Speaker 1: I Heart Radio Presents Inside the Studio, I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Joe Levy. This time out, things got a little limo
Speaker 1: old school, limo way old school. As I sat down
Speaker 1: with Andrea Bocelli, he told me about his early days
Speaker 1: in the piano bars, singing Frank Sinatra and Stevie Wonder songs,
Speaker 1: and also about recording his first album of newly written
Speaker 1: songs in fourteen years, which features Ed Sheeran, Dualipa and
Speaker 1: many others, and which was produced by Bob Ezrin, who
Speaker 1: also helped make Kisses, Destroyer and Pink Floyd's The Wall
Speaker 1: and many other classics of classic rock. Bocelli has sold
Speaker 1: more than eighty million albums worldwide. He sings both pop
Speaker 1: and opera, sometimes not recognizing any difference between the two,
Speaker 1: and always bringing to mind a time and place other
Speaker 1: than now. Often that's a pre rock world in which
Speaker 1: Broadway show tunes dominated the pop charts, and there's so
Speaker 1: much drama in sentiment in Bocelli's music that it's surprising
Speaker 1: it took him fourteen albums in twenty one years to
Speaker 1: get to a collection of songs from the movies twenty
Speaker 1: fifteenths Cinema, which contains not one, but two film themes
Speaker 1: made hits by Andy Williams, Moon River from Breakfast at
Speaker 1: Tiffany's and Where Do I Begin? From Love Story. A
Speaker 1: global artist long before the music industry became focused on
Speaker 1: such things, Bocelli does Where do I Begin? As a
Speaker 1: bassanova with lyrics in Italian and then again with lyrics
Speaker 1: in Spanish Zila se carlaeare It sometimes seems Bocelli has
Speaker 1: done just about everything except record with Metallica, though I
Speaker 1: really wouldn't put that past him. And so I saw
Speaker 1: this clip of you on an Italian television show where
Speaker 1: you make an entrance on rollerblade the Beatles yesterday. He
Speaker 1: has been a joke because it was a very stranger broadcasting.
Speaker 1: They asked me to enter in the studio in the
Speaker 1: most strange way. I tried to say, okay, I come
Speaker 1: with my horse about the studio. It was a little
Speaker 1: bit not enough, and uh, I said, okay, I tried
Speaker 1: with my roller blade. I know that you ride horseback,
Speaker 1: you ski, I know that you rollerblade. And still when
Speaker 1: I saw this, because the host actually bumped into you,
Speaker 1: I thought, what's happening here? I was not a good skater,
Speaker 1: but he as well, he was not very good. I
Speaker 1: think it's better to sing for me. It's best idea.
Speaker 1: You had a childhood nickname for your fearlessness in English
Speaker 1: translated the earthquake me. Yeah. My mother called me like
Speaker 1: this because it was very lively, always in movement, never stopped.
Speaker 1: And then I liked the most dangerous things I like
Speaker 1: to do. So some of the spirit still survives into adulthood. Then, yes,
Speaker 1: a little bit now a little bit less. But I
Speaker 1: did many stupid things in my life. I jumped with
Speaker 1: a parachutes or horses, and and many things. I was
Speaker 1: a little bit crazy. A lot of Bocelli's power comes
Speaker 1: from the bel Canto style of singing, which emphasizes emotion
Speaker 1: and expressiveness as much, if not more than technique. Bel
Speaker 1: Canto translation beautiful singing has its roots in It'll close
Speaker 1: to two hundred years ago, so it's not exactly rock
Speaker 1: and roll or even pop music as we know it,
Speaker 1: but as I'm about to explain, it's had a crucial
Speaker 1: influence on both going back to a time when opera
Speaker 1: singers were still pop stars in America and continuing right
Speaker 1: up to the last power ballad you heard. Assuming that
Speaker 1: the last power ballad you heard was Aerosmith's I Don't
Speaker 1: Want to Miss a Thing. The story of how Bocelli
Speaker 1: rose to fame in the early nineties is an interesting
Speaker 1: one that involves at least tangentially Bono. Bocelli was born
Speaker 1: in Tuscany in nineteen fifty eight with congenital glaucoma, though
Speaker 1: he didn't lose his sight until age twelve, when he
Speaker 1: was hitting the eye during a soccer game while keeping gold.
