Italy’s soul and jazz sensation Mario Biondi will be performing in Malta on August 8 at the Piazza d’Armi, Fort St Elmo, Valletta.
Born in Catania, Sicily, as Mario Ranno, the singer has built a solid reputation along the years as a leading Italian soul and jazz musician of the modern era. He has an unmistakable deep voice and has often been compared to the late singer Barry White.
Malta’s concert will feature hits from Biondi’s latest album, Brazil, along with old favourites from his repertoire.
The son of a songwriter, Biondi started singing in a church choir at the age of 12 but soon moved on to performing in public squares. His first experience on stage was at the Festival Della Canzone Siciliana, where he placed third.
Biondi’s musical pursuits earned him the opportunity to perform alongside great Italian singers such as Franco Califano and Fred Bongusto, as well as American jazz legend Ray Charles.
As his reputation grew, Biondi found himself collaborating with various groups like The Change, Mario Brothers and Funky Company on studio recordings and tours and was eventually encouraged to pursue a solo career.
Biondi released his debut record, Handful of Soul, in 2006, featuring material inspired by American R&B artists like Lou Rawls, Luther Vandross and Donny Hathaway. He performed a stand-out hit from this album, This is What You Are, at the Sanremo Festival that year, boosting the record’s popularity and helping to push it into Billboard’s European Top 100 chart.
Biondi’s songs continued to gain popularity with his 2009 album It, being a huge success in Italy. His follow-up 2011 release, Due, featured Biondi performing with 20 Italian and international emerging artists on 13 original songs and seven covers, with music ranging from soul-jazz to R&B, lounge and bossa nova. A turning point in his career came with the release of the 2013 album Sun, which reached number one in the Italian charts. Produced by Biondi along with Jean Paul Maunick of Incognito, it featured an array of well-known guest performers and influences including Leon Ware, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau and James Taylor.
When Biondi released the holiday album, Mario Christmas, at the end of 2013, it followed Sun to the top of the charts.
Biondi’s seventh studio album, Beyond, was launched in 2015 followed by the European smash single Love is a Temple.
In 2016 and 2017, Biondi toured, played festivals and contributed tracks to numerous compilations. The artist’s obsession with Brazilian music was the inspiration to his latest album, aptly named Brazil. It includes a slew of cover versions and features guest appearances by Ivan Lins and Claudya, Daniel Jobim and Ana Carolina, and Till Bronner on the bossa nova cover of Sade’s Smooth Operator.
Organised by Music Hall Events, the Mario Biondi Tour 2018 tickets can be bought from www.showshappening.com.