Raphael Gualazzi

Raphael Gualazzi, the singer and pianist responsible for Italy's return to the Eurovision Song Contest stage, stands among his nation's premier jazz-blues artists. He entered the world in 1981 inside Urbino's walled confines. Pianoforte instruction at Pesaro's Rossini Conservatory, combined with his investigations into early-1900s ragtime blues and New Orleans jazz plus an affinity for Jamiroquai, Stevie Wonder, and Ben Harper, shaped the authenticity of his sound. His first release, the 2005 album Love Outside the Window, preceded a Piano Jazz compilation he produced for Wagram Music in 2008. A 2009 cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" expanded his reach after the track appeared in an ENI energy-company television campaign. Sugar Records signed him shortly afterward, paving the way for his 2011 Sanremo Festival entry, where he claimed the Giovani award for New Generation and earned selection by a six-member jury to represent Italy at Eurovision via his self-penned bilingual song "Follia d'Amore." Serving as the nation's first entry since 1997, the track placed second behind Azerbaijan on 189 points and anchored his sophomore album Reality and Fantasy, which incorporated contributions from French DJ Gilles Peterson, Italian trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso, and British soul singer Rox.