Speaker 1: He started playing piano when he was six, won a
Speaker 1: singing competition at fourteen, and earned money while studying law
Speaker 1: at the University of Pizza by playing in a piano bar.
Speaker 1: But Bocelli was a lawyer for just one year. In
Speaker 1: the Italian rock singer Zukaro co wrote a song called
Speaker 1: Misserai with Bono, who was in those days wearing those
Speaker 1: wrap around shades and working a persona called the Fly.
Speaker 1: During YouTube's Zoo TV tour, Zukaro had the idea of
Speaker 1: duetting with the famed Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti, and
Speaker 1: in order to convince Pavarotti to do it, he cut
Speaker 1: a demo with an unknown tenor, Andrea Bocelli. When Pavarotti
Speaker 1: heard the demo, he said, why do you need me,
Speaker 1: You already have the right singer, at which point Zukaro
Speaker 1: reportedly responded, if I can't have you, I'd rather burn it,
Speaker 1: and threw the tape into a fireplace. There were other
Speaker 1: copies of the tape, of course, but that soap opera
Speaker 1: worthy flourish worked. Zugaro cut the song with Pavarotti, and
Speaker 1: he showed his gratitude to Bocelli by taking him on
Speaker 1: tour in where the two duetit on Misserai. The tape
Speaker 1: in the fireplace bit is hardly the last too good
Speaker 1: to be true detail in this story. Here's another. Zukaro
Speaker 1: also co wrote Il mare coma della sera, which Bocelli
Speaker 1: sang at the san Remo Festival, the Italian song competition
Speaker 1: in Bocelli won the Newcomers prize, but he didn't just
Speaker 1: win it, he did so with the highest scores ever
Speaker 1: recorded in that category, and that song became the debut
Speaker 1: single and the title track of his first album. The
Speaker 1: following year, he was back at san Remo, where he
Speaker 1: introduced Conte Potero, the Bocelli song you Know even if
Speaker 1: you know nothing about Andrea Bocelli. That's the one that
Speaker 1: was everywhere for a long while, including in several episodes
Speaker 1: of The Sopranos. Sopranos creator David Chase explained at once
Speaker 1: this way, if Carmela and her friends were real people
Speaker 1: living in New Jersey, they would have loved that song,
Speaker 1: heard it all the time, and been playing it all
Speaker 1: the time. And adding to the ubiquity of that song,
Speaker 1: Bocelli recorded an English version called Time to Say Goodbye
Speaker 1: with British singer and actress Sarah Brightman, which became a
Speaker 1: number two hit in the UK and a number one
Speaker 1: in Germany, where it holds the record as the biggest
Speaker 1: selling single of all time. An interesting thing about that
Speaker 1: song is the way it partakes of classical music without
Speaker 1: being it, and this gets to the heart of Bocelli's appeal.
Speaker 1: He has one foot in today and another in the
Speaker 1: comfort of tradition. For me, I grew up with a
Speaker 1: dad who loved classical music and played opera on Sunday mornings.
Speaker 1: So I hear Contempartero as a childhood memory. I don't
Speaker 1: actually have. One. Definition of nostalgia is the memory of
Speaker 1: things as they never were, and again it's key to
Speaker 1: Bocelli's appeal. Here's how David Chase described the significance of
Speaker 1: that song and the sopranos. What that song meant for
Speaker 1: Carmelo was, I want to be anywhere but here. I
Speaker 1: don't want my life. I want a different life, and
Speaker 1: that means nostalgia for the old country. Andrea Bocelli is
Speaker 1: always portrayed in the media as a gentle sweet man.
