Eros Ramazzotti was born in the Cinecittà district of Rome on 28 October 1963. At school he studied half-heartedly, but right from his childhood cultivated two passions, football and singing. At the age of eighteen he made his singing debut at the Castrocaro Festival and signed his first record contract. A year later, in 1982, he released his first single (Ad un amico), but it was another two years before his first big break, a period that allowed him to hone his guitar technique. In 1984 he took part successfully in the New Performers section at the Sanremo Festival with Una terra promessa. This entitled him to take part in the 1985 Sanremo Festival. He presented Una storia importante (featured on his first album, Cuori agitati), which was so successful that he decided to attempt to break into the European market. A year later he again took part in the Sanremo Festival and won the established performers category with Adesso tu (on his album Nuovi eroi). At the age of twenty-two he was so popular that he was able to establish himself in various European markets. The tour that followed the release of his album lasted for nine months and confirmed his popularity. His third LP, In certi momenti, came out in 1987 (with Patsy Kensit singing in La luce buona delle stelle) and established his reputation once and for all. From now on, with every new album he also produced a Spanish version for the Latin American market. In Spring 1988 he released a mini-album entitled Musica è, which even surpassed sales of In certi momenti. In 1990, after a two-year absence from the record market, he released the album In ogni senso, and decided to attempt to break into the US market. He performed in the Radio City Music Hall in New York and the show enjoyed a triumphant success. His next lengthy tour culminated in the double live album (Eros in concert) recorded at the concert in Barcelona broadcast by Mondovisione. Three years went by before he produced another record, but his next album Tutte storie proved to be the most ambitious work of his career. Although success was guaranteed, the results surpassed all expectations, largely thanks to the video clip produced by film director Spike Lee. After releasing the album he set off for another tour. Besides Europe, this tour also included numerous Latin American countries. In November 1994 he took part in the MTV Awards in Berlin. On returning to Italy, he was involved in the project of the Trio (Ramazzotti, Pino Daniele and Jovanotti), which was to become the musical event of the year. In the meantime he signed an exclusive world contract with BMG Ricordi and during the summer of 1995 took part in the Summer Festivals in seven European cities (including Berlin, Munich and Bucharest) together with Elton John, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Page and Joe Cocker. In 1996 he released his first self-produced album, Dove c'è musica, recorded in Italy and California with the collaboration of international musicians. His next album was not long in coming and sold more than six million copies. He finished his next European tour just a few days before his companion Michelle gave birth to their daughter Aurora Sophie. Over the following months Ramazzotti wrote That's all I need to know for his friend Joe Cocker. The album Eros (which came out in 1997) was the second record produced by Eros and was arranged by Celso Valli. The album contains 16 songs from his repertoire, including a couple of surprise duets, Musica è with Andrea Bocelli, and Cose della vita/Can't stop thinking of you with Tina Turner. It was intended to represent the culmination of a career in which he conquered the world and rose to incredible heights of popularity (more than 5,800,000 copies sold worldwide). In October 1998 he released Eros Live, his second live CD with 15 tracks recorded during the tour, including two guest appearances, Joe Cocker (recorded on 5 July in the Koenigplatz in Munich) and Tina Turner. In October 2000 he released the original Stilelibero, twelve tracks recorded in collaboration with prominent international producers including Trevor Horn and Rick Nowels besides his established producers Celso Valli, Claudio Guidetti and Adelio Cogliati.
Source: http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/principal/topics/bio/ramazzotti.htm
