Jovanotti

Jovanotti stands out as the dominant force to arise within Italian pop since the close of the 1980s. While Ligabue could rival his level of accomplishments and visibility, and Laura Pausini together with Eros Ramazzotti could equal his domestic sales figures, those peers generally stayed inside established styles such as rock or standard romantic material; Jovanotti, by contrast, receives credit for nearly single-handedly bringing rap, funk, and later various world-music currents to broad Italian listeners. Beyond that trailblazing position inside modern Italian pop, few active songwriters can point to as many lasting additions to the Great Italian Songbook as this artist, who has kept writing some of the nation’s most cherished songs across the past twenty years.

Above all, before the appearance of at least his third or fourth album, the idea that Jovanotti might someday rank among Italy’s truly great songwriters would have provoked widespread laughter, even among his own supporters, because his earliest releases amounted to little more than juvenile material. His trajectory therefore represents an exceptional story of artistic development, marked by a steady determination to mature and cross boundaries despite skepticism or disapproval, all without sacrificing the ability to deliver engaging pop rather than turning self-important or obscure in the manner of Lucio Battisti. That same plainspoken honesty has also shaped his public persona, reinforced by his writing projects, humanitarian efforts, and political involvement, earning respect and goodwill throughout the Italian music community and its listeners, ranging from committed rappers (increasingly reluctant as his mainstream standing grew) to the Sanremo establishment.

Lorenzo Cherubini entered the world on September 17, 1966, in Rome and passed a substantial portion of his childhood in Cortona, the family’s ancestral town in the province of Arezzo, where he would later settle with his wife and daughter. Drawn to music early, he began building a reputation while still a teenager as a DJ specializing in dance and hip-hop, the latter then uncommon in Italy. His DJ work advanced rapidly from local Cortona radio to clubs in Rome and Sardinia. In 1987 the nineteen-year-old secured his first significant opportunity when producer and media entrepreneur Claudio Cecchetto invited him to Milan to become a regular presence on Radio DeeJay. He had originally planned the name Joe Vanotti, yet a fortunate typographical error on a promotional advertisement produced the moniker Jovanotti, which echoes the Italian word “giovanotti.”

From that moment events accelerated for the young DJ captivated by American rap. Several novelty singles centered on rap and club culture achieved surprising popularity, prompting the 1988 release of his debut album Jovanotti for President. A patchwork of derivative, thinly produced dance cuts, rap references, and exuberant broken-English exhortations, the record drew critical scorn yet performed strongly on Italian charts, with both “Gimme Five” and the non-album track “E Qui la Festa?” reaching number one. His rapid ascent continued with the 1989 single “La Mia Moto” from the album of the same name, which led to a Sanremo Festival appearance. Overnight Jovanotti became ubiquitous. He issued the instant book Yo, Brothers and Sisters, served as Italy’s first MTV veejay, and hosted a television program that brought Public Enemy and Run-D.M.C. to the country for the first time. The 1989 compilation Jovanotti Special gathered non-album singles plus recordings issued under other names including Indian and Gino Latino. Media portrayals cast him as the embodiment of heedless, self-absorbed youth fixated solely on locating the next party. Despite his rap stance, he never registered as menacing—perhaps because of his striking appearance—and instead seemed a harmless trend, less a figure from the Beastie Boys’ “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)” than the male counterpart to Cyndi Lauper’s protagonist in “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

As swiftly as fame arrived, Jovanotti was dismissed as passé. His third album, 1990’s Giovani Jovanotti, represented his most ambitious effort yet, featuring lavish production and international guests Billy Preston and Keith Emerson, together with the first genuine efforts to move beyond the apparent immaturity of his initial work. A mix of early overexposure followed by absence during military service hindered its reception, and the album underperformed commercially even though it contained “Gente Della Notte,” his first truly significant song, and “Ciao Mamma,” arguably his finest party track. Undeterred, he pursued further growth on 1991’s Una Tribù Che Balla, where tracks such as the title song and “Libera l’Anima” finally delivered raps that felt genuinely assertive rather than empty-headed, while “Muoviti Muoviti” revealed an unexpected social and political awareness. Bassist Saturnino Celani joined at this stage and became Jovanotti’s indispensable collaborator; together with guitarist Michele Centonze they formed a potent songwriting team.

