Violetta (singer)

Violetta Zironi (born April 5, 1995) is an Italian country singer-songwriter. In 2013, she took part in season 7 of the Italian version of The X Factor with her ukulele which soon became her signature instrument. She reached the final and finished third.

To date, she has released two singles and an EP titled Dimmi Che Non Passa containing her debut single "Dimmi che non passa",^[2] which was praised as a fresh country-style song, being the first song of this genre entirely produced by Italians.

Biography

From early years to ukulele

She was first introduced to music at age 3, when she joined a local children's choir, soon she started taking piano lessons and she also learned how to play acoustic guitar during her youth.

Violetta started performing live in her early teens, singing and playing guitar, often accompanied by her father Giuseppe on harmonica and by Oscar Abelli on drums, basically playing on the road and in local popular festivals and small clubs. In 2012 she met one of the most important ukulele players in Italy, Luca "Jontom" Tomassini, who introduced Violetta to this instrument. They performed together at "YOUkulele Festival" in Rome in summer 2012 and Jontom wanted Violetta as a guest on his EP Likelike Highway, performing vocals on three tracks: the country classic "Jackson" and two more songs written by Jontom himself: "Ghost" and "Wherever I Go". The EP was released by the independent label "Insomnia Records" in 2012.

2013-2014: The X Factor and the first EP

In 2013 Violetta showed up at the auditions for season 7 of the Italian version of The X Factor with her ukulele which soon became her signature instrument, and after impressing the judges with a fresh version of "Shortnin' Bread" she was chosen to take part in the show, where she eventually took third place. She was included in the "Under 25 girls" team mentored by international pop star Mika who outlined for her a path among different music styles in order to extend Violetta’s vocal skills, ranging from country and folk to pop and rock.

In fact during the live shows she performed songs such as ”Let Her Go” by Passenger, "Le tasche piene di sassi" by Italian pop star Jovanotti, "Friday I'm in Love" by The Cure, "One Day / Reckoning Song" by Asaf Avidan, "Royals" by Lorde, "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton, "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver (in the Birdy version) and, last but not least, the all-time classic "One" by U2 in the semi-final. Following her success in the show, Violetta has signed with Sony Music, and on 20 February 2014 "Insomnia Records" has re-released for digital download Jontom’s 2012 EP featuring Violetta.

In 2014 Violetta was chosen to sing the songs performed by Dorothy Gale in the Italian version of "Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return",^[3] distributed in Italy with the title "Il magico mondo di Oz". The track "Quando il mondo è a testa in giù", "When The World (Turns Upside-Down)" in the original version by Lea Michele, has been released for digital download on 17 June 2014.

On 21 June 2014 Sony Music released Violetta's second single called "Il primo giorno d'estate" ^[4] which actually means "The first day of Summer", a song written by Luca Mattioni and Mario Cianchi, and produced by Alessandro Magnanini, one of Italian pop star Cesare Cremonini's main coworkers. The music video for the song was released on 4 July 2014. Soon after, her version of Bring Me Sunshine was used for the TV commercial of a popular Italian brand of cookies: Pavesini.

In Summer 2014, soon after the release of her second single, Violetta started touring with a country and bluegrass band performing both her pop hits and some classic American Roots and Celtic folk standards. The most remarkable performance of this tour was the one at the Rockabilly festival "Summer Jamboree" in Senigallia (Italy) on 2 August 2014, when she opened Ben E. King's show and then was invited by the R&B master to join him for his legendary hit "Stand By Me".^[5]

On 25 November 2014 her version of "Winter Wonderland" was included in the compilation "X Factor Christmas 2014" released by Sony Music and featuring classic Christmas songs performed by all contestants of Italian season 8 of X Factor along with the best talents from previous seasons.^[6] In December 2014 she kicked off the "Acoustic Session" tour, together with former fellow X Factor contestant Fabio Santini, performing classic American Roots hits on acoustic guitar and ukulele.

2015-2016: Written In Scars Tour and the first album

In 2015 Violetta's song "Eppure mi va" was included in a shortlist of 60 tracks set to compete in the newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival but didn't make it among the eight to be performed live on stage during the Festival. In April Violetta guest-starred in the Italian leg of Jack Savoretti's "Written In Scars Tour", being the opening act of almost all the shows and also joining the Italian English singer on stage to perform duets together. Violetta spent the end of 2015 and the first months of 2016 writing and recording her own songs in Berlin, London, Milan and her hometown Reggio Emilia, she also performed live in such cities and also in Paris once again together with Jack Savoretti. She once again took part in the selections for the newcomers section of the 2016 Sanremo Music Festival and again her song "Piccola ferita" was included in the shortlist but didn't make it to the stage. At the moment she is touring Italy and Europe and screening songs for her first album soon to be announced. On 27 May 2016 she announced on her Facebook page the release of her third single "Semplice" which became available for streaming and digital download on 3 June 2016. The track is written and performed together with Italian singer-songwriter Zibba.^[7]

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Guest appearances

Other appearances in compilation albums

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Violetta Zironi Official Facebook Page
• Violetta Zironi Official Twitter Account
• Official Twitter account for Viomania - Violetta Zironi Official Fan Club