Eros Ramazzotti

With more than 55 million record sales to his credit, Roman-born Eros Ramazzotti is ranked alongside other contemporary top-selling Italian pop artists such as Zucchero and Laura Puasini. His breakthrough into the pop business came when he was named runner-up to Zucchero in a song competition in 1981; his debut single 'Ad Un Amico' was launched a year later. Undeterred by the lack of enthusiasm for his debut, mentored by Renato Brioschi he had two successful showcases at the Sanremo Festival culminating with his 1985 entry 'Une Storia Importante'. The song was a hit across continental Europe selling over a million copies in France alone.

Capitalising on this success Ramazzotti embarked on a nine-month tour to promote his third album 'In Certi Momente'. During the course of the tour he established himself as one of Italy's premier pop exports. Measure of his growing stature came when a press conference to launch his third album attracted more than 200 journalists. Shortly after, Ramazzotti broke into the US market, playing at the prestigious New York Radio City Music Hall and making an appearance on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno'.

With 14 studio albums to his credit the notoriously shy and secretive artist remains a huge international attraction and has collaborated with performers such as Ricky Martin, Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean and Steve Vai on various projects. His 2018 album 'Vita Ce N'è' was released as both Italian and Spanish versions, and in 2019 he embarked on a tour to support the record.