Adesso 60! Eros Ramazzotti celebrates his birthday

The hair is mottled gray, the neatly trimmed goatee beard is white – even after four decades in the music business, Eros Ramazzotti is incredibly successful and popular, which he proved in front of 5,500 enthusiastic fans in Linz at “Klassik am Dom” at the end of July this year . Hardly anyone embodies Italy like Ramazzotti; he is the most famous artistic representative of his home country. Particularly in the 1990s, hardly any other artist could ignore the Italian – anyone who thought of Italy back then thought of the Roman native. Many of his hits, “Più bella cosa” or “Fuoco nel fuoco”, are world-famous catchy tunes. With more than 70 million records sold, Ramazzotti is one of the most successful Italian pop singers.

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Rocky road to global stardom

In 1963 the star was born as Eros Walter Luciano Ramazzotti in the Italian capital. He grew up in humble circumstances in the Cinecittà Est district, far from the center of Rome. Ramazzotti became interested in music at an early age. His path to global stardom was rocky: rejected at the conservatory, he worked as a waiter.

In his early 20s, he won a talent competition, which earned him his first record deal. As for so many Italian singers who are internationally successful, the famous Sanremo Festival was the gateway to success for Ramazzotti. In 1984 he won the music competition for the first time in the newcomer category with “Terra promessa”, and in 1986 he won with “Adesso tu”. The Roman achieved his international breakthrough in the early 1990s. His pop music, with its symphonic sounds, won the hearts of many fans in Germany too.

Concerts and tours took him to stages around the world. In the USA he produced “Tutte storie”, one of his most successful albums, and then appeared on stage with the greats: he sang in a duet with Andrea Bocelli and the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Tina Turner, and performances followed later with the exceptional tenor Luciano Pavarotti and with Cher.

In 1998, after two years of dating, the charming Italian married the Swiss TV presenter Michelle Hunziker (46). With her he has a daughter, Aurora (26), to whom he dedicated a song. The dream couple lived in a villa on Lake Como and enjoyed life in a storm of flashbulbs. However, the divorce followed in 2009. Ramazzotti has two children with the Italian model Marica Pellegrinelli (35). He has recently been in a relationship with ex-model Dalila Gelsomino (34), who is 25 years his junior.

“I feel freer and more relaxed”

The full-blooded Italian doesn’t care that the popular Italo singer is now 60 years old. “I’m very relaxed. The more time passes, the freer, looser, lighter I feel,” Ramazzotti told the newspaper Il Messaggero. He has even been a grandfather for six months: his daughter Aurora became a mother for the first time in March.

Ramazzotti is far from thinking about retirement. He toured the world with his new album “Battito infinito” until recently. Then as now, for him it’s all about feelings – “emozioni”.