Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winner s. Umberto Tozzi (69) won Sanremo 1987 with Gianni Morandi and Enrico Ruggeri with Si puó dare di piú , co-written by Raf or Raffaele Riefoli. Morandi had already done Eurovision and Ruggeri would do it later so Tozzi took along Raf (in the beginning of his career spelled Raff) with another song they wrote together, Gente di mare . It also marked Raf's debut singing in Italian. They placed 3rd out of 22. Umberto Tozzi is one of the most selling Italian artists abroad in the 1970's/1980's with songs like Gloria , Ti amo , Tu , Stella stai . Laura Branigan made both Ti amo and Gloria global hist in English. Over 80 million records sold he's still active today. Four Sanremos with that one victory, 17 studio albums and 60 s...

  I got to know Fiordaliso and her original voice from Sanremo where she was present 1982-86 and again 1988-89, finishing in top-10 usually around 5th-6th, including the international megahit Non voglio mica la luna/ Yo no te pido la luna . However my favorite Fiordaliso Sanremo came in 1991 with Il mare piú grande che c'è .... She's still around and tipped for Sanremo every now and then, while  being a regular in the television realities etc.  Check out also

  Jennifer Rush co-wrote and released The power of love , one of the best selling female hits ever and later by covered by both Laura Branigan and Celine Dion among others but she was a lot more than that. After a couple of albums I lost her and realize now she's still been recording and releasing music. Maybe I have to dust the oldies and check the new stuff.... Check out also:

  Laura Branigan had her biggest hits with covers of Raf's ( Self control ) and Umberto Tozzi's ( Gloria , Ti amo ) songs and she also recorded songs made hits by someone else later ( I found someone by Cher for example) but her own repertoire is respectable as well. I found her thanks to Self control of course, and then followed and searched back her previous career and was a fan until the end. When I heard the news of her death in a car radio I was maybe a bit more shaken as I should have been....  she's still missed.  Check out also

Turkish Mahmut Orhan already collaborated with rising star Sena Sener in a cover of Self control , but now they come together again with an original song Feel , that is quite wonderful for the ethnic vibe, her voice and the stunning views of Istanbul. 

Good news for all Umberto Tozzi fans. He releases tomorrow his greatest hits in all new arrangements and recordings titled Yesterday . A double with 36 singles from the mid-70's to 2012, including a brand new duet with Francis Gabrel in Petite Marie . Available in Spain, Belgium and Switzerland at first. But that's not all. In May he will released another double in all markets under title Yesterday, today that includes twelve new songs and another CD with 17 of his biggest hits. The Spanish edition of the later includes also duets with Sergio Dalma ( Tu ) and OBK ( Falsa moral ). Umberto Tozzi is a million sellers whose songs have been worldwide hits by himself but often also my other singers like Laura Branigan ( Gloria , Ti amo ) and recently by Sergio Dalma and David Civera . And then there's Carola . But his originals are the real thing: Tu , Ti amo , Gloria , Eva , Si puó dare di piú and Gente di mare . 

Not only Sergio Dalma is having success with covers in Spain but also sparkly smiled David Civera has released an album full of classics, this one also featuring some Italian songs like Umberto Tozzi's Ti amo . Seems like David managed to release it as a single before Sergio. The original by Tozzi sold over 8 million copies worldwide and is surely one of the songs most everyone knows to some degree all over the world. And to keep dear Umberto filled with royalties David also covers Gloria , previosly hit to Tozzi , late Laura Branigan and Carola . Just to name a few. Oh, and the best Ti amo cover comes from before mentioned, sadly underrated Laura Branigan. And back to David. He has stated he would like to do it again. Eurovision that is. He has a song ready for Baku 2012 and is waiting for an invitation....

Numeri (Numbers) is the title of the new Raf album, his 16th since 1984 including official compilations and re-releases. Even if his fame and popularity has faded a bit since his megasuccess in the early 1990's this album debuted in the Italian album charts at #6. The first single is Un'emozione inaspettata . Known spokes person for alternative energies he now resides in Rome after his native Puglia region, Florence and Milan. Married with two kids and added 20 kgs since he got married the once skinniest Italian singer is in crossroads with his career. In an interview with TV Sorrisi e canzoni he says he still writes the songs composing the music first with fake English lyrics that then are rewritten in Italian. His first songs were in English back in early 1980's, most famous of course being Self control that Laura Branigan made a worldwide hit. He also says he's pretty much done with singing and will concentrate on producing and songwriting from now on. He says he a...

Laura Branigan passed away six years ago today at the age of 47. Her biggest hit in the US was a cover of Umberto Tozzi's Gloria , but in Europe a cover of Raf's Self control . She further recorded Tozzi's Ti amo, and even participated in Sanremo 1991 with Fiordaliso doing Il mare piú grande che c'é / Don't walk away . Her recording career started in 1979 but the first album came out only in 1982 and the Grammy nominations started right on with Gloria . She also scored the first hit for writers Diane Warren with Solitaire and Michael Bolton with How am I supposed to live without you. The Lucky one followed winning the Tokyo Music Festival and she also scored a hit with Carole King cover Will you still love me tomorrow , a nice change from her uptempo songs. She also did I found someone , later a comeback hit for Cher, on the other hand she covered Jennifer Rush's The power of love and made it a hit again. And she recorded Celine Dion's Unison before it...

Raffaele Riefoli aka Raf has gone a long way from writing Self control in 1984 that didn't go nowhere until Laura Branigan recorded it, and dueting with Umberto Tozzi in Eurovision 1987 with Gente di mare . Twelve albums later and countless hits like Il battiato animale (winner of Festivalbar 1993), Cosa resterá degli anni 80 (Sanremo 1989), Sei la piú bella del mondo , Ti pretendo (winner of Festivalbar 1989), Inevitabile follia (Sanremo 1988), Oggi un dio non ho (Sanremo 1991)(also Ofra Haza recorded it) and Siamo soli nell'immenso vuoto che c'é , In tutti i miei giorni , Dimentica and Ossigeno he releases his first live CD with a DVD from his latest Metamorfosi tour. He has also written songs to other singers, like the 1987 Sanremo winner Si puó dare di piú and Mi rubi l'anima . SoundView is out on October 30 including one new song, Per il tutto il tempo .