Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Angelina Mango won Sanremo 2024 and is set to represent Italy at the Eurovision song contest 2024 in Malmö with her La noia (Boredom). By winning Sanremo this soon 23-year-old talent managed to achieve what his father (or mother) never did despite being hugely popular and respected musician and singer. In a way at the time he changed Italian pop music the way Mahmood has been doing the past few years, bringing a new sound to charts and influence others.  Mango did seven Sanremos between 1985-2007 placing 5th, 6th and 7th at best. Strangely the songs that became his biggest Sanremo hits and among his biggest hits overall didn't do that well, 11th and 14th. He released 18 studio albums (two of them covers) debuting in 1976 with La mia ragazza è un gran caldo, but the three first albums didn't do so well even if his songs were so loved that legends like Mia Martini ( Se mi sfiori ) and Patty Pravo (Tu pioggia, io mattino and Sentirti ) wanted to cover them. Also Scialpi, at height...

  Late Mango, Angelina Mango's dad btw, participated 7 times in Sanremo. This Tu...si from 1990 may not be among his biggest successes despite placing 7th but it's a very dear to me. Mango left us way too soon, in a dramatic way mid song on stage but before that he somewhat changed Italian pop music and left his mark with his unique voice and musical style. Now let's see what his and another Sanremo artists Laura Valente's love fruit Angelina wuill give us in Sanremo..... 

  Pino Mango is one of my all time favorite artists and fully bloomed in the 90's for me, even if I followed him all the way from early 80's to his premature death on stage during his concert in December 2014. He had his very recognisable own Mediterranean sound with his unique voice. I love each of his albums, some more some less but none of them has left me cold or indifferent. Such a shame we won't be getting any new Mango songs. He's deeply missed..... He also wrote songs to likes of Mia Martini and Mietta among others. Check out also:

Whitney Houston , Eurythmics or Annie Lennox, Donna Summer , Madonna , Rihanna . All these female artists must have influenced the Italian superstar Giorgia, often said to have the best Italian voice. But not only, she has released an album full of covers from artists she admires herself, including Italian Eros Ramazzotti, late Mango , Jovanotti, Elisa , Zucchero , Tiziano Ferro , hauntingly beautiful Ultimo bacio by Carmen Consoli, late Pino Daniele , Vasco Rossi and Sanremo winner, Eurovision entrant Marco Mengoni's L'essenziale . But that's not all: Tiziano Ferro duets, Elisa and Aliné are featured and even Eros Ramazzotti makes a cameo. What could you ask for more? Already #2 in the Italian charts this one's c´going to yet another multiplatinum selling album for her.  This album follows multiplatinum selling  Oronero , released in 2016 with hit singles Oronero , Vanità , Credo , Scelgo ancora te , and Come neve , the duet with Marco Mengoni off the re-releas...

Tonight is two years since one of the greatest Italian voices passed away singing his song live on stage amongst his public. Rest in peace, you are not forgotten.... Tutto è pensare a te. e cosi ti penso Tu sei, tu sei lo so, cosi vicino.....

Exactly one year ago tonight, one of the greatest and most original voices and musicians was taken away from us. A heart attack on stage next to adoring fans. Singing his first success Oro .... Somehow it's all very poetic but so sad.... and unfair.  Below are the two covers released during this year when he's no longer with us. Hiss music lives on!

Mietta. The one that was supposed to do Eurovision 1990 but then Toto Cutugno, already on RAI's payroll got a job in the very last minute. She was the hottest female singer in the early 1990's collecting awards and top placings in various festivals, released hit albums with songs by Amedeo Minghi and Mango among others before she started to experiment a bit with her music and success vanished. She's done eight Sanremos, winning the newcomers in 1989 and finishing in top-10 five times. She's become an actress and a writer, too, and a mother.  It's been four years since her latest album, she has tried to get back to Sanremo (or so it is rumored) almost every year. Hopefully Carlo Conti will take her this time and relaunch her career big time. And it'd be time she does that Eurovision, too. After all she's got one of the best voices and is one of the most beautiful women in Italy. The world deserves to see and hear more of her! Her latest releases are ...

This is a sad day. Giuseppe Mango, or simply Mango suffered a heart attack last night during his concert while singing his first big hit Oro and didn't survive. Italy has lost one of its greatest voices and song writers. This blogger is particularly taken by the news as Mango has been one of my top favorite singers since his hit Australia back in 1985. Since then he has created his own style and released some fantastic songs full of Mediterranean flavor and heat of the south. The 1990's in particular were fantastic but also in 2000's he scored hits like La Rondine , one of his best songs ever. I was always keeping up the hope to see him do Eurovision one day..... His songs have been covered also my many foreign artists. His wife and mother of his two kids is Laura Valente, once a Matia Bazar singer.....  He also wrote a lot of songs for other artists including Mia Martini , Loretta Goggi , Andrea Bocelli ,  Scialpi , fabulous  Andrea Mirò , Dennis Fantina an...

