Francesco De Gregori
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Francesco De Gregori (April 4, 1951, Rome) is a renowned Italian singer-songwriter.
1970s
De Gregori was born to a middle-class family of Rome, and spent some of his youth in Pescara before returning to the capital. His elder brother, Luigi, was a musician and later had a personal career with the name of Luigi Grechi (Grechi is De Gregori's mother surname, later chosen in order to avoid confusion with the more famous Francesco).
Influenced by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and the Italian singer-songwriter Fabrizio de André, De Gregori started to perform his songs (mainly personal tradutions of American folk songs) at the Folkstudio, in Rome, which was already frequented by his brother. In one occasion De Andrè himself listened De Gregori's works and appreciated them.
Later De Gregori formed a band with his friends Antonello Venditti, Mimmo Locasciulli and Giorgio Lo Cascio, who all had success as singer-songwriters in the following years. De Gregori made his debut as a professional singer in 1972 with Theorius Campus, in collaboration with Venditti. The LP included an early masterwork like "Signora Aquilone" ("Kite Lady"), but Venditti had more songs and, having a better voice, earned better consideration by the label. The duo subsequently broke up.
De Gregori's next album, Alice non lo sa (1973), was a commercial failure. The title-track, the mysterious "Alice", scored however some success in several popular music shows and is still today included amongst his best works. Francesco De Gregori (also known as the "Sheep" due to the unusual Gordon Fagetter's cover) of 1974 showed even more experimental and sometimes obscure lyrics, and turned again into a failure. RCA Music, however, confirmed its trust in De Gregori's qualities: this was paid back the following year, when De Gregori released one of the most successful Italian LPs of 1970s, Rimmel. This work contained several of his most famous songs: this time De Gregori's talent for unusual and poetic lyrics intermingled in a more mature way with the musical part. Lucio Dalla provided music ideas for "Pablo", the unusual story of an Italian immigrate in Switzerland. Jazzy themes were present in songs like "Quattro cani" and "Le storie di ieri". The latter, a song about Fascism years, had been already released in a de André's album of 1974, Volume 8, written with De Gregori during a stay in the Genoese singer's Sardinian estate.
Bufalo Bill of 1976 confirmed De Gregori's qualities, and contained at least two classics: the eponymous song and "Santa Lucia", the singer's own favourite. However, during a concerto held in Milan in that year, De Gregori, who had always declared his inclination to left-wing ideas and ideals, was fiercely contested by a group of extreme-left agitators. They reproached him the fact he was earning money with music, instead of providing it free to his "companions". De Gregori risked to be injured in the fray, and decided to quit the musical career. In the following years he therefore worked as a bookstore and music shop clerk. The episode, known as the "Palalido accident", influenced in some way several works by other Italian singer-songwriters, like Francesco Guccini's "L'Avvelenata" and Roberto Vecchioni's "Vaudeville".
In 1978, however, he returned with another inspired and well-performed album, De Gregori, containing one of his most famous songs, "Generale". He declared that he felt this song too much important to continue his staying away from the music world. The following year he joined his old friend Lucio Dalla with a highly successful live tournée, entitled Banana Republic, and published a studio LP, Viva l'Italia featuring American musicians. The title-track was later adopted as the Italian Socialist Party hymn, but De Gregori always opposed to this choose.
1980s
After a pause of several years, De Gregori returned with the album Titanic, whose first part was a concept album devoted to the famous episode of the sinking of the eponymous liner. The ballad "San Lorenzo", showing a rare piano performance by De Gregori, concerns the dramatic episode of the bombing of the Rome's quarter during World War 2 by Allied planes. Freshness in music and lyrics both gave De Gregori an outstanding success, as well as the praises of critics. Titanic has been recently declared the best Italian LP of the period 1975-2005, in a poll issued by the authoritative Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera.
The following year de Gregori released a mini-LP containing his most standing success, La Donna Cannone. The 1985 album Scacchi e tarocchi ("Chess and Tarots"), was not as much as successful, but contained anyway another classic, "La Storia" ("History"). The new melancholic De Gregori's inspiration was confirmed by the subsequent Terra di nessuno ("Nobody's Land"). Miramare 19-4-89 showed instead a more bitter mood, but again was not as appreciated as 1970s and early 1980s albums.
1990s and 2000s
De Gregori recovered his status of bestseller in 1992 with Canzoni d'amore ("Love Songs"). In the 1990s he rarefied releases of studio albums in favour of collections and live albums. His next original work was Prendere e lasciare ("Take and Leave") of 1996: from this point his song and his musical performance were marked by an increasing influence by Bob Dylan. De Gregori was also accused to imitate his American colleague in his way of singing.
Il bandito e il campione of 1993 was a live collection of remarkable success: the title-track, its unique studio song, was sung by De Gregori but the lyrics were by his brother Luigi Grechi. The title-track of La valigia dell'attore ("The Actor's Suitcase", 1998) showed again De Gregori at the best of his poetical and emotional capabilities. The rest of the album, however, contained old pieces, plus some Dylan covers.
In 2001 De Gregori released his next studio album, Amore nel pomeriggio ("Love in the Afternoon") which is unanimously included amongst his best works. The song "Il cuoco di Salò" ("The Cook of Salò"), arranged by Franco Battiato, is one of De Gregori's best and shows his typical attention to "everyday" figures (including outcasts and underdogs) and lives while dealing with historical themes.
Il fischio del vapore ("The Whistle of the Steam", 2002), was a quite surprising collaboration with the folksinger Giovanna Marini, who had already worked with De Gregori in a song for Titanic. The album is a collection of odl popular and social Italian songs from the 19th and the early 20th centuries.
Pezzi ("Pieces") of 2005 has strong rock connotations, but was quite coldly accepted by De Gregori's fans. A new studio release, entitled Calypsos, was released in the February 2006.
Trivia
De Gregori is popularly known as "Il Principe" ("The Prince"). The nickname refers to his introvert attitude, especially in his relationships with journalists, which has been sometimes interpreted as a form of "elitist" haughtiness.
Discography
- Theorius Campus (1972, with Antonello Venditti)
- Alice non lo sa (1973)
- Francesco De Gregori (1974)
- Rimmel (1975)
- Bufalo Bill (1976)
- De Gregori (1978)
- Banana Republic (1979, with Lucio Dalla, live)
- Viva l'Italia (1979)
- Titanic (1982''
- La Donna Cannone (1983, mini-album)
- Scacchi e Tarocchi (1985)
- Terra di Nessuno (1987)
- Miramare 19-4-89 (1989)
- Catcher in the Sky (1990, live)
- Niente da Capire (1990, live)
- Musica leggera (1990, live)
- Canzoni d'amore (1992)
- Il Bandito e il Campione (1993, live)
- Bootleg (1994, live)
- Prendere e lasciare (1996)
- La valigia dell'attore (1997, live)
- Curve nella Memoria (1998, collection)
- Amore nel pomeriggio (2001)
- Fuoco amico (2001, live)
- Il fischio del vapore (2002, with Giovanna Marini)
- Mix (2003, collection)
- Pezzi (2005)
- Calypsos (2006)
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