Speaker 1: He's blind, he could never hurt anyone. He's the complete
Speaker 1: opposite of Tony Soprano, someone she could mother, nurture and
Speaker 1: who would always say thank you instead of that's what
Speaker 1: we're having for dinner. That captures the way Bocelli's music
Speaker 1: can represent a world better, more full of beauty than
Speaker 1: the one we live in. And it gets right to
Speaker 1: the emo appeal of Andrea Bocelli, the loving, the longing,
Speaker 1: the heartache, the romance, all the fields, all at once,
Speaker 1: all the time, which brings us back to the balcanto
Speaker 1: tradition and how it channels European operatic emotion into American
Speaker 1: pop music. Probably the clearest example of this is Elvis
Speaker 1: Presley's It's an Hour Never. Elvis cut that song in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty after he got out of the army, and
Speaker 1: the song is really just a solo meo with different words.
Speaker 1: A solo meo is a Neapolitan song written in eight
Speaker 1: which became a huge hit for the Italian operatic tenor
Speaker 1: Enrico Caruso in nineteen sixteen. And It's Now or Never
Speaker 1: isn't even the first time somebody put different words to
Speaker 1: a solo meo and turned it into a hit. That
Speaker 1: would be Tony Martin, who brought it to number two
Speaker 1: in nineteen nine when it was called There's No Tomorrow,
Speaker 1: And that's actually the version that helped inspire Elvis. So
Speaker 1: the bell canto style in American pop goes in all
Speaker 1: sorts of directions. You can hear it every time a
Speaker 1: metal band makes a song your mom might like, like
Speaker 1: Motley Cruz Home, Sweet Home, Guns N' Roses, November Rain,
Speaker 1: bon Jovi is living on a prayer, but it also
Speaker 1: turns up in unexpected places. Here's Barry White describing its
Speaker 1: impact on him as a teenager after he was locked
Speaker 1: up for stealing tires in jail. He said, I heard
Speaker 1: It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley and it was
Speaker 1: an awakenings like somebody hitting me in the face with
Speaker 1: a baseball bat. When I got out, I swore to
Speaker 1: myself never again. And thus does bell canto have an
Speaker 1: impact on disco. Once you start hearing things this way,
Speaker 1: all sorts of connections can begin to open up. Take
Speaker 1: the first single from Bocelli's new album, See fall On Me,
Speaker 1: a duet with his son Mateo. It starts off as
Speaker 1: a slow and stately piano ballad. It's about a higher power,
Speaker 1: God loves something from above, and it reminds me just
Speaker 1: a little of Nick Cave talking about some of the
Speaker 1: same things at the same tempo fifteen years ago in
Speaker 1: Into My Arms. That's ridiculous, of course, although so is
Speaker 1: the idea of Barry White having his life turned around
Speaker 1: by Elvis Presley's It's an now or never, but certainly
Speaker 1: an ever growing list of pop stars has lined up
Speaker 1: to record with Andrea Bocelli, Tony Bennett, Selene Dion, Arianna Grande,
Speaker 1: Jennifer Lopez, Nellie for Tado, Nicole Scherzinger and now Josh Grobin,
Speaker 1: Ed Shearon and do Alipa. There's a lot going on here,
Speaker 1: Artistic admiration, certainly, and in the case of Josh Grobin
Speaker 1: debt being repaid. Grobin's break came at age seventeen what
Speaker 1: he stood in for Bocelli at Grammy rehearsals in singing
Speaker 1: the Prayer with Selene Dion, introducing his new duet with Bocelli,
Speaker 1: we will meet once again. Grobin called himself a terrified,
Speaker 1: pimple face and blissfully naive kid that day, as he
Speaker 1: put it on Facebook, he went on to the telecast
Speaker 1: and I went back to history class. But for a
Speaker 1: superstar like Ed Shearon, singing with Bocelli is a chance
Speaker 1: to open up new territory, both stylistically and globally. Sharon
Speaker 1: reworked his song Perfect last November in two new versions,
Speaker 1: one with Beyonce and another with Bocelli, who we visited
Speaker 1: in Tuscany in order to record Perfect Symphony. That song
Speaker 1: has been streamed a hundred and fifty two million times
Speaker 1: on YouTube, which, if you're keeping score at home, is
Speaker 1: not quite half the population of the United States, but
Speaker 1: it's pretty close, and it definitely helped make Sharon the
Speaker 1: most streamed artist of seventeen. Sharon repaid that favor by
Speaker 1: co writing Ammo sultan Otte, his duet with Bocelli on
Speaker 1: c Perhaps the most interesting tracks on Sea are to
Speaker 1: du alipa duet if Only, and Vertigo featuring Raphael Guilazzi
Speaker 1: on piano. If Only puts the reaching dance pop queen
Speaker 1: way in to share ballad territory. I mean, the lyrics
Speaker 1: are even about turning back time. As for Goulazzi, like Bocelli,
Speaker 1: he's an Italian star who cuts across genres. Vertigo, though,
Speaker 1: starts small with just Bocelli's voice and Golazzi's piano, and
Speaker 1: then keeps climbing, grand staircase after grand staircase after grand staircase.
