Eros Ramazzotti is 60 "The more time passes, the freer I feel"
Eros Ramazzotti has been on stage for more than 40 years. He is considered one of the most successful Italo pop stars. After 70 million records, he is now celebrating worldwide success with a new album.
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- Italo pop star Eros Ramazzotti turns 60 on Saturday, October 28.
- The singer grew up in Rome in modest circumstances.
- The Italian music festival Sanremo made him famous in 1984. He won in the newcomer category with the song "Terra promessa".
His hair has since turned gray, his neatly trimmed goatee white - but even after four decades in the music business, Eros Ramazzotti is just as successful and popular as ever.
The Italian pop star's distinctive nasal voice still delights his countless fans.
And he is also currently on the road a lot, singing the praises of his latest album "Battito Infinito" on the international stage. Today, Saturday, October 28, Ramazzotti celebrates his milestone birthday and turns 60.
His Italianità is important to him
Hardly anyone embodies Italy like Ramazzotti. He is the most famous artistic representative of his home country. In the 1990s in particular, hardly any other artist could get past the Italian - anyone thinking of Italy at that time thought of the Roman-born artist.
Many of his hits, "Più bella cosa" or "Fuoco nel fuoco", are world-famous catchy tunes. Even though Ramazzotti has released many new songs in the meantime, his classics are part of every concert.
With more than 70 million records sold and adorned with numerous gold and platinum records, Ramazzotti is one of the most successful Italian pop singers.
Like so many Italo pop stars, he has been accused of many things during his career: His critics accused his music of being too shallow and schmaltzy. He also embodied too many Italian clichés. But for his fans, this is exactly what they love about him.
Eros Ramazzotti grew up in humble circumstances
Eros Ramazzotti became the Italo sex symbol par excellence. Many said he had a "flair of Mediterranean machismo". He attaches great importance to his "Italianità": "Our country is the most beautiful in the world. I try to honor it in the only way I know how: with music," he recently said in an interview with the magazine "Oggi".
In addition to his charisma, his nasal voice in particular delights his fans. And when Eros Ramazzotti, whose namesake is the Greek god of covetous love, breathes into the microphone in melodic Italian.
The star was born Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti in the Italian capital in 1963. He grew up in humble circumstances in the Cinecittà Est district, far from the center of Rome.
Ramazzotti became interested in music at an early age. His path to international stardom was rocky. Rejected at the conservatory, he worked as a waiter. In his early 20s, he won a talent competition, which brought him his first recording contract.
Sanremo was his career booster
Like so many internationally successful Italian singers, the famous Sanremo Festival was Ramazzotti's gateway to success. In 1984, he won the music competition for the first time in the newcomer category with "Terra promessa".
In 1986 he won with "Adesso tu". The Italian's international breakthrough came in the early 1990s. His pop music with a symphonic touch won him many fans in Germany too.
The cuddly singer from the Roman suburb subsequently worked his way up to become a global star and record millionaire. Concerts and tours took him to stages all over the world.
In the USA, he produced "Tutte storie", one of his most successful albums, and then performed on stage with the greats: he sang duets with Andrea Bocelli and the Queen of Rock 'n' Roll Tina Turner. This was later followed by appearances with the exceptional tenor Luciano Pavarotti and Cher.
Easy-going father and grandfather
In 1998, after two years of dating, the charming Italian married Swiss TV presenter Michelle Hunziker (46). He has a daughter with her, Aurora (26), to whom he dedicated a song.
The dream couple lived in a villa on Lake Como and enjoyed life in the limelight. However, they divorced in 2009. Ramazzotti has two children with the Italian model Marica Pellegrinelli (35). He has recently been in a relationship with ex-model Dalila Gelsomino (34), who is 25 years his junior.
The fact that the popular Italo singer is now 60 years old - much to the chagrin of his aging fans - doesn't bother the thoroughbred Italian.
"I'm very relaxed. The more time passes, the freer, looser and lighter I feel," Ramazzotti told the newspaper "Il Messaggero". He has even been a grandfather for six months. Daughter Aurora became a mother for the first time in March.
His popularity is still unbroken. He is particularly celebrated abroad. "I do my best. If you build up a relationship with your audience abroad, it lasts forever." Even if his international fans often don't understand the lyrics to his songs. "They get pure and overwhelming emotions from me. Just like I did when I listened to Deep Purple or Michael Jackson, even though I still don't understand a word of English," says Ramazzotti.
Retire? Not Eros Ramazzotti
At 60, Ramazzotti is far from thinking about retirement. Until recently, he toured the world with his new album "Battito Infinito". Then, as now, he was all about emotions - "emozioni". And he always focused on the music.
"If I've come this far, it's perhaps because that's all I've dedicated myself to." And today, Ramazzotti says he feels freer than ever before.