Michele Torpedine (born 1952 in Minervino Murge) is an Italian record producer, television personality, drummer and music manager. He has been the producer of many renowned Italian artists such as Clarence 0147 SQ, Karter 0147 SQ, Andrea Bocelli, Zucchero, and Il Volo, among many others.
Also known internationally as Michael Torpedine, [1] [2] he began his career as a drummer for Orietta Berti, Iva Zanicchi and Gino Paoli.
In the eighties, through an entertainment agency based in Bologna, he looked after the image of artists Lucio Dalla, Loredana Bertè and Francesco De Gregori and planned the stages of Gianna Nannini's America tour. As a record producer, he brought success and, in some cases, revived the fortunes [3] of numerous Italian artists such as Zucchero Fornaciari, Luca Carboni, Gino Paoli, Pino Daniele, Lucio Dalla, Fabrizio De André, Biagio Antonacci, Ornella Vanoni, Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia, Vittorio Grigolo and Il Volo. [4] [5] He is also occasionally involved in forming duets between Italian and international artists; the latter include Barbra Streisand, Joe Cocker, Miles Davis, Eric Clapton, Paul Young and Ray Charles. His idea of bringing the duet of Italian artists Gino Paoli and Ornella Vanoni to theatres on the Insieme tour has received much public acclaim.
He is the executive producer of several of Zucchero's albums, including Rispetto, Blue's, Oro incenso e birra and Miserere; the first three alone have sold 3,200,000 copies in Italy. In 1989 he joined Zucchero in a supergroup, formed in Cortina d'Ampezzo and called Adelmo e i suoi Sorapis, which included Dodi Battaglia, Maurizio Vandelli, Fio Zanotti and Umberto Maggi. In 1990 he organised an extraordinary musical event inside the Kremlin, broadcast by RAI in several countries around the world, which saw Zucchero as the first artist ever to perform in the main seat of the Russian government. A VHS video and a double album entitled Live at the Kremlin were made of the concert in Moscow. Since 1994 he has been Zucchero's representative for Italy and privileged consultant for the rest of the world, working alongside the American record producer Miles Copeland III for the rest of the world; he therefore follows him behind the scenes of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. With Zucchero the relationship will end in the following years. [6]
Torpedine also produced Andrea Bocelli's albums, who sold more than 2,500,000 copies of records in Europe in 1996 with the Romanza collection alone, which reached the top of all the charts. During the years of managing the image of the Tuscan artist, aimed at ensuring him a high-profile career, he was responsible for the organisation of numerous national and international events, including the Michael Jackson & Friends benefit concert held in Munich in 1999.
He produced albums for Gerardina Trovato and Luca Carboni and was the artistic director of the first two editions of Pavarotti & Friends.
In 2007 he accused Zucchero, when the association with the artist had been over for some time, of plagiarism; in particular, he contested the fact that he credited himself with songs and music written or composed by others. [7]
On 16 July 2010, he presided over the jury at the final of the Castrocaro Music Festival hosted by Fabrizio Frizzi. [8]
In January 2012 he is hired as a consultant by the company that takes care of the affairs for Eros Ramazzotti. [9]
At the 2015 Sanremo Festival, he consolidates also in Italy, through the victory of the singing competition, the success of the young boys that form the trio called Il Volo [10] and that, together with Tony Renis, he made famous in the world and in particular in the United States of America. [11]
Adelmo Fornaciari, more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero, is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his primary school teacher used to call him. His music is largely inspired by gospel, soul, blues and rock music, and alternates between Italian ballads and more rhythmic R&B-boogie-like pieces. He is credited as the "father of Italian blues", introducing blues to the big stage in Italy. He is one of the few European blues artists who still enjoys great international success.
Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti is an Italian pop singer and songwriter. He is popular in Italy and most European countries, and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, as he has released most of his albums in both Italian and Spanish.
