Elio, 60 years old (today) full of humor

Elio

The indie scene and the success in the Milanese, the songs of Mai dire Gol and the boom in Sanremo, the brackets of X Factor and the consensus with LOL - Who laughs is out. Let's retrace the first 60 years of Stefano Belisari, aka Elio, never predictable

At the 75th edition of the Venice Film Festival (Photo: Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP / Getty) Sixty years ago. It is really the case to say it. Today the singer Stefano Belisari, better known as Elio, whose natural continuation, for a long time, was “e la Storie Tese” celebrates the round figure. Funny, surreal, extremely competent in terms of music (complete with a diploma in transverse flute at the Conservatory), quite shy on the private front. He has managed, over the course of his career, to jump from the underground scene to the mainstream without losing credibility. One who, with great ease, can sing foul-mouthed songs and pass unscathed under the cross fires of the Sanremo Festival, but also interpret the theme song of the (out) cult series Boris, dub the alien Paul and play the role of Gomez in the musical The Addams family. Without forgetting the forays into the super formats X Factor and LOL - Who laughs is out. On the occasion of the birthday of the Elii frontman, we retrace the highlights of an intelligent and humor-filled (public) life. Like the time he presented himself at the MAXXI in Rome to collect the Lifetime Achievement Award (of the 15th National Art Quadrennial) for Maurizio Cattelan, claiming to be the artist. Because behind some bad words there has always been a shrewd, careful and cultured irony that (perhaps) not everyone has been able to grasp.

From school desks to cult

From the Einstein high school in Milan to glory it is a short step. Especially if, in the same class, between 1975 and 1980, Stefano Belisari (Elio), Luca Mangoni and Marco Conforti (brother of Rocco Tanica and manager of the group) are found. The first live, in 1980, was at the CAF of San Siro in the presence of a handful of umarell. Concert after concert, the success, all Ambrosian, made up of demented and foul-mouthed songs, led them to organize a series of performances at the Magia Music Meeting and at the Zelig, historic local Milanese like the Derby. Cassettes were also recorded during the shows - with the very first versions of evergreen songs such as Cara ti amo and John Holmes (a life for the cinema) - which, thanks to word of mouth, became a must among the teenagers of the time. In that period (and for a long time) Elio's real name was not revealed and, indeed, the press was deceived over and over again with improbable fictional names. Thanks to Zelig, however, EelST experimented a mix between cabaret and music: their name is turning more and more and, thanks to the following at the regional level, in 1990 they also released the first album Elio Samaga Hukapan Karijana Turu, soon hailed as a classic of demented music, without forgetting the compositional quality. Elii are the first indies when it's not cool to be. And they make a genre that, before them, has prominent exponents such as the Squallor and the Skiantos.

In 1991, then, they are invited to the May Day Concert and censored: while they denounce the attitudes of the investigating commission that he takes care of parliamentarians involved in illicit facts (which, out of 111 cases, archives 109), the camera moves to the journalist Vincenzo Mollica who, evidently, does not immediately understand what is happening and asks: “I'm trying to understand something. Are we moving from Network Three to Network Two? Very well. No, not yet" . It was that episode that inspired the band for the video of the famous Pipppero - first, true hit, inserted in Italyan, Rum Casusu Cikti, driven by the sequel to Mai dire gol which chooses it as the theme song - in which the formation, after the Concertone events are relegated to Bulgaria.

Never say Sanremo

Elio's career - from his (almost) top secret private life - goes hand in hand with that of his band: they lead cordially on Radio Deejay and sign all the songs of Mai dire gol (memorable None at the stadium where they are new Bee Gees). They therefore reach the stage that inevitably marks the mainstream consecration: participation in the 1996 Sanremo Festival with the song La terra dei cachi. During the event they take the stage of the Ariston giving vent to their passion for disguises and nonsense: just think that, for the final performance, they present themselves in the role of the Rockets. They are given for winners, but come second, taking home the Critics' Prize. In reality, that silver medal triggers many problems: in fact, perplexities are raised about the victory of Ron and his I'd like to meet you in a hundred years. The doubts are confirmed by an investigation by the carabinieri which highlights both irregularities and the fact that someone took more votes than the winner. Everything ends in pizza and Eat the phikis, the post-Sanremo record that consecrates the Elii: now everyone likes them, especially children, amused by the group's camouflages and discoveries. Always ready to amaze, the following year they take part in the porn film Rocco and the tense stories with Rocco Siffred i, while Elio also embarks on an adventure in dubbing, voicing Butt-head character from the cult cartoon of Mtv Beavis and Butt- Head.

