Italian Greatest Hits

Italian pop culture icon Gianni Morandi worked his way up from the bottom of the entertainment industry. Born in 1944, as a child Morandi sold soda and candies at the local movie theater in his native town of Monghidoro to make ends meet. He made his performance debut at age 12, singing in the public square on New Year's Day, 1956. His noticeable musical talent caused his parents to move him from traditional schooling to a school in Bologna, where he studied song and performance with master vocalist Alda Scaglioni. He made his official debut in 1958 in Alfonsine, Ravenna; three years later Morandi formed a band, and was soon referred to as the Italian Paul Anka. In 1962, Morandi won a small talent competition where he met and impressed boxing and entertainment promoter Paul Lionetti, who arranged an audience with RCA executives. That same year, the world was introduced to Morandi via his premier 45, "Andavo a Cento All'ora." Morandi's popularity blossomed in 1969 with his win at the Canzonissima Festival. Although he experienced a slight decline in popularity during the 1970s, the next decade was a great era for Morandi, punctuated with his winning performance at the prestigious Sanremo Festival in 1987. Over the course of his career, it is estimated that Morandi has sold more than 30 million records.

Although it's missing a few important (not to mention big) hits, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 is an excellent retrospective of the first half of Billy Joel's career. Beginning with "Piano Man," the first disc runs through a number of early songs before arriving at the hit-making days of the late '70s; some of these songs, including "Captain Jack" and "New York State of Mind," weren't strictly hits, but were popular numbers within his stage show and became radio hits. Once the songs from The Stranger arrive halfway through the first disc, there's no stopping the hits (although "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant," an album track from The Stranger, manages its way onto the collection). In fact, over the next disc and a half, there's so many hits, it's inevitable that some are left off – to be specific, "Honesty," "Sometimes a Fantasy," "An Innocent Man," "Leave a Tender Moment," and "Keeping the Faith" aren't included.

Adriano Celentano is an Italian singer, composer, producer, comedian, actor, film director and TV host. He is dubbed as the Molleggiato because of his dancing. Throughout his career Celentano has sold over 150 million albums, also abroad, making him one of the Italian musical artists with the most sales. Very often also the author of the music and songs (sometimes co-author of music and lyrics, even though, according to his wife Claudia Mori accredited to others), due to his career and his great successes, not only in Italy but also in the rest of the world, he is considered one of the pillars of Italian music. His character has meant that Celentano has built a persona who became a symbol and an icon for many Italians after World War II.