Riccardo Cocciante, also known in French-speaking countries as Richard Cocciante (born 20 February 1946), is an Italian singer-songwriter and actor. His oeuvre includes recordings in Italian, French, and Spanish; he has recorded some of his songs in all three languages.
He was born in Saigon, French Indochina

French Indochina

French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....

, now Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...

, Vietnam, to an Italian father and a French mother. He moved to Rome, Italy at the age of 11 where he attended school and started his career as musician coming to success around 1972. He also lived in the USA and Ireland. In 1976, Cocciante covered the Beatles song "Michelle

Michelle (song)

"Michelle" is a love ballad by The Beatles, mainly written by Paul McCartney, with the middle eight co-written with John Lennon. It is featured on their Rubber Soul album. The song departs from most of The Beatles' other recordings in that some of the lyrics are in French...

" for the musical documentary All This and World War II

All This and World War II

All This and World War II is a 1976 musical documentary that juxtaposes Beatles songs, performed by a number of musicians, with World War II newsreel footage and 20th Century Fox films from the 1940s...

.

In 1991 he won the Sanremo Festival with the song "Se stiamo insieme", and for Christmas 1997 legendary Spanish operatic tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 and friend Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo

Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...

 invited him to sing at Domingo's annual Christmas in Vienna concert, together with Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman

Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriter and dancer. She is famous for possessing a vocal range of over 3 octaves and singing in the whistle register...

 and Helmut Lotti

Helmut Lotti

Helmut Lotti , is a Flemish Belgian tenor and singer-songwriter. Lotti performs in several styles and languages: Once an Elvis impersonator, he has sung African and Latino hit records, and he crossed over into classical music in the 1990s.-Life and music:The son of Luc Lotigiers and Rita Lagrou,...

.

As of 2008, Cocciante has three musicals running, probably Notre-Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris (musical)

Notre-Dame de Paris is a sung-through French-Canadian musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo...

 being the most known. This musical may later be put into competition against another musical in progress, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame (musical).

Discography

• Mu (1972)
• Poesia (1973)
• Anima (1974)
• L'alba (1975)
• Concerto per Margherita (1976)
• Riccardo Cocciante  (1978)
• ...E io canto (1979)
• Cervo a primavera  (1980)
• Q Concert (1981)
• Cocciante (1982)
• Sincerità
  Sincerità
  Sincerità is the debut single by the Italian singer Arisa and it was released on 18 February 2009. It placed first in the 'Newcomers' section and won the 'Mia Martini' Critics Award in the 2009 Sanremo Music Festival.-Charts:- Year-end charts :...
  
   (1983)
• Il mare dei papaveri (1985)
• Quando si vuole bene (1986)
• La grande avventura (1988)
• Viva! (1988)
• Cocciante (also known as Se stiamo insieme; 1991)
• Eventi e mutamenti (1993)
• Il mio nome è Riccardo (1994)
• Un uomo felice (1994)
• Innamorato (1997)
• Istantanea (1998)
• Notre-dame de Paris live Arena di Verona (2002)
• Songs (2005)

Musicals

• Notre-Dame de Paris
  Notre Dame de Paris (musical)
  Notre-Dame de Paris is a sung-through French-Canadian musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo...
  
   (2001; lyrics by Luc Plamondon
  Luc Plamondon
  Luc Plamondon, OC, CQ is a French-Canadian lyricist.-Career:Plamondon has written for many artists, notably the Québécois singers Bruno Pelletier, Diane Dufresne, Robert Charlebois, Céline Dion, Ginette Reno, Fabienne Thibeault, Martine St. Clair, and Garou, as well as the French singers Julien...
  
  )
• Giulietta e Romeo
  Giulietta e Romeo (musical)
  This article is about the Italian musical. For the French musical see Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour.Giulietta e Romeo is an Italian-language musical with music by Riccardo Cocciante and lyrics by Pasquale Panella, based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet...
  
   (2007; lyrics by Pasquale Panella)
• Le Petit Prince (2007; lyrics by Elizabeth Anais)

External links

• RICCARDO COCCIANTE Official Web Site
• Biography of Richard Cocciante, from Radio France Internationale
  Radio France Internationale
  Radio France Internationale was created in 1975 as part of Radio France by the Government of France, and replaced the Poste Colonial , Paris Mondial , Radio Paris , RTF Radio Paris and ORTF Radio Paris...
  
  
• Biography of Riccardo Cocciante, from RAI International
• AyerHoy.com (Cada día un perfil de un artista del ayer)