On November 17, the newspaper La Repubblica published this beautiful interview done by Irene Carmina with Piero Barone.
Piero is really sweet as he answers questions and lets us see his beautiful and lovable personality once again.
Immediately after the publication of this interview, the Tour dates covering North America were announced and for this reason I preferred to wait a few days to translate it. But now here it is, enjoy reading!!
To those who consider him a “child prodigy” of Italian music, the singer Piero Barone from Agrigento smiles and explains that success matters little in life. That the important things are different.
He has had success since he was very young. At 15 he took part in the children’s talent show “Ti lascio una canzone” and was one of the three tenors of “Il Volo”, together with Ignazio Boschetto and Gianluca Ginoble. At 31 he has already done everything an artist dreams of doing at the end of his career.
He sang with Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Bono and Placido Domingo, toured with Barbra Streisand, won Sanremo. He has climbed the national and international charts, taking bel canto around the world.
“Now I dream of opera,” he says from Madrid, before the last stop on a European tour.
* Are you thinking about a solo career instead?
This has also been said about me, but it’s not true. Alone you go fast, together you go far.
* But isn’t there the risk of losing something along the way if you go far away? In his case, perhaps, an entire phase of his life: adolescence.
I also quickly started to take on responsibilities. And do you know what the paradox is?
* What?
That having started our careers so young, many imagine us as eternally children. It wasn’t easy to shake off this look. It was a difficult period in my life: the key to overcoming it was to keep up with the times and evolve but always maintaining one’s identity, with seriousness and professionalism.
* In short, head down and work.
I can’t afford any missteps, I’m not one for pranks. I’m practically incorruptible.
* But everyone is allowed, when young, some blunder .
Not me, if I do something stupid I block the work of all the people who work with me. As a lover of psychology, I think that life is about balance.
*Speaks as if he were twice his age.
Friends always tell me I look old, but it suits me. Let me do what I like to do.
* What do you like to do?
Waking up at dawn, running in the evening at sunset, going fishing, listening to nostalgic pieces of “Buena vista social club”, reading the newspapers in the morning on the iPad sitting alone at the table. Ignazio and Gianluca know not to disturb me at that moment. It’s one of the little things that helps us stay together after so many years, let alone three. We are three different minds but together we form a team in all respects.
Our greatest fortune has been the maturity in understanding and respecting our individual needs and the private lives of each of us. We grew up together, sharing unique experiences that, just by telling them about them, my fellow villagers thought I was crazy
* Tell us one.
For example when at an evening organized for us in the States we found ourselves together with the Black Eyed Peas, Leonardo Di Caprio and Quincy Jones. Or when Barbra Streisand recommended her hairdresser in Los Angeles because she didn’t like my hair. She noticed us on “American Idol” and the “Tonight Show” and wanted us on tour with her.
* Of course, a great shot.
I didn’t even know who she was, I only realized it later. However, I knew Placido Domingo. He found out who we were from his six-year-old nephew walking around the house in New York singing “Grande Amore” with red glasses, saying he was Piero Barone. Sanremo has also allowed us to approach young audiences.
* Also because it is undeniable that fans of songs like “O sole mio” are not that young.
It’s clear that you don’t have to be a hundred years behind, but you can’t expect to please everyone. Otherwise you risk becoming a victim of the system. Growing up among criticism made me understand that the difference lies in how you interpret it. If you take them as an accusation you’re finished, if you see them as advice they become a stimulus. And, looking at what we did, it went very well.
* Among the things you have done there is also the Christmas concert recorded this summer at the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento.
Controversy matters little, Agrigento, the capital of culture, will shine in all its beauty everywhere in the world. Singing under the Temple of Concordia is a dream come true. And if I have to be honest, my luck was being born in Sicily.
* Why?
I inherited everything I am from the island. I wasn’t born in a five star hotel and I see the beauty of life in little things. I grew up in Naro, a small town where time passes slowly, with a housewife mother and a body shop father. He closed his business to follow me to the United States, we at Il Volo are the first Italian artists to have signed a contract with an American major, Geffen, owned by Universal. But nowhere was it written that it would go well, there was the risk of finding oneself empty-handed.
* Now I understand where your sense of responsibility comes from: all the expectations placed on her, it couldn’t have been easy.
I also felt guilty towards my brother and sister. They have always been close to me, without ever making me burden myself with anything. And I try to return the good that was given to me.
* Who discovered your voice?
My grandfather who had a more beautiful voice than mine and sang in a folk music group in the village. I was six years old and I started humming on the swing in countryside, a popular song “Lu sole calia, talia, talia”, while he recorded a cassette. Hearing me sing, he stopped:
“Piero, come for a moment.”
It all started like this.
* And then?
On Saturday afternoons my father drove two hours there and back to take me to the children’s choir in Agrigento and then to the singing teacher in Vittoria.
If you imagine how a little boy would react if his father wanted to take him to the church choir? He would throw pots at his head. I, on the other hand, was happy: those two hours of travel with dad remain among my best memories.
On Sundays, however, there were festivals. Once, at the end of summer, I said to my father: “Enough, dad, I’m tired.”
“We’ll do the last one in September”, he replied because he believed in me.
It was in Cosenza, madness.
We left in a blue Citroen Xantia, but I was discarded; it was a pop competition and I had little to do with it.
A talent scout, however, noticed me: he wanted me for “I’ll leave you a song”.
That day changed my life.
The beautiful interview ends like this but in the rectangle on the left at the bottom of the page there is a comment that is not part of the interview itself and therefore I will translate it for you:
“I haven’t lived with a partner, but when I find one I will already be trained.
I imagine it would be difficult for two people, let alone three.”
Piero certainly means to say that he has never lived with a woman. Then he considers that living together as a couple is certainly difficult, which is why he lets it be understood that Ignazio and Gianluca have a sort of coexistence as a threesome, which is even more difficult, and it is for this reason that Piero feels he is already trained in view of a probable living together as a couple. 😉
Another very good news is that the new CD AD ASTRA INTERNATIONAL with the addition of the new tracks will also be sold in Italy from November 29th, I must have it immediately!!!
But have you already heard the English version of Capolavoro?
I like it very much!! 🥰
In recent days I have also found a new review of a song by Ignazio Boschetto by a female vocal coach. She doesn’t know Ignazio and very little about Il Volo, I think she’s a Greek vocal coach, she’s quite skeptical at first, but in the end she’s astonished. Turn on subtitles.
Last thing, many Italian television programs have been announced on Canale 5 where Il Volo will also be there and it will truly be a great presence of our beloved singers.
For now they are confirmed as guests on Wednesday 27 November on the THIS IS ME program hosted by Silvia Toffanin.
Then on 7-14-21 the repeats of this year’s Verona concerts will be broadcast and on the 24th there will be the Christmas concert recorded at the Valley of the Temples.
The dates of the ZELIG and LE IENE programs have yet to be announced, where Il Volo will certainly also be a guest, however we will keep you informed.
See you soon: Daniela 🤗
Credit to owners of all photos and videos.