FABRIZIO DE ANDRè

One of the most famous Italian singer-songwriters
Biography
Fabrizio De Andrè was born in Genoa, on
1940 February the 18th , at 12 o’ clock in
the morning .
After the war years , which he spent in the
countryside with his relatives , De Andrè’s
family returned to Genoa .
He bought his first
guitar and amplifier
when he was sixteen
; and he started to
play Jazz music with
a small band which
was led by Marco
de Santis (a famous
pianist).
De Andrè was
inspired by Jim
Hall’s sound
and style .
Then he started singing and playing in a country
and western band called “The Crazy Cowboy
and Sheriff One”.
At the same time he
wrote his first lirics.
Strange and crude
songs about suicides,
drug addicts and
prostitutes …
De Andrè was not only a popular
singer, but a great poet, too.
His songs dealt with humble
people,the outcast , and also serious
Italy’s social problems that were
seldom found in most of the songs ,
which usually were about love .
He was anarchist and he started to
be interested in politics when he
was only a boy .
He left home in 1955 and started
to work .
His first record , “Nuvole Barocche” , came
out in 1961 , which passed pratically
unobserved .
He got married to
Enrica Rignon ,in
July 1962, when he
was only 22 and he
was made father at
the age of 23 .
His first great hit was “La canzone di
Marinella” in 1965 .
His first album was released in 1966 , “Tutto
Fabrizio De Andrè” .
He spent some years
in Sardinia ; he lived
in a farm-house near
Tempio Pausania in
the north of
Sardinia.
There he was
kidnapped together
with his love-in ,
Dori Grezzi , for 4
months .
He also spent
some time in
Carloforte, a
small island in
the south-west
of Sardinia.
His last album “Anime Salve” was
recorded in 1996 .
Fabrizio De Andrè died in Milan
in 1999 .
“ Dormi sepolto in un campo di grano
non è la rosa non è il tulipano
che ti fan veglia dall'ombra dei fossi
ma son mille papaveri rossi
fermati Piero , fermati adesso
lascia che il vento ti passi un po' addosso
dei morti in battaglia ti porti la voce
chi diede la vita ebbe in cambio una croce
ma tu no lo udisti e il tempo passava
con le stagioni a passo di giava
ed arrivasti a varcar la frontiera
in un bel giorno di primavera
e mentre marciavi con l'anima in spalle
vedesti un uomo in fondo alla valle
che aveva il tuo stesso identico umore
ma la divisa di un altro colore “
Power Point
design by
Sara Lumini
(Italy)
Comenius 2009