Speaker 1: We're gonna need another staircase. Bocelli and his son Matteo
Speaker 1: told me about working with these collaborators and also why
Speaker 1: it took fourteen years to assemble an album of new songs.
Speaker 1: There are definitely times when Bocelli prefers to let the
Speaker 1: music do the talking, but here's what he had to say. So, Uh,
Speaker 1: Andrea Bocelli, welcome to inside the studio. Thank you very much,
Speaker 1: and we are joined by your son Matteo. Hi. Hey,
Speaker 1: good to have you both here. We have so much
Speaker 1: to talk about, so much to cover. See as your
Speaker 1: first album of all new songs in fourteen years. Many
Speaker 1: guests on it Ed Sheeran, Dual, Loupa, Josh Grobin as
Speaker 1: well as Matteo. How did you ever land this gift
Speaker 1: shot from your own son? Well, honestly it has been
Speaker 1: the most easy operation, because Matteo said immediately yes, so
Speaker 1: it has been very easy. No, Matteo sings, would like
Speaker 1: to sing in future. He's a student now at the
Speaker 1: conservatory in in Italy. For me it was better to
Speaker 1: wait for some more. But we received this beautiful song,
Speaker 1: really beautiful song, and for the reason we thought, the
Speaker 1: occasion is this, and now we're here and of course
Speaker 1: the song is fall on me. Matteo tell me you
Speaker 1: grew up obviously hearing your they're sing When did you
Speaker 1: start to take seriously the idea that you might want
Speaker 1: to pursue music yourself. Let's say that I am I've
Speaker 1: always been arounded by music in my life, and I
Speaker 1: started to play the piano since I was six years old,
Speaker 1: and I was singing, yeah, since I was a child.
Speaker 1: And so let's say that I studied music since I
Speaker 1: was a little boy, and studying singing since three years
Speaker 1: because my dad always told me that it's important to
Speaker 1: wait the changing of the voice, because otherwise could be
Speaker 1: I mean, even dangerous for your vocal cords. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: let's say it's since I always, I mean always been
Speaker 1: arounded by music and studying singing since three years. You
Speaker 1: started piano at six Andrea, you also started playing piano
Speaker 1: around the same age, did you not, Yes, I studied
Speaker 1: piano for many years. I stopped at sixteen, and then
Speaker 1: I think and again later and I finished just studied
Speaker 1: the program. But now there's no time to play. And
Speaker 1: unfortunately now I play only just for fun. I was
Speaker 1: interested to read you have said that this album is
Speaker 1: a return to some of the feelings of you said,
Speaker 1: being a young man playing at the piano bar. You
Speaker 1: played at a piano bar when you were younger. Is
Speaker 1: this right? I began to play in the piano bar
Speaker 1: when I was eighteen years old. Then I continued during
Speaker 1: the period at the university and I studied and I
Speaker 1: played just for fun to stay with my friends the evening.
Speaker 1: It has been a really beautiful period for me, these
Speaker 1: piano bar years. You were singing and playing or yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: piano and voice, and so what kind of songs pop
Speaker 1: repertoire in general, Italian pop repertoire and some song of
Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra for example, uh Rich arts still wonder all
Speaker 1: the classical pop repertore. So this album See was produced
Speaker 1: by Bob Ezrin, known for his work with Alice Cooper, Pink,
Speaker 1: Floyd Kiss Louis. You know, how did the two of
Speaker 1: you come to work together? And the idea of Bob
Speaker 1: being it comes from my label, but it has been
Speaker 1: a very good idea because we we were together very
Speaker 1: very well immediately from from the from the first meeting,
Speaker 1: good artistically and also friendly. I know, so I stated,
Speaker 1: piano singing, but I should have to study English and
Speaker 1: it's difficult for me to speaking well. The recording, some
Speaker 1: of the recording was done at home, at your home studio.
