Paolo Benvegnù

Paolo Benvegnù (Milan, 14 February 1965 – Toscolano Maderno, 31 December 2024) was one of the leading Italian singer-songwriters to emerge from the Nineties generation, the golden age of Italian indie.

In 1993 he launched the project Scisma, a seminal alt-rock band in which he worked as composer, guitarist and singer. The project produced three albums (“Bombardano Cortina” in 1995, “Rosemary Plexiglas” in 1997 and “Armstrong” in 1999, the latter two released on Emi/Parlophone), followed by numerous concerts across Italy and Europe. In 1998 the album “Rosemary Plexiglas” won the Premio Ciampi.
Following the band's split in 2000, Benvegnù embarked on a solo career.

His first album under his own name, “Tiny, Fragile Films” (2003), preceded by the single “Suggestionabili”, marked a turning point in his music, which left behind experimentation and forays into other genres to settle into a stripped-back, intimate approach, an extremely refined singer-songwriter style that immediately won over both audiences and critics.
Following a lengthy tour (named Tour of the Year at Mei in Faenza), in June 2005 Benvegnù released a new EP: “Cerchi nell’acqua”, featuring the title track, three previously unreleased songs (“Il vento incalcolabile del sud”, “Rosa Lullaby” and “Tiny, Fragile Films”) and a cover of “In A Manner Of Speaking” by Tuxedomoon. The EP also included the video for “Cerchi nell’acqua” directed by Tommaso Cerasuolo of Perturbazione, a band whose album “Canzoni allo specchio” he would also produce, the last in a series of productions for Italian and foreign acts such as Otto’P’Notri, Terje Nordgarden, Brychan, Endura, Gianmarco Martelloni, Gestalt, Marilù Lorèn, Muriel, Soloincasa, Miriam and Moleskin. Among his guest appearances, he is also remembered on vocals and guitar on the track “Amore” by C.F.F. e il Nomade Venerabile.

A multi-faceted artist, in 2007 Benvegnù also staged theatrical pièces in unconventional settings such as restaurants or private living rooms, giving life to the “water trilogy” or “trilogy of humble trades” with Idraulici, Marinai and Camerieri.
His second album, “The Lips” (La Pioggia Dischi/Venus), released in early 2008, again met with excellent critical acclaim.
In 2008, together with Marco Parente, he released the self-titled album of the “Proiettili buoni” project.
In early 2009 he took part in the “Il paese è reale” project and the related album “Afterhours presentano: Il paese è reale (19 artisti per un paese migliore?)“, conceived by Manuel Agnelli of Afterhours to support and promote the indie rock acts of the Italian underground scene, contributing the track “Io e il mio amore”. Also in 2009, his song “Il mare verticale” was covered first by Marina Rei and then by Giusy Ferreri on their respective albums “Musa” and “Fotografie”. In 2010, Mina included a cover of one of his songs, “Io e te”, on her album “Caramella”.

In February 2011 came “Hermann“, which took him on tour across the Italian peninsula. With this work he placed second at the Premio Tenco in the “Best Overall Singer-Songwriter Album” category, behind Vinicio Capossela.
Two more full-length works followed, “Earth Hotel” and “H3+”, in 2014 and 2017 respectively, both released on the Woodworm label.

In March 2018 he began collaborating with Nicholas Ciuferri, an Italian writer and author, with whom he founded the project I Racconti delle Nebbie. The duo wove Nicholas Ciuferri's narratives together with Paolo Benvegnù's songs, with constant interplay and exchange between sung and spoken parts, creating a richly evocative atmosphere. The duo's first self-titled album was released on 1 March of the following year on the Woodworm label, featuring Nicola Cappelletti on violin and electronics, Alessio Avallone on illustrations (both of whom also took part in many live performances), as well as actresses Micol Pavoncello and Anna Bonaiuto. In the autumn of 2019 the duo officially became a quartet with the addition of Nicola Cappelletti and Riccardo Tesio (Marlene Kuntz).

In March 2020 Black Candy released his new album, “Dell’odio dell’innocenza“, followed in 2021 by “Delle inutili premonizioni”, recorded live in a single day, featuring acoustic performances of old Benvegnù songs.
In 2022 came the release of “Delle inutili premonizioni – Vol. 2“, an album in which the Lombard singer-songwriter reinterpreted 12 new wave tracks from the 1980s.
In September 2022 Woodworm returned to handle Benvegnù's management and record releases, putting out the album “È inutile parlare d’amore”, preceded by the EP Solo fiori, featuring collaborations with Malika Ayane, Brunori Sas and Neri Marcorè. The album won the Premio Tenco for best overall album of 2024. That same year also saw the re-working of his solo debut for its twentieth anniversary, “Tiny, Fragile Films – Reloaded“.

Paolo Benvegnù died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 59 on the morning of 31 December 2024, while spending the holidays at his family home in Toscolano Maderno, on Lake Garda. The previous evening, a recorded episode of the Rai3 programme “Via dei matti n° 0” had aired, on which he had appeared as a guest of Stefano Bollani and Valentina Cenni. He leaves a great void in Italian music and in the underground scene of which he was a visionary pioneer.

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