Tomorrow the 14 Big names will be announced live in TV news at 13.30 local time. The speculations are running wild as there are rumors of some very big names entering the race at very last minute. However, those who know usually have cut the list to 22, and it will be interesting to see tomorrow how right they are - who is among those eight left out, and if there will be names in outside the list?! Out of the Eurovision veterans we have Alice, Raphael Gualazzi and Enrico Ruggeri listed. Besides them previous Sanremo winners include Alex Britti, Dolcenera and Antonio Maggio (of Newcomers), Francesco Renga and Ron (of Big). All are bringing two songs so there might be even guest artists for one of the songs, like Mietta is rumored as Renga's duet partner! Alex Britti is supposed to be in duet with Bianca Atzei while another duet is also listed: Violante Placido and Roberto Dell'Era . Sanremo was won in 1987 by a trio Morandi-Ruggeri-Tozzi and there could be anoth...

Less than two weeks until the announcement about the possible artists in the Sanremo Big category (I already wrote about it here ) and rumors are running wild. I also wrote about Alice 's possible return here . The other two possible Eurovision veterans are Nina Zilli and Raphael Gualazzi . Gualazzi might come with a very surprising duet partner. One of this blogger's favorite singers, Mango , is given certain now and I can't be but happy about that! Then we have Nek , Noemi, Mondo Marcio, Giuliano Palma, Francesco Sarcino (of Le Vibrazioni), Il Cile. .. Franco Battiato was rumored as a special guest but for now he has denied his presense on the stage of Teatro Ariston. The specil night where all the Big artists sing songs of a certain theme is supposed to be late Enzo Jannacci, who died in March this year.

To continue with yesterday's Mango post here is some more of him for you! I discovered he has been covered both in Greece by Eleftheria Arvanitaki and in France by Helene Segara besides the several local Italian covers I already knew. That great female artists want to cover him is nothing new as already back in 1976 Mia Martini did Se mi sfiori and over the decades Patty Pravo , Loretta Goggi , Mina, Mietta, Leo Sayer , Neri per caso , Scialpi and Wender ft Saretta have covered his songs. Besides that he has written songs to Mietta , Loredana Bertè , Andrea Bocelli , Andrea Mirò and Dennis Fantina , just to name a few. And he himself has covered many songs by other artists, like Franco Battiato for example. And this is Mango, too. And if pnly one day Mango would collaborate with Alice....

Mango is one of my favourite Italian singers as most of you propably know by now. He has released a new album La terra degli aquiloni , his first of new original material since 2007 following the release of a live and cover albums. And it was worth the wait. The first single off the album is La sposa , sounding very Mango indeed but on the album he finds new styles to mix with his unique voice and singing style like Il rifugio , Dove ti perdo , Dignitose arrendevolezze , Chiamo le cose , Il pazzo , La terra degli aquiloni . There's also a bit of an international flavor with Volver and Starlight that you can hear here with the medley of the album . And here's as a bonus Guarda l'Italia che bella in the dialect of Lagonegro where he comes from. This is his 19th studio album since 1976 and he has been on top since 1985's Australia . And since then I have been a fan.....

Pino Mango (54) is one of my favourite singers and I have followed him since Australia in 1985 and liked each album since (and I later discovered the earlier ones, too) but Sirtaki from 1990 is the first one that I think is a great album . Previously he did wrote great songs but there were always fillers on albums. And the albums that followed Come l'acqua (1992) and Mango (1994) are equally fantastic creating the Mango sound I love and continue to like even with his newer productions. He's got a unique voice and very mediterranean melodies and sound. This Sirtaki album is the prime example of all that. Album kicks off with fantastic Nella mia cittá , a daydream put to music, follows with I giochi del vento sul lago salato ,  Ma com'é rossa la ciliegia , Tu...si. .., Sirtaki , Come Monna Lisa , with less remembered songs Terra bianca , Preludio incantevole , Cosi viaggando , L'io , and Ma che musica c'é plus alternative version of Nella mia cittá . All songs a...

Roberta Faccani leaves Matia Bazar, the group that represanted Italy in Eurovision 1979 with Raggio di luna . Roberta was group's fourth female solist after Antonella Ruggiero (1975-1989), Laura Valente (1990-1998) and Silvia Mezzanotte (1999-2004). Ruggiero and Mezzanotte have moved on to a solo career and Valente married Mango , another fabulous singer that this blog admired deebly. Matia Bazar has participated 11 times in Sanremo winning twice; 1978 with ...e dirsi ciao! and in 2002 with Messaggio d'amore . They have also won the critic's award twice; in 1983 with Vacanze Romane and in 1985 with Souvenir .  Ti sento was an international hit for them, recently remade by Scooter ft Antonella Ruggiero . She also scored a solo hit with an old Matia Bazar song Un'ora d'amore . And here's Roberta's take on ...e dirsi ciao!

After two rather succesful years and two duets - Alice & Battiato in 1984 (5th) and Albano & Romina Power in 1985 (7th) Italy skipped again 1986 and it is such a shame as the possible one would have been none other than future global superstar Eros Ramazzotti who won with epic Adesso tu .  Renzo Arbone came second with Il clarinetto but then we have another suitable Eurovision entry, Marcella's Senza un briciolo di testa (3rd) or even better, Anna Oxa's classic É tutto un attimo (5th). Toto Cutugno was 4th with Azzurra malinconia and further down two interesting names and tracks: 14th Mango with Lei verrá and 16th Scialpi with No east, no west . And two future Eurovision names are even further down the list: 17th Enrico Ruggeri with Rien ne va plus and 18th Luca Barbarossa with Via Margutta . In all 1986 was filled with big names or future big names with several possibilities for Eurovision!  Ps. Apparently Sanremo 1985 winners Ricchi e Poveri were offered the...