Ron

by Marisa BrownBorn in 1953 in Dorno, Italy (a town south of Milan), by an early age the boy who would later become Ron, Rosalino Cellamare, showed an interest in singing, and soon began taking vocal lessons and participating in local festivals and competitions. In 1970, at only 16, the young artist made his debut at the annual San Remo Festival with Nada, and the duo placed seventh with their song "Pà Diglielo a Mà." Two years later, a piece he wrote, "Piazza Grande," was performed at the festival by Lucio Dalla, and that same year his debut full-length, Il Bosco degli Amanti, was released under the name Rosalino Cellamare. For his next two records, Dal Nostro Livello (1972) and Esperienza (1975), he used solely his given first name, but in 1980, after having taken a break from music to explore acting, the singer issued his first disc under the name with which he would become famous. Una Città per Cantare became one of Ron's most beloved and famous albums, and the years that followed saw a particularly prolific release schedule, and included 1985's Ron and 1992's Le Foglie e il Vento.
In 1996 Ron achieved his first-ever victory at San Remo, with the song "Vorrei Incontrarti Fra Cent'Anni," and in 2000, Italian television channel Rai celebrated the singer/songwriter and producer's 30 years in music by organizing and broadcasting a concert, called Una Città per Cantare, in which Ron sang with fellow artists like Gianni Morandi, Jackson Browne, and Lucio Dalla. In 2002 Ron went on tour with Italian superstars Pino Daniele, Francesco de Gregori, and Fiorella Mannoia, and two years later released Le Voci del Mondo. In 2005 the project Ma Quando Dici Amore, in which Ron sang with artists like Anggun, Carmen Consoli, Raf, Luca Carboni, and Loredana Berté, among others, to raise money for Lou Gehrig's Disease, came out. Though the album was initially sold only at newsstands in collaboration with La Corriere della Sera, it was reissued the following year as Ma Quando Dici Amore: Sanremo 2006, and included additional performances not found on the first edition.