ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA
NAIROBI
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Mario BIONDI (voice)
Claudio FILIPPINI (piano)
Luca FLORIAN (percussion)
Daniele SCANNAPIECO (saxophone)
Tommaso SCANNAPIECO (double bass)
Lorenzo TUCCI (drums)
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Mario Biondi is a
singer and composer, born in Catania,
Italy on
January 28, 1971. His father Stefano Biondi was also a singer. Mario's passion
for music began at the early age of twelve when he sang in his church choir.
His many musical experiences over time in Italy saw him develop more and
more into an artist whose scope was destined to be of an international level.
For a while he worked as a session singer - then in 1988 he
had an important opportunity as support act to Ray Charles' Italian
dates. His love for soul music helped shape his particular vocal styling
that takes its cue from great vocalists like Lou Rawls, Al Jarreau
and Isaac Hayes. His first big break came in 2004 with the release of the
single "This Is What You Are". Originally planned
for release only in Japan,
the cool and irresistible song gets noticed by European radio. Well-known DJ,
Norman Jay begins to feature the song on his BBC1 show playlist and Mario's
incredible voice crosses the European continent ahead of the artist
himself. The British Consulate honours him with an award during the ceremony
for Best Artist representing the Uk-Italy Business Association.
In 2006 Mario releases his debut album "Handful Of Soul", recorded with the High Five Quintet. In less than three months it goes platinum. That same year Mario records "L'Amore Ha Sempre Fame" for the tribute cd , "Alex, Tributo ad Alex Baroni "dedicated to the memory of singer, Alex Baroni. In 2007, at the San Remo festival Mario guests in a duet with Amalia Grè to sing "Amami Per Sempre", a song written by Grè in collaboration with Michele Ranauro and Paola Palma. 2007 also sees the release of the single” No Matter” teamed-up with famed Italian DJ Mario Fargetta. During this time, Mario also records some inspired covers like Billy Joel’s “Just The Way You Are".
In November 2007 Mario releases a double album with the Duke Orchestra, called "I Love You More" recorded entirely live at the Smeraldo Theatre in Milan.
Mario accepts an invitation from The Walt Disney Company to record the Italian versions of "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" and "Thomas O'Malley" from the classic animated film ”The Aristocats".
2008 saw great collaboration with artists such as Chaka Kahn, Michael Bolton, Incognito and The Crusaders.
In 2009 Mario is once again on the San Remo Festival stage duetting with Karima Ammar in the song "Come In Ogni Ora" .The song's producer and co-writer, none other than Burt Bacharach was also on stage conducting the orchestra and playing piano.
Mario went on to yet another magical duet performance with premier Italian artist Renato Zero on "Non Smettere Più" included in Renato's album ‘Presente’.
In November 2009 Mario Biondi released "If" and the first single "Be Lonely" on the Tattica label. The album shot up the charts and went triple - platinum.
With a voice that references greats like Barry White, Isaac Hayes and Lou Rawls while at the same time giving his own spin to the soul and jazz genres, Mario makes music passionately while at the same time, light-hearted and ironic.
In 2010, Mario clocked -in thousands of miles for an all sold-out winter and summer tour that saw him performing with his 15 piece orchestra to thrilled audiences of all ages.
A live cd "Yes You" capturing that tour was released in November, 2010.
The last cd “Due” was released in 2011
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Italian Institute of Culture
Grenadier Tower – 6th floor (opposite Jacaranda
Hotel - Westlands)
Tel.: 4451266 / 7 - P.O. Box 1572 – 00606 NAIROBI
/ E-mail: iicnairobi@esteri.it / Website: www.iicnairobi.esteri.it
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