Patrizio Buanne Biography

Patrizio Franco Buanne (born September 20, 1978) is an Italian baritone. He is currently signed with Globe Records, a division of Universal Music.

Buanne was born in Vienna, Austria, spent his childhood between Naples, Italy and Vienna, Austria. He was Franco and Alina Buanne's only child.

Buanne's father opened the first Italian restaurant in Vienna. Buanne grew up wanting to be a chef, but his father that said he would probably chop his hands off if he did. His father didn't want that kind of life for his son, always working six days a week. (Ironically, as a performer Buanne now works on most weekends.)

Buanne loved music from his earliest days. He listened to the music of famous Italian and Italian-American singers as a child in his father's restaurant, and when he was eight years old Buanne received his first guitar. At the age of eleven he made his first public performance at a talent contest; he went on to succeed in several singing competitions, and even won a trip to Graceland. Buanne performed for Pope John Paul II and a crowd of 85,000 in Poland in 1997. This successful performance enabled him to sign his first recording contract.

He was seventeen when his father died from virulent cancer, and the grief ate away at him so much that he almost lost his own life to a perforated ulcer.

At the age of nineteen, Buanne's uncle invited him to move back to Naples, Italy after he graduated from school. He chose to attend a university in Rome and to study languages.

n his early twenties Buanne became a popular guest as a young talent on various television and radio shows in Italy, of which he got offered to work for RAI as a host and entertainer. However, he wanted to pursue his one true passion, singing and recording albums. When he was twenty-four he started looking to produce his own projects from his wages and 2004 he got introduced to producer Christian Seitz. After sharing a mutual respect, goal and vision and eighteen months of hard work his international singing career took off with the launch of his debut album, The Italian, composed of romantic Italian songs that Buanne was brought up listening and dedicated to his father. Buanne recorded the album at the Abbey Road Studios (made famous by The Beatles) in London, accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Italian was released in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2005, and in the United States on March 7, 2006. It reached number ten on the pop chart in the United Kingdom, where it attained platinum status; it was also certified as platinum in South Africa, Asia, and New Zealand, and as triple platinum in Australia. The albums title track reached #9 on the pop charts in the United Kingdom.

Following The Italian's release, Buanne performed two sets of sell-out tour dates in 2006 with a six week tour of major theatres and concert venues. His performance that broadcast on the American public television channel PBS broke records at PBS stations across the United States. Additionally, in October 2006 he performed in front of American President George W. Bush at the prestigious NIAF gala in Washington, D.C.

Buanne's second album, Forever Begins Tonight, was first released in South Africa in July 2006 to coincide with a concert in Carnival City at the end of that month. The album was then released in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2006, and in the United States on April 24, 2007.

Forever Begins Tonight includes an Italian version of Robbie Williams's song "Angels." Buanne is the only artist ever to be allowed to record the song in Italian. "I liked the idea of taking a famous pop song and interpreting it in my way, giving it the Italian touch. It was a very nice gesture of Robbie's," said Buanne, when telling of the near-miss they had for recording the song. At first, Williams's "people" would not allow him to record the song. However, when Williams heard Buanne's rendition of "Angels," and became aware of his desire to record the song, Williams called him and gave the go-ahead to record it. The new Italian version is called "Un Angelo." His version reached #53 pop in the US and #18 in the UK (according to billboard's pop charts.) The song was also his first hit in the United States.

In mid 2007 an enhanced edition of Forever Begins Tonight was released called "The Tour Edition." This edition includes not only the tracks on the original CD, but also multimedia computer files of music videos to some of the songs. (These music videos were earlier seen in advertisements and promotional showings on television all over the world.)

Buanne also recorded the football anthem "Stand Up! (Champions' Theme)" that was played at the end of all matches in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The song is an orchestral remix of the original Village People song "Go West" made popular by the British duo Pet Shop Boys. The song is available on a special UK edition of Forever Begins Tonight.