Biography
Alice (pronounced [ali:tʃɛ]) a.k.a. Alice Visconti, born Carla Bissi in Forlì, Italy on September 26, 1954 is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist, active since 1971. Alice had her breakthrough after winning the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa" in 1981, followed by European hit singles like "Una Notte Speciale", "Messaggio", "Chanson Egocentrique", "Prospettiva Nevski" and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli Rubati - Alice Canta Battiato, Park Hotel, Elisir and Il Sole Nella Pioggia charting in both Continental Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. In 1984 she represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with "I Treni Di Tozeur", a duet with longtime collaborator Franco Battiato. In her more recent career Alice has explored a diverse range of musical genres including classical, contemporary jazz, electronica and ambient and has collaborated with a large number of renowned English and American musicians. Her latest album Viaggio In Italia was released in 2003.
Franco Battiato (born March 23, 1945) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter.
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He is considered one of the most original personalities in Italian music from the 1970s to now. Together with Alice, Franco Battiato represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the melody "I treni di Tozeur". Battiato's songs are dreamy, controversial collages of images and sensations, very experimental and convoluted, rich of esoteric, philosophical and East Asian religious themes.
His collaborations (from 1994 onward) with the nihilistic-cynical philosopher Manlio Sgalambro have added further depth to his apparently nonsensical lyrics, with references to Emil Cioran, Friedrich Nietzsche and other anarchistic and problematic thinkers.
Eurovision Song Contest 1984 - Luxembourg
Entry for Italy
Performer: Alice and Battiato
Song title: I Treni Di Tozeur
Song writer(s): Rosario Consentino
Song composer(s): Franco Battiato
Sang in Position: 18
Final Position: 5
Total Points: 70
After having held the contest last in 1973, Luxembourg played the host for the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest. The total number of participants was 19, one country less than in the preceding year as Greece decided not to enter a song.
The contest also clashed with Israel's Rememberance Day, so the country wasn't present in Luxembourg either. Ireland returned to the contest though, finishing second. The Irish song was written by former and future Eurovision winner, Johnny Logan, under his real name Sean Sherrard. The song Terminal 3 was performed by Linda Martin, who was going to win the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992 with another Johnny Logan song, Why Me?.
Sweden unexpectedly won the contest with the song Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley performed by the group consisting of three brother called Herrey's. The Swedish brothers convinced the European juries with a spectacular choreography of their song and also because of wearing golden boots on stage. The song became a hit in lots of European territories, but is still rediculed today in English-speaking countries due to its title. The Italian entry I Treni Di Tozeur by Alice and Franco Battiato also became a smash hit in Europe despite the fact that it only came fifth.
The host country, Luxembourg, had problems finding a suitable venue. In the end, RTL decided to hold the contest in the tiny Théâtre Municipal and as a consequence, only VIPs, press and members of each country's delegation were allowed in. The presenter of the show, Desirée Nosbusch, was only 19 years old when she presented the contest, but she is nowadays seen as one of the best hosts ever in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.