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Samuele Bersani
Bersani in 2009
Background information
Born	(1970-10-01) 1 October 1970 (age 53) Rimini, Italy
Genres	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Fuori Classifica

Website	samuelebersani.net

Samuele Bersani (born 1 October 1970) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He received the "Mia Martini" Critics Award at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2000 and in 2012, with the songs "Replay" and "Un pallone", respectively.^[1]^[2] His best known songs also include "Giudizi universali", released in 1997 and certified in 2017 as a platinum-selling single by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry,^[3] and "Spaccacuore", which was later covered by Italian singer Laura Pausini.^[4]^[5]

In 2000, Bersani recorded the soundtrack of the film Chiedimi se sono felice, by Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo.^[6] In 2007, he won the Amnesty International Italy "Voci per la liberta" Award for "Occhiali rotti", a song included in his album L'aldiqua (2006) and written in memory of journalist Enzo Baldoni.^[7] His record Cinema Samuele received the Targa Tenco for Best Album in 2021.^[8]

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Biography

1970–1991: childhood and early beginnings

Samuele Bersani was born on 1 October 1970 in Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.^[9] His father was a music teacher, while his mother was an employee, and she also became the vice-mayor of Cattolica, the town in which he grew up.^[10]^[11] He studied at the classical lyceum, but he left school a few months before his "maturity exam".^[11] While he was a teenager, Bersani played in several local bands and took part in local singing competitions. In 1991, he met Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla before a concert Dalla was going to give in San Benedetto del Tronto, in Central Italy. Bersani asked Dalla to listen to a recording of his original song "Il mostro", and a few minutes later Dalla's producer, Renzo Cremonini, told him to open the concert performing the song.^[11] Bersani was then chosen as the opening act for the remaining concerts of Dalla's Cambio tour.^[12]

1992–1996: C'hanno preso tutto and Freak

Bersani's debut album, C'hanno preso tutto, was released in November 1992.^[11] The album included the song "Il mostro", as well as the single "Chiccho e Spillo", which allowed Bersani to receive media attention, becoming a radio hit and supporting sales of the album, which sold more than 20,000 copies in Italy.^[11]^[12] In 1995, Bersani released his second album, Freak. The album's lead single, "Freak", was released in February of the same year, but some Italian radio stations decided not to air it as a consequence of a line referring both to the Italian conservative coalition and to the Italian Communist Party, which was considered a violation of the "par condicio law", which introduced fees for those stations giving airplay to songs including political messages during the electoral campaign preceding the Italian regional elections.^[13]^[14]^[15] As a consequence, Bersani's label decided to anticipate the release of the second single from the album, "Spaccacuore".^[16] Both "Freak" and "Spaccacuore" were later performed by Bersani during the itinerant television show Festivalbar, during the summer of 1995.^[17]^[18] The album was a commercial success, and it was certified platinum, selling more than 130,000 copies in Italy.^[19]