Gianna Nannini was born in Siena. After attending the Conservatory there for seven years she moves to Milan. She joins the alternative scene and in 1975, the celebrated record company, Dischi Ricordi releases her first album, "GIANNA NANNINI".
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She teams up with Italy’s most famous rock band, PFM. She also performs with jazz rock musicians from in and around Milan. Her second LP, "UNA RADURA" is released. She performs her first shows featuring piano and voice.
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"CALIFORNIA" is released and her sound moves to pure rock. Launched by the masturbatory/narcissistic metaphor of the single “America”, the album establishes her career throughout Europe, topping the charts in many countries.
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After the experimental “G.N.” Gianna writes the soundtrack for "SCONCERTO ROCK", a Luciano Mannuzzi's film produced by Bernardo Bartolucci.
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She teams up with Conny Plank, the producer who has worked with Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Eurythmics, DAF and Devo. "LATIN LOVER". Her fifth album, is released with special guests, Annie Lennox, Jackie Liebezeit (Can) and Hannette Humpe . The album enjoys great success across Europe going Gold in Austria, Germany and Switzerland . In October that year she performs with Kid Creole & The Coconuts and Little Steven at the legendary Rockpalast in Essen.
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She acts in the role of Titania in the movie "Sogno di una notte d'estate" by Gabriele Salvatores. She also performs on the original soundtrack.
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"PUZZLE", her sixth album, is released. Michelangelo Antonioni directs the video for "FOTOROMANZA". "FOTOROMANZA" is that summer’s hit song reaching Number One in the charts for two months and "Puzzle" is in the Top 10 of the Italian charts for six months. The album is Number One in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where Gianna is awarded two Gold Discs for "PUZZLE" and "LATIN LOVER". Gianna wins the Festivalbar, Vota la voce and Telegatto. That April, she starts a very successful European tour, performing also at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Berlin, Siena and Koln.
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At the end of January, "TUTTO LIVE" is released. It is her first live album, recorded during the "PUZZLE" tour.
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"PROFUMO" is released across Europe, selling over 1 million copies.
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Another big year for Gianna: her “Best Of “MASCHI E ALTRI” sells over 1,5 million copies in Europe. On 1st May Sting, Jack Bruce and Gianna Nannini sing songs by Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. The show is recorded and broadcast later on RAI Italian TV and on many other European TV channels. Gianna has now achieved great success and the critics’ praise throughout Europe.
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"MALAFEMMINA" is released , co-produced by Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails).
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In November, Gianna records "UN'ESTATE ITALIANA" in Milan. It becomes the 1990’s World Soccer’s Cup Anthem . She writes the lyrics and duets with Edoardo Bennato, music is by Giorgio Moroder. All her royalties for this track are donated to Amnesty International.
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"X FORZA e X AMORE" is released all over Europe. The album is “radical folk” with songs inspired by her region, Tuscany. The single, "RADIO BACCANO" features Jovanotti in the final rap.
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"DISPETTO", is released, again co-produced by Dave M. Allen. Gianna graduates in Literature and Philosophy with a thesis "Il corpo nella voce" - "Relazioni corpo-voce in una prospettiva di antropologia musicale" ("The body in the voice" – “Connections between body and voice from a musical, anthropologic point of view"). She becomes a strong supporter of civil and humanitarian causes. Most notable events: a benefit concert for immigrants in Rome, at the famous Cinecittà Studios featuring Pino Daniele, Jovanotti and Luca Carboni; Turin University’s concert for Tibet, in which Gianna sings with the bands, Timoria and Nomadi and a Tibetan monks' choir; the Extravaganza Club Tour, using only solar energy which starts her collaboration with Greenpeace. Gianna leads Greenpeace's action in Italy on July 1995 in Rome: at 11.40 Gianna climbs onto the balcony of the Palazzo Farnese (the French Embassy in Italy) with an activists' commando and performs an impromptu concert against the French Government's decision to recommence the nuclear experiments in Mururoa.
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"BOMBOLONI - THE GREATEST HITS COLLECTION” is released all over Europe.
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Collaborating with producer Fabrizio Barbacci (Ligabue, Negrita) she works on a new project: "CUORE".
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with “CUORE” she starts collaborating with Wil Malone (The Verve, Depeche Mode, Who, Dido, Massive Attack) who arranges all strings on the album.
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Gianna celebrates the new millennium in Turin, with over 500.000 people attending her show.
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Gianna moves for a few months to Catania in Sicily and collaborates with a punk trio and novelist Isabella Santacroce. With them she collaborates on the new album “ARIA” (2002), mixing Mediterranean melodic rock with contemporary electronic elements. At the same time she starts work on the soundtrack for "Momo alla conquista del tempo" (based on Michael Ende’s book), by Enzo d’Alò the most celebrated Italian cartoon director. After 9/11 Gianna is again involved in favour of disarmament and takes part incognito in the peace march from Perugia to Assisi on September 11.
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She travels twice to Baghdad to help rebuild the School of Music and the Fine Arts Academy.
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The album "PERLE" is released. Her aggressive rock soul gives way to a more intimate and stripped-down dimension , reinventing 12 little jewels of her repertoire and the new "Amandoti", a cover of a song by Giovanni Lindo Ferretti.
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She publishes her first book for Rizzoli: “Io – Autoscatto senza rimpianti”, a rock anti-diary.
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"GRAZIE", Gianna's new album, is released on January 27. Produced by Gianna Nannini and Wil Malone, the album is another big hit, reaching Number One for 11 consecutive weeks in the official Fimi/Nielsen album sales chart and certified 5 times Platinum (Diamond Award).
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12 years in the making, it is finally time for "PIA", a modern opera, with a libretto by Pia Pera. An album from the opera, "PIA COME LA CANTO IO", is released, again produced by Wil Malone. Gianna sings all the parts. Excerpts from the opera become a sold-out tour throughout Italy, with highlights shows in Verona (under heavy rain) and in Rome. “GIANNABEST" is released. The tracklisting contains highlights from her career and includes 3 new songs. The album is certified Diamond Award. She tours Europe with sold out shows everywhere. In London, she performs at the Shepherds Bush Empire.
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The song “Colpo di Fulmine” written by Gianna and performed by Lola Ponce and Giò di Tonno wins the Sanremo Festival.
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Gianna signs to Sony Music Entertainment. “GIANNADREAM Solo i sogni sono veri””is released on March 27.Co-produced by Wil Malone, the album includes 10 new songs: rock once again combines with symphonic melody.