If Una Tribù Che Balla restored chart presence and prompted reevaluation, the next two albums compelled the country to discard prior assumptions and treat his music with genuine seriousness for the first time. Signaling this shift, Jovanotti began titling releases under his given name Lorenzo. He had also assembled a consistent group of musicians able to supply strong grooves for his increasingly incisive lyrics, whether in intelligent, tender love songs or pointed, thoughtful agit-pop and rap. Landmark tracks accumulated rapidly. Lorenzo 1992 introduced the enduring “Ragazzo Fortunato” and the graceful “Chissà Se Stai Dormendo,” while the massive Lorenzo 1994 yielded “Penso Positivo,” “Piove,” and above all the remarkable modern-romance portrait “Serenata Rap.” That song became an enormous domestic hit, its video ranking among the most-played clips of the year on MTV Latin America and MTV Europe and providing Jovanotti’s first substantial international visibility. Tours expanded in scale and stature; peer recognition followed, evidenced by the 1992 Italian tour with Luca Carboni, the 1993 collaboration with Gianna Nannini on her single “Radio Baccano,” and the 1994 European tour alongside Pino Daniele and Eros Ramazzotti. Lorenzo 1994 marked the first release on his own Soleluna label, which soon expanded into a multimedia platform for his artistic and humanitarian projects. The 1995 compilation Lorenzo 1990-1995, pointedly excluding material from his first two albums, concluded this chapter; its new songs “L’Ombelico del Mondo” and “Marco Polo” signaled further evolution.

Largely recorded in South Africa, Lorenzo 1997: L’Albero announced Jovanotti’s emergence as a global citizen. After extensive travel across Cuba, South America, Africa, the Middle East, and India, he incorporated those experiences into a world-music reconfiguration of his sound. The standout single “Bella,” an irresistible singalong widely regarded as one of his finest compositions, confirmed that his pop instincts remained undiminished. The travel memoir Il Grande Boh! received positive notices and strong sales. More focused than the expansive L’Albero, Lorenzo 1999: Capo Horn assembled the strongest collection of pop songs on any Jovanotti album, highlighted by the three standout singles “Per Te,” the tender lullaby for his daughter, “Stella Cometa,” and the buoyant “Un Raggio di Sole.” Perhaps his brightest and most jubilant work, Capo Horn achieved another major commercial triumph, yet it was the final album to feature Michele Centonze, whose instrumental and compositional contributions would be sorely missed. Also in 1999 Jovanotti united with Ligabue and Piero Pelù for the antiwar charity single “Il Mio Nome è Mai Più,” whose proceeds benefited the Italian NGO Emergency; the Gabriele Salvatores-directed video helped make it the year’s top-selling single. Political engagement continued with the Sanremo entry “Cancella il Debito” and the lead track “Salvami” from Lorenzo 2002: Il Quinto Mondo, an album reflecting Latin-American influences and augmented by a seventeen-piece orchestra.

After 2002 Jovanotti’s recording pace slowed as he pursued books, painting, film roles, Soleluna initiatives, humanitarian work, and family life. Now firmly established among Italy’s leading artists, he received frequent invitations as author, contributor, or guest from across the musical spectrum, including Adriano Celentano, Gianni Morandi, Claudio Baglioni, Giorgia, J-Ax, Cesare Cremonini, 883, Jarabe de Palo, Ron, Pino Daniele, Planet Funk, Laura Pausini, Zucchero, and Negramaro. Subsequent studio albums, no longer prefixed with “Lorenzo,” appeared less frequently, often alternating with live CDs, DVDs, and special editions; they tended toward polished refinement rather than radical experimentation, yet his popularity endured. Safari (2008), propelled by the title track (recipient of the Mogol songwriting award) and the piano ballad “Per Te,” and featuring Ben Harper, Sly & Robbie, Sergio Mendes, and Michael Franti, ranked among his strongest sellers and was voted Best Italian Album of the 2000s in a 2011 Rockol/Fnac poll.

The 2009 U.S.-only live set Oyeah, capturing New York performances, seemed to renew his creative momentum, evident in the 2010 single “Baciami Ancora” for Gabriele Muccino’s film and the bright, electronica-inflected Ora (2011). A 2012 U.S.-market compilation produced with Ian Brennan presented fresh reworkings of recent material. His thirteenth studio album, Lorenzo 2015 CC., arrived in February 2015, extending the electronic direction of Ora and including a collaboration with Manu Dibango. The following year he composed the soundtrack for L’Estate Addosso, and in 2017 he released the Rick Rubin-produced album Oh, Vita!.