Samuele Bersani

Samuele Bersani was born on 1 October 1970 in Rimini, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.[8] His father was a music teacher, while his mother was an employee, and she also became the vice-major of Cattolica, the town in which he grew up.[9][10] He studied at the classical lyceum, but he left school a few months before his "maturity exam".[10] While he was a teenager, Bersani played in several local bands and took part in local singing competitions. In 1991, he met Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla before a concert Dalla was going to give in San Benedetto del Tronto, in Central Italy. Bersani asked Dalla to listen to a recording of his original song "Il mostro", and a few minutes later Dalla's producer, Renzo Cremonini, told him to open the concert performing the song.[10] Bersani was then chosen as the opening act for the remaining concerts of Dalla's Cambio tour.[11]

Bersani's debut album, C'hanno preso tutto, was released in November 1992.[10] The album included the song "Il mostro", as well as the single "Chiccho e Spillo", which allowed Bersani to receive media attention, becoming a radio hit and supporting sales of the album, which sold more than 20,000 copies in Italy.[10][11] In 1995, Bersani released his second album, Freak. The album's lead single, "Freak", was released in February of the same year, but some Italian radio stations decided not to air it as a consequence of a line referring both to the Italian conservative coalition and to the Italian Communist Party, which was considered a violation of the "par condicio law", which introduced fees for those stations giving airplay to songs including political messages during the electoral campaign preceding the Italian regional elections.[12][13][14] As a consequence, Bersani's label decided to anticipate the release of the second single from the album, "Spaccacuore".[15] Both "Freak" and "Spaccacuore" were later performed by Bersani during the itinerant television show Festivalbar, during the summer of 1995.[16][17] The album was a commercial success, and it was certified platinum, selling more than 130,000 copies in Italy.[18]