The Premier & the Singer

Summer holidays seem to have reminded the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of his old days as a singer on cruise-ships: after having reached the apices of his careers both as a businessman and as a politician, he appears to be strongly willing to show off his consistently-praised vocal talents.

His intimate friend Mario Apicella, who has become famous singing in Neapolitan after a multi-year career as a car park attendant, has in fact talked him into recording a CD of love ballads, “There’s love”, to be in the stores by Christmas. ''We haven't mentioned a single political theme in the whole CD'', the famous singer claims. “They will all be love songs linked to the Neapolitan tradition. I was also thinking about throwing some jazz in to try to make the Naples sound a bit more modern,” he adds.

He complains that Silvio should dedicate more time to developing his musical career and leave aside his duties as a politician, “The problem is that even when he’s on holiday in Sardinia he’s always working because he receives an average of 40-50 telephone calls a day”. The famous singer clearly shows his determination to put great effort towards the realization of this new project and is actually working on it in the Premier’s villa.

With Apicella at the guitar and Berlusconi at the microphone, the essential requirements for a great success are all evident. After years of occasional private concerts organized for friends and family and having sold 45.000 copies of their first album together ''Meglio Una Canzone'' (“Better a song”) produced in 2003, the two seem closer-knit than ever.