| Eduardo De Crescenzo | |
| Birth Place: | Naples |
| Occupation: | Singer-songwriter |
Eduardo De Crescenzo (born 8 February 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for the songs "Ancora" and "E la musica va".
Born in Naples, De Crescenzo approached music at very young age, as he began playing the accordion at 3 and made his first public exhibition at 5, in Teatro Argentina, Rome.[1] [2]
At 16 he founded a beat group, "Eduardino e i Casanova", with which he recorded the first 45rpm in 1967, "Hai detto no!".[1] After studying classical music and law at the university, in the late seventies De Crescenzo signed a contract with Dischi Ricordi, with whom he published his first single as soloist, "La solitudine" (1978).[3] His career was launched by the song "Ancora", a romantic ballad that he presented at the 1981 Sanremo Music Festival, winning the Critics Award;[4] the song obtained an extraordinary success, selling several millions of copies[1] and being covered by artists such as Mina, Anna Oxa, Ornella Vanoni and Thelma Houston (with the title "I'm Losing").[5]
Despite that large success, in the following years De Crescenzo pursued different routes, exploring musical contaminations between Italian classical melodies, soul, rhythm and blues and folk; he took part at four more editions of the Sanremo Festival, in 1985 ("Via con me"), 1987 ("L'odore del mare"), 1989 ("Come mi vuoi") and in 1991 ("E la musica va").[5] The song "E la musica va" was covered by Phil Manzanera with the title "The beat goes on".[6] After the 1993 album Danza, danza De Crescenzo devoted himself mainly to the live concerts and charity projects. In 2012, after a four-year hiatus, he returned to live music with the "Essenze Jazz" Tour in which he reinterprets an important part of his repertoire in a jazz style.[7]