Toto Cutugno was born in Fosdinovo, Tuscany, to a Sicilian father and a Tuscan mother. Shortly after his birth the family moved to La Spezia(Liguria).
He began his musical career as a drummer, but later formed a band that performed his own songs. He also had cowritten for popular French-American singer Joe Dassin, contributing some of his most famous songs, including "L'été indien" ("Africa"), "Et si tu n'existais pas" and "Le Jardin du Luxembourg" (written with Vito Pallavicini)[1]. He also co-wrote Dalida's "Laissez moi danser" (Voglio l'anima"), which became a Platinum record shortly after its release.
In 1976 Cutugno participated for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival coming up with 3rd place with his band Albatros rd. He then won in 1980 with the song "Solo noi", and subsequently finished second in six editions: in 1984 with the song "Serenata" ("Serenade"), in 1987 with "Figli" ("Sons" or "Children"), in 1988 with "Emozioni" ("Emotions"), in 1989 with the song "Le mamme" ("The Mamas"), in 1990 with Ray Charles with the song "Gli amori" ("Loves", but entitled "Good Love Gone Bad" in Charles' version) and in 2005 with Annalisa Minetti with the song "Come noi nessuno al mondo" ("No One Else in the World Like Us"). Toto Cutugno participated in the festival a total of 13 times.
He won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990 with his own composition "Insieme: 1992" ("Together: 1992"), a ballad which celebrated European political integration. Along with Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's only other Eurovision winner from 1964, he presented the 1991 contest, which was staged in Rome as a result of his victory. However, when the scoring ended with a tie for first place the event descended into a degree of chaos, partly due to confusion over how the scoring system worked.
Cutugno may be best-known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano (Lasciatemi Cantare)", which was on his hit CD, "I Grandi Successi".[citation needed]
In November 2009 Cutugno accused the writers of the pro-Viktor Yanukovych song “Leader” written for the 2010 presidential campaign of Yanukovych of having plagiarized his song "Ti amo". Yanukovych distanced himself from the song, stating “I have heard nothing and I have ordered nothing”.[2]
Vaya Con Dios is a Belgian musical group founded in 1986 by Dani Klein, Dirk Schoufs, and Willy Lambregt (the latter subsequently replaced by Jean-Michel Gielen). Their name is Spanish for "Go with God". It is one of the most successful Belgian groups ever.
They had some international success with the songs "Just A Friend Of Mine" (a hit in France), "What's a Woman?" (a number 1 hit in theNetherlands in 1990), "Nah Neh Nah", "Don't Cry for Louie", "Puerto Rico", "Heading for a Fall", "Johnny", "Sunny Days" and "Don't Break My Heart".
In total, Vaya Con Dios have sold more than 7 million albums and more than 3 million singles.[1]
Gary Moore (born Robert William Gary Moore, 4 April 1952) is a guitarist and singer from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
In a career dating back to the 1960s, Moore has played with artists including Thin Lizzy, B.B. King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake and the blues-rock band Skid Row (not to be confused with the glam metal band of the same name), as well as having a successful solo career. Among many cameo appearances over the years, he performed the lead guitar solo on "She's My Baby" from Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3.
Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. In 2006 Richardson left the group to pursue other interests leaving the band as a four-piece,[2] but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer.[3]
They rose to fame with their debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). The following album, Backstreet's Back (1997) continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their album Millennium (1999) and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). After a three-year hiatus, the band regrouped and have since released three albums: Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).
The band has sold over 130 million records worldwide,[4] making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since Sade to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the chart.[5]
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