Until now, American audiences have had to make do with mere glimpses of the brilliant career of Lorenzo Cherubini, better known as Jovanotti, Italy’s best-selling singer, songwriter and rapper. Over the past two decades his recorded collaborations with Michael Franti, Ben Harper, Carlinhos Brown, Sergio Mendes, and Bono, among other well-known names, have occasionally caught the ear of the adventurous listener, but recently the Tuscan singer and songwriter has finally launched his first tour of the US and new North American label partnership with ATO Records.
In 2011 he became the first new generation Italian language artist to perform at the Bonnaroo Festival in Nashville, Tennessee, and appeared on stage with Gogol Bordello’s Eugene Hütz. The performance was unanimously lauded by American fans, music industry and critics, marking the artist as one of the discoveries of the event’s 10th anniversary edition.
Back in Italy, Jovanotti confirmed his position as Italy’s number one artist with his 12th studio album Ora (Now) debuting atop the album charts and then selling over 500,000 copies. The 2011 tour around Italy had 50 sold-out arena and stadium dates.
Spring 2012 will bring in a new chapter for Jovanotti with his debut album for ATO Records. This career retrospective will feature new material for the North American market and is being produced by Ian Brennan (Tinariwen).
This month, Jovanotti takes the stage with a preview of what’s ahead in 2012 with a coast-to-coast swing of club shows in select cities with his transatlantic band. The tour kicked off on the 10th of March in Miami at hotspot, Grand Central, and continued with two performances in his adopted home town of New York City with a pair of intimate club shows at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg and Manhattan’s Bowery Ballroom, and in Austin Texas at the SXSW Music Festival . Jovanotti closes his March lineup on the 17th of March in Los Angeles at the historic El Rey Theatre.
