Carmen Consoli

Carmen Consoli was born in Catania to a Sicilian father, Giuseppe Consoli and a Venetian mother, Maria Rosa Toffolo, and grew up in the small town of San Giovanni la Punta.[3] She started playing guitar at the age of nine and at fourteen she started performing with a rock-blues band, the Moon Dog's Party.[4] In 1996 she recorded her first album, Due Parole, and participated to the Festival of Sanremo with the song Amore di plastica.

Her next album, Confusa e felice (1997) sold more than 130,000 copies. In the same year she embarked on her first tour, after some appearances on TV programs. In autumn 1998 she released her third album, Mediamente isterica, a particular album representing different kind of female figures. This album did not receive the same success as her previous work, selling around 80,000 copies, but became a favourite amongst her fans.

In 2000 she took part in the Festival of Sanremo for the third time with the song In bianco e nero, when her fourth album Stato di necessità was released. The album includes two of Carmen's greatest successes, songs Parole di burro and L'ultimo bacio, the last one becoming the official title track for the soundtrack of the film of the same name by Gabriele Muccino, starring Stefano Accorsi and Giovanna Mezzogiorno. Stato di necessità became her most successful album, selling more than 300,000 copies in a year. In that same year Carmen won two Italian Music Awards and the Nastro D’Argento Award at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily.

In 2001 she released her first live album, called L'anfiteatro e la bambina impertinente. The album presents all Consoli's greatest hits rearranged with an orchestra of sixty elements with the help of director Paolo Buonvino.

A year later she released her fifth studio album, L'eccezione. The album debuted at number 1 in the Italian album charts, selling more than 200,000 copies.

2003 saw the release of her second live album, Un sorso in più – dal vivo a MTV Supersonic, published with the collaboration of MTV Italy. The album was recorded at MTV's program Supersonic the year before, when Carmen presented to the public L'eccezione.

In 2006 Eva contro Eva, her sixth studio album, was issued. Debuting at number 1, the album showed a new perspective of Carmen's music, this time full of traditional Sicilian sounds and ethnic influences, demonstrating her great diversity. The album contains collaborations with Goran Bregovic and Angelique Kidjo. After a series of concerts through Europe, Canada and the United States Eva contro Eva was published in 2007 in The United States through Universal Latino.

In 2008 third album Mediamente isterica was celebrated through a "Deluxe Edition" and a new tour. Mediamente isterica – Deluxe Edition is the first official "Deluxe Edition" of an Italian artist. The same year she wrote the original soundtrack for the movie L'uomo che ama, directed by Maria Sole Tognazzi and starring Monica Bellucci, Pierfrancesco Favino and Ksenia Rappoport.

Elettra, her seventh studio album, was released on 30 October 2009, including first single Non molto lontano da qui and debuting at number 2 in the FIMI Italian Album Charts. The album sold in Italy more than 60,000 copies gaining platinum status and won the Targa Tenco for the category "Album of the Year".

During her career she collaborated with many artists: Mario Venuti, Natalie Merchant, Henri Salvador, La Crus, Paola Turci, Marina Rei, Max Gazzè, Franco Battiato, Luca Madonia, Ornella Vanoni, Ron, Marco Di Mauro, Marco Parente, Lucio Dalla, Goran Bregovic and Angelique Kidjo.

She has produced albums by La Camera Migliore, Agata Lo Certo and Lăutari through her label Due Parole, established in Catania.

In November 2010 she released her first best of album, called Per niente stanca. The album was anticipated by the single Guarda l'alba, a collaboration with Tiziano Ferro. The second new song AAA Cercasi was released as a single in January 2011.

In July 2011 she published her first video collection, which includes all her videos from 1996 to 2011 plus some extras.

In November 2012 Carmen Consoli was officially knighted. She received the highest ranking civilian honour of the Italian Republic and was bestowed the title of "Cavaliere" (Knight) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.[5]

• 1996 Amore di plastica
• 1996 Lingua a sonagli
• 1998 Mai come ieri feat. Mario Venuti
• 1998 Bésame Giuda
• 1999 Eco di sirene
• 1999 Autunno dolciastro
• 2000 Parole di burro
• 2001 L'ultimo bacio
• 2002 L'eccezione
• 2003 Pioggia d'aprile
• 2003 Fiori d'arancio
• 2006 Signor Tentenna
• 2006 Tutto su Eva
• 2009 Non molto lontano da qui
• 2010 Guarda l'alba
• 2011 AAA cercasi
• 2015 L'abitudine di tornare
• 2015 Sintonia imperfetta
• 2015 Ottobre
• 2017 Il conforto (Tiziano Ferro feat. Carmen Consoli)

• Federico Guglielmi, Quello che sento. Il mondo, i pensieri, la musica di Carmen Consoli, Giunti Editore, 2006, pp. 194. ISBN 978-88-09-04436-4
• Elena Raugei, Carmen Consoli. Fedele a se stessa, Arcana Editore, 2010, pp. 260. ISBN 88-6231-093-5

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carmen Consoli.

• carmenconsoli.it (Archived)