Not only the Elii

After the 2000s, Mr. Belisari veered more and more towards the solo streak (despite the fact that he continues to churn out albums with the group): pianist and guitarist of the hymn There is only Inter, dedicated to his favorite team. Four years later, he even embarks on a literary career with Fiabe centimetropolitane (of which the author and writer Davide Tortorella wrote: "We laugh a lot, but also to defend ourselves, since underneath the same restlessness that circulates in the masterpieces of Lewis Carroll : that the surreal is only someone else's real "). There follow two works written with the Elii: Squashed Animals (ie the brand new method to enter the world of the great) and the (self) biography Lives scorched. At that time, with Faso, he was also a sports commentator on Major League Baseball matches for Sky Sport. It is an old love: Elio plays, for years, in the Ares Milano Baseball team.

Elio loves tv

In addition to music (Inter and baseball), yes he can say that Elio's great love is the small screen, where he combines his soul as a singer with that of an entertainer. In addition to collaborating with Maurizio Crozza in Crozza Italia on La7, he presents the AfterFestival of the 58th edition of the Sanremo Festival. A concentrate of irony (never vulgar), intelligence, fun and musical performances (even with the big names in the race) that he smashed the auditel, earning the applause of Pippo Baudo. That same year the EelST participated as guests in the final of the festival singing Largo al Factotum (from the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini), aged and dressed like the Rondò Veneziano. Before performing, the frontman says that the song they are about to make the Ariston audience hear has been made out of the competition because it is not unpublished, ironically about the disqualification of Loredana Bertè and her Music and Words.

2010 is the year of Elio judge of X Factor. Thanks to the format created by Simon Cowell, the singer-songwriter (with and without his fake mustache) reaches a new, great popularity, managing to win the program to his competitor Nathalie. He also sits behind the counter of the jury in the fifth, sixth and ninth edition of the forge of future stars of the song, which in the meantime passed on SkyUno.

X Factor 2018 (photo: Getty Images)

End of a band

In 2013 Elio and Le Storie Tese participate, after 17 years of absence, in Sanremo, ranking second again with the song La song mononota. And once again winning the Mia Martini Critics Award. On that occasion, the new "Toti Cutugni", the eternal seconds of the event, are defined. After the unfortunate parenthesis of the show Il Musichione, on RaiDue - which did not have the hoped-for success, with the last episode seen by just over 200 thousand spectators - in 2016, the Elii returned (surprisingly) to the Ariston with Winning l 'hate . Although the song made up of choruses is a brilliant idea, they fail to place themselves in the top ten finalists, nor do the funny disguises like that of Kiss on the final evening help. A year later, Elio tried his hand at conducting the Rai5 cultural program L’opera italiana. And, after a few months, during an interview with Iene, he announces what the most attentive fans have smelled: the dissolution of the band after 37 years of activity. The farewell takes place with participation - needless to say! - at the Sanremo Festival 2018 and a last tour in the Italian palazzetti.

Sanremo Festival 2018 (Photo: Daniele Venturelli / Getty)

And in the end comes LOL - Who laughs is out

Ad April of this year Elio participated, as a competitor, in the Amazon Prime Video comedy show LOL - Who laughs is out, hosted by Fedez and Mara Maionchi. The program achieved a success with audiences and critics beyond all expectations and Mr. Belisari, together with Michela Giarud, Lillo, Pintus…, was among the characters who benefited from this (umpteenth) wave of popularity. Also because, despite being an international format, the artist managed to bend the dictates of the broadcast with his intelligent and out of line irony. Suffice it to say that he presented himself in the role of Mona Lisa, keeping her costume for (almost) the entire broadcast. He is currently on tour with Ci takes ear, a recital dedicated to the singer-songwriter Enzo Jannacci, with which Elio's father went to school. In the musical show, the former frontman of Storie Tese manages to make him the songs of the niche singer-songwriter, capable of bringing to light a poetic and poignant Milanese spirit. In short, Elio always surprises us. And who knows what he has in mind for the near future: he will surely be able to amaze with that mocking half smile ready to make us overwhelmed by doubt: "Is he serious or is he making fun of me?".

Elio a "LOL - Who laughs is out ”(frame from the Amazon Prime Video program)
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Amazon Prime Video Music Sanremo Tv series Tv globalData.fldTopic = "Amazon Prime Video, Music, Sanremo, TV series, Tv "

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