Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Nek first tried Sanremo in 1992 among Newcomers placing third with In te, He already released albums and wrote song for others when he returned to Sanremo 1997 with Laura non c'è (#1) that really kickstarted his career especially abroad despite placing only 7th. The song charted in Europe (UK #59) and in Latin America, USA (#19) and he released also Spanish and English versions. Nektarios Sfirakis did a Greek version , Wim Soutaer a Dutch one and Nek with Céréla eventually did a Italian-French one, too.  Nek almost won (and went to Eurovision in 2015 with Fatti avanti amore , and yes, he's back in 2+24!

  The heat is one, the summer's here and here's also another dose of Italian summer hits. Enjoy! Takagi & Ketra / Giusy Ferreri - Shimmy shimmy Rocco Hunt / Ana Mena - Un bacio all'improvviso Nek - Un'estate normale Noemi / Carl Brave - Makunba

Not only Melodifestivalen and Sweden but also Italy's Sanremo rumor mill is already in full swing. Several papers have hinted the same names so maybe there's some truth to it, then again who knows? As we know, even the artists will find out if they have been accepted only when we common mortals do, too. Usually in live television when the list is read out. We also have one certain no goer as Emma has declared she won't be there but on tour and as she has been a participant, the winner and the presenter she will only return as an invited superguest.... (Good luck with that!) Arisa is widely rumored and her dream to do Eurovision is no secret. She also won Sanremo the only year Rai decided to fish outside the pool and went for Emma..... Time for a revenge?  Other welcome names would be  Nek ,  Giusy Ferreri ,  Paola Turci  and  Loredana Bertè  (late Mia Martini's sister) who at 67 can still deliver hit songs, like  Non ti dico di no . ...

After the artists have been revealed in both Big ad Newcomes categories the rumor mill turns its attention to the hosts next to Claudio Baglioni, and the superguests. The names of Francesco De Gregori (66), Gianni Morandi (73)  and Renato Zero (67) seem rather certain, as well as the trio Nek (46), Max Pezzali (50) and Francesco Renga (49) - giving you more "grumpy old men" for your viewing and hearing pleasure.  As for the hosts Michelle Hunziker and Luca Argentero seem to be taken for sure, and now - like almost every year recently - emerges the name of Laura Pausini . If she can hold her own succesful prime time show, a few nights in Sanremo would be a piece of cake and she can do it so let's hope it is true! If Carlo Conti did his most to make Sanremo younger and hip again, Baglioni seems to be bringing back all the old glories but doing so, will he lose the young audiences again? Does quality and real music reign over disposable music and firewor...

While the guessing and gossiping continues and same names are making it loud and clear they are aiming for Sanremo - from Jalisse to Gerardina Trovato and Al Bano - and some surprise names like Fiorella Mannoia seem to materialize, some other artists are making it known they won't be there in 2017.  Those include fan favorites Annalisa  and Nek , Eurovision veteran Nina Zilli, teenage heartdrops Benji & Fede , previous Newcomers winner and last year's third placed Giovanni Caccamo (but this blogger bets his duet partner Deborah Iurato will be there!), and further Malika Ayane (too busy playing Evita ) and Giorgia (she's probably going to be a guest star instead), Noemi , Tiromancino, Fred De Palma , Valerio Scanu , Urban Strangers and TheGiornalisti . The mystery will be solved in 3 weeks, on December 12. Stay tuned...

Sanremo 2015 runner up and the winner of OGAE Second chance contest with Fatti avanti amore will release a new album, Unici , next week. It's his 13th studio album. Uno di questi giorni released this summer was the first single off it, and the title track is released as follow up. There's also one duet in the album, Freud with rapper J Ax. 

A total of 23 national OGAE clubs have submitted their entry from a national final to the OGAE Second Chance, the longest running OGAE competition (since 1987). A lot of runner ups, but also other choices by the fans, like Italy that picks up Patty Pravo (68) who placed only 6th in Sanremo.  Italy won last year with Sanremo's runner up Nek and Fatti avanti amore and therefor organizes this year's contest. The club members are voting their favorites during this summer and by sometime late summer/fall we should have a winner. If this blogger picked up the entries out of these 23 there would be maybe 7 only.... I would have went for different songs :-) But that's the beauty of Eurovision. We agree to disagree on everything :-) Below is the Youtube playlist for all the entries.  Belgium: Tom Frantzis – I’m not lost (2nd) Belarus: NAPOLI – My universe (2nd) Ukraine: The Hardkiss – Helpless (2nd) Albania: Besa Krasniqi – Liroje zemrën (unplaced) Malta: Brooke –...

