LUCIO FABBRI

Born: March 25th, 1955, Crema (Italy)

Nationality: Italian

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

An autodidact musician, Lucio Fabbri mastered the violin, guitar, and piano at a young age. In the 1970s, he became involved in the progressive music scene in Italy, playing as a session musician or as a member of the accompanying band of Alan Sorrenti, Fabrizio De André, and Claudio Rocchi. In 1978, he recorded a solo instrumental album, ‘Amarena’. Fabbri was a member of the group Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) from 1979 until its dissolution in 1987; he rejoined the group when it was re-established in 2001. From the late 1980s onwards, he has extensively worked as an arranger and producer with Italian pop artists such as Umberto Tozzi, Fiorella Mannoia, Nada, Milva, Dolcenera, Massimo Ranieri, Milva, and many more; moreover, he also wrote arrangements for international stars such as Demis Roussos, Nik Kershaw, Patrick Hernandez, and Randy Crawford. 

Lucio Fabbri conducted in all 1990s editions of the San Remo Festival, being part of the winning teams of 1997 (with Jalisse, ‘Fiumi di parole’) and 1998 (with Annalisa Minetti, ‘Senza te o con te’) - in all appearing in sixteen editions of the Italian song festival between 1990 and 2015, conducting 42 entries. Lucio Fabbri regularly writes music to televised advertisements and was the musical director of the Italian X Factor.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

When Jalisse won the 1997 Sanremo Festival, the duo was invited to be the Italian representatives in that year’s Eurovision Song Contest, held in Dublin. Like in Sanremo, it was Lucio Fabbri who conducted the orchestra for ‘Fiumi di parole’, which had to be cut to three minutes to fit Eurovision rules. Jalisse finished fourth in Dublin. It was the first Italian participation since 1993 and was to be the last contribution of this country until its return to the contest in 2011.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1997 Dublin

Country – Italy

Song title – "Fiumi di parole"

Rendition – Jalisse (Alessandra Drusian & Fabio Ricci)

Lyrics – Carmen Di Domenico / Alessandra Drusian

Composition – Fabio Ricci

Studio arrangement – Roberto Lanzo

Live orchestration – Lucio Fabbri

Conductor – Lucio Fabbri

Score – 4th place (114 votes)