(by Paolo Biamonte)
Italian singer, composer,
producer, comedian, actor, film director and TV host Adriano
Celentano celebrates his 80th birthday on Saturday as his
eclectic career continues to go from strength to strength.
'Tutte le migliori', a CD box set bringing together his duets
with Italian singer Mina, is at third place in the charts and he
is busy filming 'Adrian', a TV series due to be screened by
private broadcaster Mediaset.
Celentano began his career on May 18, 1957 when he took part
in a festival of rock'n'roll in his native Milan, winning the
competition and his first record contract.
Things really took off two years later with the song "Il tuo
bacio è come un rock" (Your kiss is like rock), and the shake-up
of Italian pop began.
Celentano soon became known as the "Molleggiato" (the
flexible one) because of his unique style of dancing.
In 1961 he made his first appearance at the Sanremo Song
Festival with '24 mila baci' (24 thousand kisses), and is
remembered for his revolutionary performance with his back to
the audience.
From that moment on he became one of the leaders of Italian
popular music, carving out for himself a role as revolutionary
and preacher in support of environmental issues with songs such
as 'Il ragazzo della via Gluck and 'L'albero di 30 piani', and
taking a more conservative standpoint with 'Tre passi avanti',
'Pregherò', 'Chi non lavora non fa l'amore' (which won Sanremo
in 1970), 'La coppia più bella del mondo" and masterpieces such
as 'Una carezza in un pugno', 'Azzurro' (music by Paolo Conte)
and 'Storia d'amore'.
He has also been ahead of the curve in managing his career,
seeking independence from the record production companies and
founding his own record label, il Clan.
In 1964 he married actor and later producer Claudia Mori and
in the 1970s and 1980s he tried his hand at film direction with
'Yuppi Du' and 'Joan Lui'.
Television subsequently provided the ideal vehicle for his
'preaching', which now also finds space on his blog.
His shows have sparked endless discussion and controversy to
the extent that increasingly his music has taken second place.
In 1998 the album recorded with Mina including the song
'Acqua e sale' sold 1.6 million copies.
His last public performance was in 2012, when he sang live in
two dates at the Verona arena broadcast by Canale 5 to great
public acclaim.
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