It's time to dust this series. And we start with Craig David's 2000 release Born to do it . This album was a bit of a revolution for me. I hardly knew what 2-step garage was and didn't care for that so much, but the album's r'n'b, electrobeat and simply great melodies conquered me. I loved his voice, the sound and the arrangements and the album delivered hit after hit in the charts. Craig was still in his teens when this his debut was released and he wrote these songs. Before he had already hit the #2 with Artful Dodger and Re-Rewind (The crowd say Bo Selecta) and #6 with Woman trouble . His first solo singles Fill me in and 7 Days went to #1, Walking away #3 and  Rendez vous  #8. The album was re-released in the US including also fabulous Key to your heart .  The album sold over 8 million worldwide (over 1,8 million in the UK alone), making it one of the best selling r'n'b albums by an UK artist. It also debuted at #1 in the UK charts becoming...

The OGAE contest for runner ups and fan favorites from national final is finally over for this season and Italy completes the well deserved third place in the Eurovision song contest with the victory in here for the Sanremo runner u Nek and Fatti avanti amore . The rest of the top is dominated by the Nordic countries Sweden, Denmark and Finland proving that at least Finland should have sent the runner up instead of the nonsense that we did send..... Watch the voting here and the entries here . 

Italian artists who sing in English are a rarity. (The big names go for Spanish and Latin market and make wonders there from Pausni to Ramazzotti, Ferro and Nek.) Not many have made a career of it, if we don't count some dance acts. Those who did - Alexia, Spagna and Elisa come in mind - have sooner or later switched into Italian after all. Now all of sudden we have two new very interesting debuts in English. First of all Michele Bravi . He won the X Factor, got songs written by Tiziano Ferro among others for his debut album and EP. The EP was a success with #1 La vita e felicità but everything ever since went downhill and it seemed he'd be yet another forgotten winner. Now he's back with the single The Days and new album I hate music . (I suppose he means music business....:-) ) All of sudden he's very interesting..... Virginio Simonelli , another reality talent show winner (Amici). Similar story, after initial success a career that went downhill fast. His bi...

The results are out and we can see Il Volo wins the first round's televote with 38,7% against Dear Jack's 10,4% and Nek's 9,6%. Expert jury preferred Malika with 26,3% followed by Nek's 20,0% and surprisingly Grignani with 11,3%. The demoscopic jury went had actually the top-5 in right order before favoring Nina Zilli and Irene Grandi more than their combined placing, and ignoring Grignani big time.  In the superfinal Il Volo is favored by televoters with 56,2% against 33,4% for Nek and only 10,4% for Maika. The expert jury did the total opposite: Malika 39,9%, Nek 37,5 snobbing Il Volo with only 22,9%. The demoscopic jury placed nek first with 35,9% but Il Volo was close with 32,3% and Malika again last with 31,7 but very close! All this summed up gives us 39,05 for Il Volo, 35,38 for Nek and 25,57 for Malika. If we look at the first two nights, Nek won the first night by placing second in televotes behind Dear Jack and also a very close second in press vote...

Sanremo's 65th festival comes to and end tonight, or rather early hours of Sunday. We already have two winners as Nek won the Covers night, and Giovanni Caccamo the newcomers aka Nuove Proposte last night. he also picked both special awards given by the critics named after Mia Martini, and the press, named after Lucio Dalla. Four artists with their songs didn't make it to the final: both Eurovision veterans Lara Fabian and Raf, comic duo Biggio e Mandelli and quite surprisingly Anna Tatangelo, whose song was Eurovision worthy me thinks.  The previous nights votes (see below a graphic how the 16 finalists were chosen) will be zeroed so the race starts again. There is once aain the voting threesome: 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic jury. After the first round there will be another round, once again the votes will be zeroed before that with the top-3. Several guest stars tonight: Gianna Nannini (she was supposed to be with Massimo Ranieri (ESC 1971, 1973) ...

And the winner is Nek! Giving hope that he could actually win also on Saturday and get the ticket to Vienna.... And here are the results! And the winner of this last foursome is... Marco Masini! So the cover finalists are Moreno, Nek, Dear Jack, Il Volo and Marco Masini . All male cast. A new televoting is opened.... Last but not least Marco Masini and Sarà per te . He performs very well this beautiful song. Have I mentioned the sanremo stage is awesome? Totally Eurovision worthy? It is! Next is Malika Ayane with Vivere . Beautiful, audience applauding mid-song. Somewhat magical atmosphere.... In the background Anna Tatangelo's cage! Emma confesses she has made a mistake. She wants to sing. She should be there as a singer not a presenter.... Nina Zilli next with Se bruciasse la città . In a quite amazing dress. She never lets yo down in that department, does she? She's also got a new hairstyle and looks fabulous. The song suits her well and she makes it her...