Elisa

Elisa Toffoli is one of the most successful pop singer-songwriters to emerge on the Italian scene since the 1990s.

She was born on December 19, 1977 in Trieste and grew up in Monfalcone (Gorizia). As a child she took an interest in various forms of art: dance, painting, writing short stories. Her talent found its fullest expression in music, and at the age of eleven she began writing her first lyrics and melodies. A few years later came her first performances with some local bands. At sixteen she met Caterina Caselli, who decided to give her the chance to perfect her English in the United States. Elisa's first work under Caselli's Sugar Music label was released in 1997: the album "Pipes & Flowers". The record, sung entirely in English, won several awards, from the prestigious "Premio Tenco" - as best debut work - to the PIM (Italian Music Award). A few months later Eros Ramazzotti chose her to open his tour in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland.

In 2000 she released her second album, "Asile's World" ("Asile" is Elisa spelled backwards). The sun-drenched sound of her first work gave way to something more visceral, emphasized by a search for electronic textures.

In 2001, with the song "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)", she won the Sanremo Festival, as well as claiming the prestigious Critics' Award and the Volare awards (for best performance) and Radio e Tv. The same year saw the release of her third album, "Then Comes The Sun", and she won the award for "Best Italian Artist" at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The following year she took part in the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (USA) and in Pavarotti & Friends, where she duetted with the Maestro.

In 2003 director Gabriele Muccino asked Elisa to record a cover of "Almeno tu nell'universo" for his new film "Ricordati di me" - a song written by Bruno Lauzi and made famous by Mia Martini. In November her fourth album, "Lotus", was released, which Elisa produced under the supervision of Pasquale Minieri. This work gathers together several pieces from the artist's career, unreleased tracks and covers rearranged for the occasion.

After a long tour of more than 40 dates and over 300,000 copies sold, Elisa flew to the US to work with producer Glen Ballard. This partnership resulted in her fifth album, "Pearl Days", released in 2004.

In 2006, another major collaboration led to the song "Teach Me Again", which Elisa performed with Tina Turner. A few weeks later, Italian radio stations began playing "Gli ostacoli del cuore", a song written for Elisa by Luciano Ligabue, which quickly became a radio hit. It was the first time the rocker from Emilia had written and handed over one of his unreleased songs to another artist. "Gli ostacoli del cuore" would go on to launch the greatest hits collection "Soundtrack '96-'06", released to celebrate the singer's first ten years in the business.

Another important collaboration came with Francesco De Gregori on "Quelli che restano", a single released in 2018 as the first taste of Elisa's tenth studio album, "Diari aperti".

The sixth album by the artist from Friuli, "Heart", which she produced together with her partner and guitarist Andrea Rigonat, was released in November 2009 and contains 14 tracks, among which stand out the moving "Forgiveness", a duet with Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, and the duet with Giuliano Sangiorgi, "Ti vorrei sollevare". The album went on to achieve triple platinum status.

In June 2007, Elisa burst onto the American music scene with the song "Dancing", originally featured on her album "Then Comes The Sun".

Her seventh album, "Ivy", came out in November 2010. The release also included, in a single package, a DVD documentary-film directed by Icelandic filmmaker Denni Karlsson. Equally striking was the theater tour that followed, building on Elisa's narrative concept and playing on two of nature's primary elements: "water" and "fire". The album achieved platinum status.

On 15 October 2013, the album of new material "L'anima vola" was released - her first made up entirely of songs written in Italian - which debuted at number one on the sales charts and went on to achieve double platinum status.

On 27 September 2014, the artist celebrated a year of success with an event concert at a sold-out Arena di Verona, tickets for which had been gone for weeks. In November, "L'anima vola - Deluxe edition" was released, a reissue of her latest album featuring three new tracks and a handful of covers.

In 2015 and 2016 she served as artistic director of the TV show "Amici".

On 25 March 2016, her ninth album of new material, "ON", was released; its lead single, "No Hero", was certified double platinum. The song was performed live for the first time on the stage of the Sanremo Festival, where Elisa, invited as a special guest, received a standing ovation. To date, "ON" has also spawned the singles "Love me forever" and "Bruciare per te".

In November and December, Elisa toured Italy's arenas with her "ON Tour".