Paolo Conte - Biography
By J Poet
Paolo Conte is one of the most successful Italian singer/songwriters ever; an internationally famous artist who’s world-weary croak brings to mind the singing of Charles Aznavour and Leonard Cohen. His style blends dark Brechtian drama, tango, Spanish habanera, French chanson, Polish polka, Caribbean rhythms, and international pop to deliver lyrics that delve into human frailty with ironic humor and a telling compassion. He was an amateur jazz musician most of his life, but didn’t formerly start his musical career until he was 37 when he released Paolo Conte (1974 RCA Italy), now considered a classic. His career has maintained an upward arch ever since. His latest album, Psiche (2008 Universal/Platinum) was hailed as another masterwork.
Conte comes from Asti in northern Italy, a town famous or its wines. Conte and his brother Giorgio grew up in a house full of music; Paulo started on piano as a child and began writing songs, alone and with his brother, while still in grammar school. They loved jazz and Conte played vibes in amateur and profession jazz combos throughout his career as a lawyer.
Conte kept writing songs while maintaining a law practice, collaborating with his brother Giorgio, Vito Pallavicini, and Giorgio Calabrese, who supplied lyrics for his melodies. In the mid 60s, he started placing songs with popular entertainers like singer/actor Adriano Celentano who cut "La Coppia Più Bella del Mondo" and "Azzurro,” singer/actress and future record producer Caterina Caselli, pop diva Patty Pravo, cabaret singer Enzo Jannacci, and fellow songwriter Bruno Lauzi who covered "Genova per Noi" and "Onda Su Onda,” two of Conte’s biggest hits.
1n 1974, producer Italo Greco asked Conte to record his songs himself. Conte was 37 and didn’t consider himself a singer, but like many performers with a limited range, he used his just-barely-tenor voice to good effect. He affected the persona of a dissolute singer in a third rate piano bar to spin his atmospheric tales of lost love and people living on the edges of polite society. Paolo Conte (1974 RCA Italy) with his classics "Onda Su Onda" and "Una Giornata al Mare" and his second album, Paolo Conte (1975 RCA Italy), which featured "La Ricostruzione del Mocambo,” "La Topolino Amaranto," and "Genova per Noi," were not hits at the time, but are now considered career milestones.
His career started to take off after releasing Un Gelato al Limon (1979 RCA Italy.) The singers Lucio Dalla, Francesco de Gregori and Enzo Janacci covered his tunes and sent them up the charts. Paris Milonga (1981 RCA Italy) made him a headliner in Italy and Appunti di Viaggio (1982 RCA Italy) showed of his jazzier side. It included "Fuga All'inglese," "Hemingway," "Diavolo Rosso," and "Lo Zio,” still staples of his live concerts 25 years later.
Paolo Conte (1984 CGD Italy, 1996 WEA International), another jazzy outing, was made after he’d completed several European tours. The album was an immediate success with the hits "Sparring Partner" and "Come-di." He followed it with Concerti (1985 CGD Italy); a double LP recorded live at his sold out shows at the Théâtre de Ville in Paris and the double studio album Aguaplano (1987 CGD Italy.) A single LP compilation also called Aguaplano was released internationally by WEA in 1989. He supported the album with a tour of Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Greece, Spain, and Holland, where the album went platinum, He made his American debut that year at the Blue Note in New York.
On Parole D'amore Scritte A Macchina (1990 GCD Italy) Conte performed without a drummer and used backing female vocalists for the first time. His voice now had its familiar basso profundo tone and the record is a dark, ironic masterpiece. Novecento (900) (1992 GCD Italy, 2001 GCD Italy) saw a return to his piano bar style with jazzy laid-back performances that include tangos, late night lamentations and tunes that could be from an off-Broadway musical. Una Faccia In Prestito (1995 GCD Italy, 2001 GCD Italy) was a generous 17-track album. Conte sang in his own bleary blend of Italian, French, English, and Portuguese and faux Spanish on “Danson Metropolis” and “Vita da Sosia.” The album included the hits "Le Tue Parole per Me," "Un Fachiro al Cinema," and "Architetture Lontane."
The Best of Paolo Conte (1996 GCD Italy, 1998 Nonesuch US) collected some of the singer’s best-known songs, a 20-track career overview that included “Azzurro”, “Bartali”, “Genova per Noi”, “Boogie,” Colleghi Trascurati,” “Max,” and “Via con me.” He followed it with an American tour. The Best of Paolo Conte was voted Record of the Year by The New Yorker and Rolling Stone magazine. Razmataz (2000 GCD Italy) contains the songs from a review Conte worked for almost a decade, a fantasy set in 1920’s Paris. It also appeared as a DVD, with the songs illustrated by Conte’s drawings. He toured with a show based on the album to sold out houses all across Europe for two years.
Reveries (2003 GCD Italy, 2003Nonesuch US), his first album released internationally, was a collection of 16 classics re-recorded and re-arranged in versions closer to what he played in concert. It included “Reveries”, “Dancing,” “Diavolo Rosso,” and “Sud America.” The three CD, one DVD set Paolo Conte (2003 GCD Italy) included digital re-masters of Paolo Conte (1974), Paolo Conte (1975) and Un Gelato al Limon. The DVD features Conte talking about his songwriting career.
Elegia (2004 WEA International) was another return to his world-weary, later night, piano bar persona, with the backing strings and orchestra mixed down to keep the spotlight on his whispered vocals and piano. It was hailed as a masterpiece on its release. Psiche (2008 Universal Italia Italy, 2008 Emarcy US) contains 15 new songs released in time for the artist’s 71st birthday and shows Conte at his creative peak. His voice is a bit more ragged than it was, but he still delivers his insightful lyrics with sharp ironic humor and undiminished emotional power. Wonderful (2006 RCA/BMG/Sony Italy) a three disc, 50 song recap of Conte’s early career, is a good introduction to the man’s style, but he’s never made a bad album. When shopping, look for the original albums; Conte’s work has been anthologized and repackaged in hundreds of albums and CDs, but your best bets are his 13 original studio albums.
