Carmen Carla ConsoliOMRI (Italian pronunciation:[ˈkarmeŋˈkɔnsoli]; born 4 September 1974)[1] is an Italian singer-songwriter. Described as 'a remarkable combination of rocker and intellectual',[2] she has released 11 studio albums, one greatest hits, one soundtrack album, two live albums, four video album and 33 singles, selling 2 million copies in Italy, certified by M&D and FIMI with a multiplatinum disc, 11 platinum and two gold certifications.[3]
Carmen Consoli was born in Catania, Sicily, to a Sicilian father, Giuseppe Consoli, and a Venetian mother, Maria Rosa Toffolo, and grew up in the small town of San Giovanni la Punta.[4] She started playing guitar at the age of nine and at fourteen she started performing with a rock-blues band, the Moon Dog's Party.[5] She served as backing vocalist in the 1991 Caftua album One Day and in the 1994 Lula album Da dentro.[6]
In 1995, during a trip in Rome, she made her first television appearance, performing the song "L'isola del tesoro" (later released as "Novembre '99" in the album Stato di necessità) in the Rai 3Michele Santoro's talk show Tempo reale.[6] Returned to Catania, she was chosen by producer Francesco Virlinzi as the vocalist of a rock group which never materialized and whose name was an homage to Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Big Brothers (and the Katanise Company)"; while the project was eventually scrapped, the other two members of the band Massimo Roccaforte and Salvo Distefano became longtime collaborators of Consoli.[6] The same year she was among the winners of Sanremo Giovani, a televised competition aimed at selecting the contestants of the Sanremo Music Festival newcomers section, with her first single "Quello che sento".[6] In 1996, she entered the 46th Sanremo Festival with the song "Amore di plastica", and released her debut album, Due Parole.[6]
Her next album, Confusa e felice (1997) was a critical and commercial success, selling over 130,000 copies.[6] The same year, she got awarded the Premio italiano della musica [it] award as revelation of the year and she embarked on her first tour.[6] In September 2007 she was for a week the host of the program So 90's on MTV.[6]
In 1998, she released her third album, Mediamente isterica, a concept album representing different kind of female figures.[6] This album was successful but not as much as her previous work, selling over 80,000 copies.[6] Between December 1998 and February 1999, she was a regular guest of the Italia 1 variety show Comici.[6]
In 2001, she held a summer tour with Paola Turci and Max Gazzè.[6] The same year, she released her first live album, L'anfiteatro e la bambina impertinente. The album presents Consoli's greatest hits rearranged with an orchestra of sixty elements conducted by Paolo Buonvino.[6]
A year later she released her fifth studio album, L'eccezione. The album debuted at number 1 in the Italian album charts, selling more than 200,000 copies.[6] The same year she founded a label, Due Parole, with the aim of supporting indie musicians.[6] In 2003, thanks to the album's lyrics, she won a literary award, a special Grinzane Cavour Prize, and was awarded female artist of the year at the Italian Music Awards.[6]
2003 also saw the release of her second live album, Un sorso in più – dal vivo a MTV Supersonic, published with the collaboration of MTV Italy. The album was recorded at MTV's program Supersonic the year before, when Carmen presented to the public L'eccezione.[6] In 2004, she held her first tour in the United States, also performing at South by Southwest.[6]
Her seventh studio album Elettra was released on 30 October 2009, including first single "Non molto lontano da qui" and debuting at number 2 in the FIMI Italian Album Charts.[6]
The album sold in Italy more than 60,000 copies gaining platinum status; thanks to it, Consoli was the first female artist to win the Targa Tenco in the "Album of the Year" category.[9] The same year, she took part to the charity single "Domani 21/04.09".[6]
In November 2010, Consoli released her first "best of" album, Per niente stanca; the album was anticipated by the single "Guarda l'alba", a collaboration with Tiziano Ferro.[10] The second new song of the album, "AAA Cercasi", was released as a single in January 2011.[11] The album debuted at the sixth place in the Italian Album Charts.[12] In July 2011 she published her first video collection, which includes all her videos from 1996 to 2011 plus some extras.[13]
In November 2014, Consoli released the single "L'abitudine di tornare", anticipating the album with the same name, released in January 2015.[14] The album debuted at third place in the Italian Album Charts.[15] The same year, she performed at Meltdown Festival.[16] In 2016, she recorded with Tiziano Ferro the triple platinum single "Il conforto".[17] The same year, she was named "maestro concertatore" (musical director) at Notte della Taranta, being the first woman to held this role.[18] In 2017, she voiced Emma in the Italian version of the animated film Monster Family and performed the closing credits song with Max Gazzè.[19]
In 2018, Consoli released a new live album, Eco di sirene, which debuted at the second place in the Italian hit parade.[20] In 2020, she was chosen as the Italian performer for the song "Loyal Brave True", part of the Mulan soundtrack.[21]
In June 2023, Consoli performed at Womad, being the first Italian female artist to perform at the festival.[26] In August 2023, Consoli made a three-dates mini-tour together with Elvis Costello, a project the two had originally planned in 2012 but that at the time had been shelved due to Consoli's pregnancy.[27][28] The same year, she received a Premio Tenco for her career.[29]
^Zuffanti, Fabio (30 June 2020). "Tutto l'universo obbedisce all'amore". Franco Battiato: Tutti i dischi e tutte le canzoni, dal 1965 al 2019 (in Italian). LIT Edizioni. ISBN978-88-6231-868-6.
