producer Roberto Zanetti (better known as Robyx) in 1990, as a back-up singer to several of Zanetti's Eurodance acts on his DWA label, including Double You and Ice MC and notably featured on many of the latter's biggest hits such as "Think About the Way" (on the Trainspotting soundtrack), "It's a Rainy Day" and "Russian Roulette". When Ice MC left DWA, Robyx turned his attention to Alexia, and the pair wrote the song "Me and You", which included the vocals of Double You. The song was a big international hit and was followed the next year by "Summer Is Crazy" and "Number One", which again were international hits.

International success

In early 1997, recording began on Alexia's debut album Fan Club with the final international single from the album, "Uh La La La", preceding it. Unlike her previous singles which were all Eurodance, "Uh La La La" was a slower pop track and would become her breakout hit, becoming a European summer anthem in 1997, hitting the top 10 in many countries.

In early 1998, Alexia officially signed to Sony Music through their subsidiary Dancepool which had released some of Alexia's previous singles in certain territories. After this, work began on breaking her in the UK market and a special remix was commissioned. The resulting Almighty Edit propelled the track into the UK top 10 and was also a hit in Australia. Simultaneously in Europe, Alexia released "Gimme Love", the first single from her second album The Party , which saw her begin to branch away from Eurodance towards Europop, causing disappointment amongst some of her fans. Later that year, "The Music I Like" (her first Eurodance single since 1996's "Number One") was released across Europe, followed by "Keep On Movin'".

1999 saw the release of her third album Happy , along with the singles "Goodbye" and "Happy", with Alexia switching to the Epic label. The album did not have as much success as her previous albums and her career began to decline outside Italy, with the release of "Goodbye" in the UK being delayed then ultimately cancelled.

2000–2001

After five years with Robyx and the DWA team, Alexia released The Hits , a compilation of all her international singles, along with new track "Ti amo ti amo". Shortly after the release, Alexia decided to leave DWA and Robyx as she wanted to expand her sound and audience beyond Eurodance. In November 2000, she duetted with Gianni Morandi on his single "Non ti dimenticherò".

In 2001, her fourth album, Mad for Music , was released and this was the first album she had co-produced. The album and its two singles, "Money Honey" and "Summerlovers", only saw release in Italy but did not meet with the same success in her home country as her previous music had.

2002–2007

In 2002, Alexia abandoned Eurodance and started singing almost exclusively in Italian. She made her first appearance at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2002, coming second with "Dimmi come...", which was on her fifth album Alexia . Two more singles followed, "Non lasciarmi mai" and "Hasta la vista baby". To satisfy international fans, an English version of the album was released, with "Don't You Know" (the English version of "Dimmi come...") meeting limited success in France and Australia. Following this, Alexia's music would be released solely in Italy. The following year, she returned to Sanremo with the song "Per dire di no" and won. The song was from her 2003 album Il cuore a modo mio , which also contained the single "Egoista".

Her most successful Italian album was released in 2004, Gli occhi grandi della luna , which featured two singles: "Come tu mi vuoi (You Need Love)" and "Una donna sola".

In 2005, Alexia released her second greatest hits album spanning her Italian hits, Da grande . The lead single from the album, "Da grande", came second in the women's category at the 2005 Sanremo Festival. After a musical break, Alexia returned in 2007 with a new song, and her first digital download single, "Du Du Du". Following its release, Alexia left Sony Music.

2008–present

In 2008, Alexia released her first studio album in four years entitled Ale and a new record deal with Edel. The album was preceded by the single "Grande coraggio" and later followed by "Guardarti dentro". In 2009, Alexia once again participated in the Sanremo Festival singing a duet with Mario Lavezzi titled "Biancaneve". The song was a big hit in Italy, reaching the top 10 and being Alexia's biggest hit for some time. Following this, a re-recorded version of Ale was released entitled Ale & C , which contained three songs from Ale re-recorded as duets, two songs re-recorded in English and two new tracks. "We Is the Power", a duet with Bloom 06 was released as the second single, followed by "E non sai".

On June 22, 2010, Alexia released the album Stars. Only one single, "Star", was released on June 11. [2] In July 2012, a new single, "A volte sì a volte no", was released in Italy. In February 2013, Alexia announced a new version of "Summer Is Crazy" would feature on her upcoming album, ICanzonissime.

In 2015, Alexia released a new album, in Italian, entitled Tu puoi se vuoi, which spawned three singles: "Il mondo non accetta le parole", "Sento" and "Prenditi la vita".

In 2017, Alexia released a new album in Italian entitled Quell'altra which spawned three singles: "Beata gioventù", "La cura per me" (which was chosen as the anthem of the 2017 Milan Gay Pride), and "Fragile fermo immagine".

In 2022, Alexia released her first Christmas album My Xmas, which contains covers of songs by Stevie Wonder, Paul Young, Judy Garland, and Amy Winehouse. [3] In 2024, she performed at Tomorrowland with Nervo, premiering a new version of "Uh La La La". [4] [5]

Personal life

In October 2005, Alexia married Andrea Camerana, Giorgio Armani's nephew, and in February 2007 they had their first child, a girl named Maria Vittoria. [6] She considers herself Roman Catholic. [7]

Discography

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"Uh La La La" is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Alexia featuring additional vocals by an uncredited male rapper. It was released by DWA Records and Sony Music as the fourth single from the singer's debut album, Fan Club (1997), and is written by Roberto Zanetti and Alexia herself. The song was a summer hit of 1997 in Europe and became Alexia's international breakout success. It reached number-one in Spain, number two in Finland and was a top 10 hit also in Austria, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Sweden and the UK. After its success in Europe, the song was remixed for a UK release the following year, which also saw release in Australia, where it peaked at number 17. This was her last single to be released by different labels in different territories as after this all her releases would be by Sony. The music video for "Uh La La La" was directed by Luca Lucini and filmed in the US.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Number One (Alexia song)</span> 1996 single by Alexia

"Number One" is a song by Italian singer Alexia, released as the third single from her debut album, Fan Club (1997). Co-written by Alexia, it was her third successive top 5 hit on the Italian singles chart. In both Finland and Spain, it peaked within the top 5. A set of Spanish versions were released, although these were not specifically for the Spanish market.

