Italian singer-songwriter, musician and TV presenter Filippo Neviani, professionally known as Nek, was born 53 years ago in Sassuolo, Modena, is married and has a daughter.
When he was 9 years old, Nek started playing the guitar, bass and drums, and was mostly inspired by country music singer John Denver and in later years by Sting. During the late 80s, he performed with his band ‘Winchester’ in small clubs as well as another group named ‘White Lady’.
Nek embarked on a solo career in 1991 when he participated in a music festival and finished in second place. His first album ‘Nek’ was released in 1992 and a year later, he took part in the prestigious yearly San Remo Festival and placed third with the song ‘In Te’.
‘Angeli in Ghetto’ was the song he performed in the Festival Italiano in 1994, once again arriving in second place. Nek rose to fame in 1997 with his big hit ‘Laura non c’e”, which he sang in the San Remo Festival. Although it was not the winning entry, it was very popular not only in Italy but also in several European countries and even Latin America. In fact, the song was also recorded in Spanish.
That same year, Nek had another hit, ‘Sei Grande’, which he sang at the Festivalbar and was very successful all around Europe and Latin America. This was followed by more popularity in the next 12 months when the song ‘Se io non avessi Te’ was released and like his previous hits, went extremely well in the European and Latin American charts.
In the last 2½ decades, Nek released 14 more albums and over 45 singles. Some of these were sung with other artists like Max Pezzali, Francesco Renga, Laura Pausini and Cristina D’Avena, amongst others. In fact, last year, i.e. in 2024, he took part in the San Remo Music Festival and sang the track ‘Pazzo di Te’ in duet with Francesco Renga, finishing in 18th place.
Apart from music, Nek appeared in several TV programmes like talent shows, music festivals etc. In June/July 2022, he hosted the first edition of the talent show ‘Dalla strada al Palco’ which became very successful, so much so that he hosted it in the past 2 years and in a few days he will be presenting this show’s 4th edition. Nek has also published a book and provided the music for the 1998 movie ‘Laura Non C’e`’
During his +30-year career, Nek’s records sold more than 10 million copies and he was also honoured with several awards.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: Discogs