Born in Rome into a working-class family, hunky Italian pop idol Eros Ramazzotti first made his mark following a move to Milano in the mid-eighties. His career really took off in 1984, after he won the category of "New Voice" at the influential San Remo Festival for his song Terra Promessa. As a singer-songwriter, he specializes in sweeping, passionate ballads and large-scale power-rock numbers and has racked up an impressive array of duets with other international favorites like Celine Dion, Cher, Portugese neo-fado sensation Dulce Pontes, Tina Turner and crossover mega-star Andrea Bocelli. A canny self-marketer with huge European following, especially in Germany, Ramazzotti records each of his albums in both his native tongue and in Spanish, a technique that has made him enormously popular in Central and South America. The voice, a polished yet endearingly up-front tenor, wrenches every drop of emotion from his lyrics, which tend toward the florid side. But if the man undeniably knows the meaning of a good hook, his songs are nonetheless anchored by an essential vulnerability that makes his work extremely appealing. --Christina Roden
