Valerio Scanu

Italian pop singer and teen idol Valerio Scanu first captured widespread attention through his appearance on the television talent competition Amici di Maria De Filippi, an exposure that quickly launched a sustained professional trajectory. Scanu entered the world on April 10, 1990, in La Maddalena, a town on the island of Sardinia, and had already stepped into the spotlight as a youngster by performing on programs and competitions including Canzoni Sotto l'Albero and Bravo Bravissimo, where he claimed victory in 2002. During 2008 he joined the eighth edition of the Amici di Maria De Filippi reality series, ultimately placing second to winner Alessandra Amoroso; that placement secured him a recording contract with EMI. In the year that followed, a pair of his tracks—one being the Top 20 single “Can’t Stop”—appeared on the yearly Amici di Maria De Filippi compilation album released at season’s end. Also in 2009 Scanu issued the Sentimento EP, which reached the Top Five on the strength of its title track, before unveiling the full-length album Valerio Scanu, an effort that earned gold certification on the basis of advance orders alone. February 2010 brought victory at the Sanremo Music Festival with the romantic ballad “Per Tutte le Volte Che…,” a song subsequently featured on a studio album bearing the same name.