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yes, yes, in my house. It's very
Speaker 1: important to do this because if you can record at home,
Speaker 1: you can decide the best moment to record, when your
Speaker 1: voice is in good shape, when you are in the
Speaker 1: best atmosphere too to record it. I see, what time
Speaker 1: of day is your voice at its best? It depends
Speaker 1: on in general in the evening, uh huh okay, So
Speaker 1: then being at home is easier so I wanted to
Speaker 1: ask you about the album title See. I had read
Speaker 1: that you had said, this is a period we're going
Speaker 1: through right now where we too often say no. Yes
Speaker 1: is the word you say, you have your first kiss,
Speaker 1: you agree with somebody, you want to make someone feel good. Correct,
Speaker 1: tell me more about this. Everyone was looking for a
Speaker 1: good title for this album, and it's difficult to find
Speaker 1: a title for an album like this. And Uh, a
Speaker 1: day almost my first song called me by phone and
Speaker 1: told me, Daddy, I have the name for the album.
Speaker 1: You have to call this see And I answered see, perfect,
Speaker 1: because it's really the most beautiful word of the world.
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little about the songs themselves. Let me
Speaker 1: ask you about we will meet again with Josh Grobin,
Speaker 1: who co wrote the song. He has called this a
Speaker 1: duet almost twenty years in the making. Going back to
Speaker 1: the moment in no I. I know Josh from a
Speaker 1: long time. Yeah, somebody told me that he was a
Speaker 1: fan of me just before to become famous, and then
Speaker 1: we we met each other and now we are friends.
Speaker 1: So when when it's possible to work together, I'm very
Speaker 1: happy to do it. And tell me what was the
Speaker 1: recording of this song? Like no, I recorded in my house,
Speaker 1: so with all the calm possible, the res all is
Speaker 1: on the on the record, and of course do you
Speaker 1: sing with that cheering on this record. But this is
Speaker 1: the second time you've worked with him, the first because
Speaker 1: he came to my house for perfect when he decided
Speaker 1: to make a duet with me of this beautiful and
Speaker 1: famous song. And uh, I remained completely surprised from his personality.
Speaker 1: He's a great musician, but he's also a very humble man,
Speaker 1: very simple man, and for me it has been a
Speaker 1: beautiful surprise and beautiful experience to work with him. Matteo,
Speaker 1: your father said that you guys had to maybe explained
Speaker 1: to him who at Cheron was or why you were
Speaker 1: so excited he was coming to record this song. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's say that before it was planned to do this
Speaker 1: duet between my dad and and children, I was already
Speaker 1: a big fan of him and I remember the first
Speaker 1: time I saw him life in life when he was
Speaker 1: opening the concert Taylor Swift Concert in Toronto in Canada.
Speaker 1: And since that day I remained very surprised by him
Speaker 1: about him, about his talent, and he was saying, my dad,
Speaker 1: such a humble and simple guy. And that's the first
Speaker 1: thing that really impressed me at the first moment when
Speaker 1: I met him, because when you met him, it seems
Speaker 1: that you know him since a while. No, he treats
Speaker 1: everybody in the same way, and that I think that's amazing,
Speaker 1: especially when someone got a success so big. No, because
Speaker 1: usually people change, and I think what you feel is
Speaker 1: that he remained completely the same person. And of course,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's an amazing artist. I love his music
Speaker 1: and right now he's my favorite artist. And he co
Speaker 1: wrote the song he sings with you on this new
Speaker 1: record at I'm going to do a very bad job
Speaker 1: of saying that, I think, Okay, almost okay, not as
Speaker 1: bad as I thought. Okay, okay, So tell me how
Speaker 1: this song came together. Did you approach him with the
Speaker 1: idea of Colao? He said this song for me and
Speaker 1: I recognized immediately his style, and they said immediately yes,
Speaker 1: because the song is very beautiful and a typical at
Speaker 1: Shene song. You worked with the dual Upa on if Only,
Speaker 1: and this is a really wonderful moment on the record.