<i>Fan Club</i> (Alexia album) 1997 studio album by Alexia

Fan Club is the debut studio album by Italian singer Alexia released in 1997. The album featured mostly eurodance tracks, as was producer Robyx's speciality. It was released in 1997 after the release of Alexia's fourth single "Uh La La La", yet no further singles were released from the album with the exception of two country specific releases of "Virtual Reality" and "Hold On". A version of "Virtual Reality" had already been released in Italy credited to E.Y.E. featuring Alexia.

<i>The Party</i> (Alexia album) 1998 studio album by Alexia

The Party is the second studio album by Italian singer Alexia released in 1998. The album saw Alexia begin to branch away from the eurodance sound of Fan Club towards Europop, causing disappointment amongst some of Alexia's fans. The album contained the Almighty Edit of "Uh La La La" as a bonus track for territories which had seen the release of Fan Club, and the lead track for the UK and Australia where the song had been released in its remixed version.

<i>Happy</i> (Alexia album) 1999 studio album by Alexia

Happy is the third studio album by Italian singer Alexia released in 1999, and would be her final studio album to be written and produced by Robyx and the DWA team. The album continued to see Alexia have a broad range of styles, though the move away from eurodance was not as dramatic as it had been with The Party. It was Alexia's first album on the Sony Epic label. Alexia's management team had boasted that every track on the album was good enough to be released as a single, yet only two tracks were released as singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ti amo ti amo</span> 2000 single by Alexia

"Ti amo ti amo" is the tenth single released by the Italian singer Alexia released in 2000 and was the only new track from her first best of compilation album The Hits. It was the last single she released that was produced by Robyx as she decided to leave the DWA team so that she could grow as an artist and pursue different styles of music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Per dire di no</span> 2003 single by Alexia

"Per dire di no" is the first single from Alexia's sixth studio album Il cuore a modo mio and was released on CD in March 2003. The CD contained two tracks, with the second track being the 'reprise' version which would be included as a bonus track on the album.

<i>The Hits</i> (Alexia album) 2000 compilation album by Alexia

The Hits is the second compilation album and first greatest hits release by Italian singer Alexia released in 2000 and would be her final album released with Robyx and DWA. The album spans all her international singles from 1995 to 2000, with the sole new song being the lead single "Ti amo ti amo". As they were released in only one territory, the singles "Virtual Reality" and "Hold On" were not included on the album.

<i>Da grande</i> (album) 2005 compilation album by Alexia

Da grande is the third compilation album and second greatest hits release by Italian singer Alexia released in 2005. The album spans all her Italian language singles from 2002 to 2005. Two new tracks were included on the album; "Da grande" and "Mai dire mai" with the former being released as a single and the latter as a radio promo single.

<i>Collections</i> (Alexia album) 2009 compilation album by Alexia

Collections is the second budget compilation album of the singer Alexia released after she left the label. It is not regarded as an official Alexia hits compilation as it contains both singles and album tracks. Notably, the songs are from the time after she left Robyx and DWA and cover the albums Mad for Music, Alexia, Il cuore a modo mio and Gli occhi grandi della luna. "Da grande", one of the new songs from her 2005 hits collection Da grande is included and this is the only Alexia compilation album to feature the single Summerlovers. It was released on 19 February 2009 by Columbia and was the first and only release by Alexia on Sony's Columbia imprint.

<i>Le più belle di... Alexia</i> 2007 compilation album by Alexia

Le più belle di... Alexia is the first budget compilation album of the singer Alexia, released in 2006 shortly before she left Sony. It is not regarded as an official Alexia hits compilation as it contains both singles and album tracks. Notably, nearly all of Alexia's physically released Italian singles except "Keep On Movin'", "Money Honey", "Summerlovers" and "Come tu mi vuoi " are included with the album spanning six of Alexia's seven studio albums and two compilation albums with all the new tracks featured on The Hits and Da grande featured. It was released on 22 June 2006, a few weeks before Alexia's final single with Sony "Du Du Du" which is not included on this release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexia discography</span>

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References

  1. ↑ "Alexia Biography". Sing365.com. 14 April 2007. Archived from the original on 11 February 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  2. ↑ "ALEXIA Official Web Site". Alexiaofficial.com. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "La solitudine di Alexia | Rolling Stone Italia" (in Italian). 30 November 2022.
  4. ↑ Maffioletti, Chiara (27 July 2024). "Il ritorno di Alexia: «Un burnout da successo: ero una pedina mossa da altri»". Corriere della Sera . Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  5. ↑ "Alexia debutta al Tomorrowland: nuova versione di "Uh la la la" con le Nervo". La Gazzetta dello Sport . 27 July 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  6. ↑ La Gazzetta Italiana (in Italian).
  7. ↑ Pagnini, Mattia (22 December 2023). "Ho odiato il Natale, ma adesso lo amo". Dipiù (in Italian). No. 51. pp. 98–100.
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