Paolo Meneguzzi

Paolo Meneguzzi (born 6 December 1976, as Pablo Meneguzzo) is a Swiss Italian singer. He is the son of Loredana Pacchiani and Gomez Meneguzzo. In 1996, while the name Paolo Meneguzzi was still unknown in Italy, Paolo won the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, held in Chile with the song "Aria, Ariò". The success of the song prompted the release of his debut album "Por Amor" on 27 March 1997. Paolo continued to build his career with the release of another album, self-titled, which contained the anticipated single, "Si enamorarse".

Paolo Meneguzzi's Italian debut occurred with his participation in the Young Artists section at the Sanremo Music Festival in 2001. His song "Ed io non ci sto più" earned him seventh place.

That same year, the album Un sogno nelle mani was released.

He released a new single in 2002, "In nome dell'amore". In 2003, he released the single "Verofalso", and the album Lei è, released in October that year, went gold (with 50,000 copies sold), and then double platinum (200,000 copies sold).

In 2004, he released the single "Guardami negli occhi (prego)", which reached fourth place with 127,346 votes at Sanremo, and the new edition of "Lei è" was released, containing an additional song, Baciami, and the remixes of Lei è and Verofalso, in addition to the song from Sanremo.

In June 2004, the Lei è tour from Bellinzona (CH) began, his first tour, that travelled throughout Italy and Switzerland and was more successful among young people than among small children.

In 2005, he once again participated in the Festival di Sanremo with the song Non capiva che l'amavo. In the same week, the album Favola is released and after two weeks as a single, went platinum, selling over 200,000 copies.

After having spent the summer of 2005 between Italy and Switzerland with the Favola tour, Paolo dedicated himself to the creation of a new album. After two years of silence, he announced his participation in the Festival di Sanremo and of the release (on 9 March) of the album Musica.

He participated in the Festival di Sanremo 2007, with the song Musica, placing sixth, having gained much success and above all, the approval of Pippo Baudo, who defined him as "The Exemplar of the Festival di Sanremo".

Musica was released on 9 March 2007, Paolo's fourth Italian album, following the release of the namesake single that remains the most sold in Italy.

On 21 April he began the Musica Tour, still in Switzerland, but this time departing from Biasca. On 2 November, the fan club gathering with the artist took place in the studios of Radio Italia in Cologno Monzese.

On 26 November 2007, it was announced that Paolo would be representing his home country Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, competing with the pop ballad "Era stupendo". He took part in the second semi-final of the contest on Thursday 22 May 2008, competing against 18 other countries, all competing for one of 10 spots in the final on Saturday 24. However, he failed to qualify to the final.

Paolo participated in the Sanremo Music Festival 2008, performing the song "Grande" and placing sixth. The song was included in his fifth album, titled Corro via. Released on 14 March 2008, it also features the single "Era stupendo".

Paolo Meneguzzi is the founder of "Progettoamore" (Love Project). Progettoamore is a charity founded in 2009, to support and help children and adolescents.