One of the most intriguing and peculiar personalities to emerge from the Italian music scene in the 2000s, Francesco Tricarico was born in Inzago, near Milan, on February 1, 1971, the son of an aviator who died when Francesco was just three. Tricarico studied flute at the Milan music academy and then started playing in some local jazz orchestras. His first single, "Io Sono Francesco," a touching autobiographical childhood story, was released in September 2000; thanks to its simple electronic layers and catchy melody and words, it immediately became a hit, gaining massive airplay and topping the Italian charts. "Drago" and "La Pesca" followed in 2001, confirming Tricarico's unique artistic naïveté but failing to repeat "Io Sono Francesco"'s success. Then, in spite of declaring that he would release only singles, in 2002 Tricarico completed his first album, simply called Tricarico and including all the aforementioned tracks. A collaboration with musicians and producers Patrick Benifei and Fabio Merigo led to the release of his sophomore effort, Frescobaldo nel Recinto, in 2004. The following year, Tricarico wrote "Solo per Te," the closing titles theme for Leonardo Pieraccioni's movie Ti Amo in Tutte le Lingue del Mondo, in which he also played a small role. Having moved from Universal to Sony BMG, in 2007 Tricarico released a new single, "Un'Altrra Possibilità," and composed the song "La Situazione Non È Buona" for Adriano Celentano's album Dormi Amore, la Situazione Non È Buona. In February 2008, Tricarico took part in the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Vita Tranquilla," which won the Critics Choice Award and became his most successful single since "Io Sono Francesco," leading the album Giglio to high placement on the Italian charts. ~ Aurelio Pasini