Speaker 1: I think so because she has a very beautiful voice,
Speaker 1: very expressive, and she understood very very well the song,
Speaker 1: so with me, it has been a good idea. I
Speaker 1: think unlikely we didn't have the chance to meet her,
Speaker 1: but I hope they will be in future future hopes.
Speaker 1: So hope she was not able to come to the
Speaker 1: home studio to record. Okay, yes, well, I mean it
Speaker 1: was very interesting because she is known more for a
Speaker 1: kind of dance pop than this kind of singing. Correct. Yes,
Speaker 1: but sometimes the contrasts the difference bring good results. Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about Vertigo, which features Raphael thank you.
Speaker 1: He's an interesting artist, another Italian performer who works in
Speaker 1: very different styles. Yes, his study is completely different from
Speaker 1: my style. But the song was very beautiful and for
Speaker 1: me it has been like a challenge because it has
Speaker 1: been very difficult for me to decide that way to
Speaker 1: perform the song. Finally, I decided to do like Raphael
Speaker 1: did so in his way, I tried to sing more
Speaker 1: like him was possible. I heard his interpretation and I
Speaker 1: tried to do the same thing, to sing like him
Speaker 1: in his way, and the result is It's really curious
Speaker 1: because the result is another and another one, and of
Speaker 1: course another guest, the Russian soprano I eat a Garlfelina.
Speaker 1: This is another story because in this album, there is
Speaker 1: in this pop album there is a very beautiful piece
Speaker 1: that we can't call pop. Is a classical piece? Is
Speaker 1: a prayer? Is an ave maria in Latin language? And uh,
Speaker 1: I think it has been a good idea to call
Speaker 1: Aida Califolina for this, because she's a very beautiful soprano,
Speaker 1: beautiful and good in a state of sense. We pray
Speaker 1: it together. Yes, quite a striking moment. Again, was this
Speaker 1: similar to the dua lupa recording? You worked together in
Speaker 1: the same place or you know, we recorded separately, but
Speaker 1: in any case I sang with her at the times.
Speaker 1: For example, we performed together recently in Verona the Arena,
Speaker 1: the biggest theater probably of the world, in a great
Speaker 1: concert and in other occasions also. And do you have
Speaker 1: this right that both your sons are on this record?
Speaker 1: Is that correct? Yes? Amos plays piano. Yeah, Ammos played
Speaker 1: the piano. Yes, and Ma saying and Ma tello, you
Speaker 1: mean to follow your father into music, but Amos is
Speaker 1: a trained musician but does not intend to pursue it
Speaker 1: as a career. My brother, like me, he started to
Speaker 1: play piano since he was very little, so six seven
Speaker 1: years old and he graduated like a year ago. But yes,
Speaker 1: he did this collaboration as well inside the album. But
Speaker 1: I think in the future he would probably take another
Speaker 1: way because he's studying aerospace engineer. He's doing his last year.
Speaker 1: So he did it because he loves music as as
Speaker 1: but probably in the future here pursue another job. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how long ago did you start to work on this record?
Speaker 1: We are looking for songs from fourteen years and now
Speaker 1: finally we hope we found at least twelve beautiful songs.
Speaker 1: Now it's up to the audience. OK. And what do
Speaker 1: you hope that people will feel when they listen to
Speaker 1: this music? I don't know. When I recorded an album.
Speaker 1: I hope to become a good company for many many
Speaker 1: people listening to my music during the day, you know.
Speaker 1: I want to be like a good friend in their house. Yes. Well,
Speaker 1: I've had the record in my apartment and I'm happy
Speaker 1: to have you there. All right, Well, guys, thank you
Speaker 1: so much, thank you, thank you. Inside the Studio is
Speaker 1: an I Heeart Radio original podcast. This episode was written
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Joe Levy. We'd like to give
Speaker 1: a big thanks to Andrea Bocelli and deck A Curve Records.
Speaker 1: You can follow inside the Studio on iHeart Radio, or
Speaker 1: subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, M