Nek

Filippo Neviani, born in Sassuolo on Jan.6, 1972, has been involved in music since the age of 9. His first approach to drums and guitar dates back to those early years, prompted by the strong influence of other great musicians from the Emilia region of Italy, among whom Vasco Rossi and Lucio Dalla. In the late Eighties, he began playing in small clubs with his band “Winchester”, and subsequently enjoyed budding notoriety in the Bologna province with soft-rock band “White Lady”. However, his search for a well-defined expressive identity continued.In 1991 Filippo came second at the Castrocaro Festival. In 1992 he released his first album, entitled “Nek”, the nickname that would become his stage name.In 1993 he came third in the Newcomers Section of the Sanremo Festival, with the song “In Te”, that dealt with the controversial issue of abortion, inspired by a friend’s real life experience. During the same edition of the Festival, Mietta sang “Figli di chi”, also written by Nek, who would then re-record it for his second album, “In Te”.Nek took part in the Cantagiro and met with amazing success, winning the award presented by the weekly magazine “TV Stelle” as best-loved artist.In the summer of 1994 he released “Calore Umano”, his third album, and came second at the Festival Italiano with the song “Angeli nel ghetto”.Also in 1994 he won the European Award as best Young Italian artist, jointly with Italian singer Giorgia. In 1995 he joined the Italian Singers’ Soccer team, but strained a ligament during a match and was forced to take a long rest period, during which he seriously reconsidered his artistic inspiration, and decided to give it fresh impulse, with a new injection of energy.The result was the 1996 release “Lei, gli amici e tutto il resto”, a 12-track album recorded live in the studio with a selection of and very talented young musicians. The album’s sound is markedly international, and the lyrics are sketches taken from the diary of a 24-year old boy, and relates everyday life experiences in a minimalist style. Nek’s voice cuts through, telling personal stories, or stories he feels as his own. Rolando D’Angeli, his executive producer, was his first enthusiastic fan, and introduced him to WEA Records, that would become his new label.In 1997 Nek entered the Sanremo Festival with the song “Laura non c’è”, and met with huge success: the album “Lei, gli amici e tutto il resto” went 6 times platinum, selling over 600.000 copies in Italy alone. That same year Nek also took part in the Festivalbar with the song “Sei grande”.In June 1997 Nek’s thrilling adventure abroad began: Spain, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, France and Germany; his success spread like a bush fire, supporting the sales of his album that soon reached two million copies. The next step was South America: Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and he was soon to reach gold album status in Argentina and Mexico with the Spanish version of his album “Lei, gli amici e tutto il resto”.Early in 1998 NEK went back to the studio to record his new album “In due”, released on June 4, 1998 throughout Europe, in Latin America and Japan, going straight to the top of the charts. ‘Se io non avessi te’, the first single taken from the new album, stayed at the top of the radio airplay charts for four months. On July 9, 1998 NEK received the IFPI award in Brussels for having sold more than a million copies of ‘Lei, gli amici e tutto il resto’ in Europe ‘In Due’ went three times platinum in Italy; gold in Austria, Switzerland and Argentina, platinum in Spain. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland NEK reached the top 20 with two albums: ‘Lei gli amici e tutto il resto’ and ‘In Due’.Between January and August 1999, NEK toured Italy, Europe and South America, enjoying great success everywhere. Back in Italy after the tour, he went straight to the studio to start recording his new album.‘LA VITA E’ was released world-wide on June 2, 2000, and stands out for its brilliant artistic content, the variety of the songs, the quality of the underlying musical project and the almost disarming effectiveness of Nek’s lyrics. Nek was by no means pursuing revolutionary musical directions, but rather the perfecting of his main goal as an artist: reaching the heart of as many people as possible, with great songs and positive messages.Two years later, on May 24, 2002, ‘LE COSE DA DIFENDERE’ was released world-wide, with 11 new songs that revealed to what extent Nek had matured as a songwriter, also thanks to his new producers Dado Parisini and Alfredo Cerruti (the team behind Laura Pausini’s success).On October 10, 2003, two versions of Nek’s first Greatest Hits collection, in Italian and Spanish, was released world-wide. “NEK THE BEST OF… L’ANNO ZERO”, represented the crowning of an immensely successful ten-year long career, and included two previously unreleased tracks and 16 memorable hits from the past.‘NEK THE BEST OF…L’ANNO ZERO’, sold over 250,000 copies in Italy alone, and rapidly climbed to the top of the charts (13 weeks in the Top Ten and 27 weeks in the charts), confirming the artist’s immense popularity.Spring 2005, worldwide release of Nek’s brand new album in two versions : Italian version of ‘UNA PARTE DI ME’, Spanish version “UNA PARTE DE MI”. ‘LASCIA CHE IO SIA’, is the first single taken from NEK’s new album: written and produced with the same tried-and-tested team responsible for the previous album (Alfredo Cerruti and Dado Parisini), it is a gripping pop-rock song, catchy and simple, which highlights the level of maturity Nek has reached with his latest productions, in terms of both song-writing and recording.