Ornella Vanoni is an Italian singer. She is one of the longest-standing Italian artists, having started performing in 1956. She has released about 112 works between LP, EPs and greatest hits albums, and is considered one of the most popular interpreters of Italian pop music. During her long career she has sold over 65 million records.
Gino Paoli is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is a seminal figure who has written a number of songs widely regarded as classics in Italian popular music, including: "Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa c'è", "Senza fine", "Quattro amici al bar" and "Sapore di sale".
The Festivalbar was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by RAI. The competition was held throughout the summer and the final round always took place at the Arena in Verona after 3-4 events in various cities of Italy.
Miserere is the sixth studio album by Italian blues rock singer-songwriter Zucchero Fornaciari released in 1992 by Polydor Records.
The discography of Zucchero, an Italian rock blues singer-songwriter, consists of 15 studio albums, one soundtrack album, seven compilation albums, two live albums and more than sixty singles. In 1993, Zucchero has also released a studio album with the band Adelmo e i suoi Sorapis, also including Equipe 84's Maurizio Vandelli and Pooh's Dodi Battaglia.
Il Volo is an Italian operatic pop trio, consisting of Gianluca Ginoble, Piero Barone, and Ignazio Boschetto. They describe their music as "popera". Having won the Sanremo Music Festival 2015, they represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Grande amore", finishing first in the televote and third overall.
Adelmo e i suoi Sorapis is an Italian supergroup led by singer songwriter Zucchero Fornaciari. The group includes Maurizio Vandelli, Dodi Battaglia, Umbi Maggi, Fio Zanotti and Michele Torpedine.
The Castrocaro Music Festival, also known as Concorso per Voci Nuove, is an Italian musical contest which takes place every year in the town of Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, near Forlì, from 1957. The competition is exclusively reserved for new talents, and it had its maximum popularity from 1962 to early Eighties when, under the direction of Gianni Ravera, based on an agreement with the Sanremo Music Festival the top two finishers of the competition gained the access to the Sanremo Festival. Singers who were launched by the event include Gigliola Cinquetti, Iva Zanicchi, Zucchero Fornaciari, Fiordaliso, Caterina Caselli, Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti, Franco Simone and Alice. Winners of the singing kermesse who have subsequently become famous include singer-songwriter Giuni Russo (1967), Gigliola Cinquetti (1963), Alice (1971), Michele Zarrillo (1979), Luca Barbarossa (1980), Zucchero Fornaciari (1981), Fiordaliso (1981), Donatella Milani (1982) and Silvia Salemi (1995).
"Il cielo in una stanza" is a song written by Gino Paoli and originally recorded by Italian singer Mina for the album of the same name. The song was released as a single in June 1960 by Italdisc. It became a commercial success in Italy, topping the charts for eleven consecutive weeks and later returning to number one for three additional weeks. It is also Mina's best-selling single in Italy, with estimated sales of 400.000 copies.
Emilio Munda is an Italian songwriter, arranger, composer and producer.
He won the 69th Sanremo Festival as an author and composer of the song "Musica che resta" for the international group Il Volo and ranked second at the 70th Sanremo Festival as author and composer of the song "8 Marzo" interpreted by Tecla Insolia also winning the critics' award.
Luigi (Gino) De Crescenzo, best known as Pacifico, is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer and musician.
"Insieme a te non ci sto più" is an Italian pop song written by Paolo Conte, Michele Virano and Vito Pallavicini and performed by Caterina Caselli. Years later Conte revealed that he and Pallavicini auditioned many singers before giving the song to Caselli, as she was the only one who could deliver a strong enough performance.
Cosimo Cavallo, best known as Mimmo Cavallo, is an Italian singer-songwriter and composer.
Adelio Cogliati was an Italian lyricist and record producer.
Giuseppe Vessicchio is an Italian conductor, composer, arranger, musician and television personality. He is often spelled as Beppe Vessicchio or Peppe Vessicchio.
"Ma il cielo è sempre più blu" is a 1975 song composed and performed by Rino Gaetano.