She was the first Italian artist to perform at the Rome Olympic Stadium, the only Italian to take part in the celebrations commemorating the death of Bob Marley in Ethiopia, she performed as a headliner at a concert in Central Park, she founded her own label, she has drawn inspiration from Giovanni Verga and mythology, she was the first woman in the history of the Club Tenco Awards (Italy’s most important Prize for songwriting) to win the Tenco Best Album of the Year Prize, which she has won twice, she is also the only person who has won twice the Amnesty International Italia prize too, she was named Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and Ambassador for Telefono Rosa (women’s aid helpline): Carmen Consoli’s career is an award-studded collection of ‘firsts’.
A unique talent for singing, song-writing, composing and interpretation and an ever-evolving sound enhanced by her ability to perform in a bold, gutsy and passionate manner, make Carmen Consoli an artist who defies categories.
Born in Catania, Sicily, Italy, Carmen embarked on her musical journey at 14, performing as a singer and guitarist with a rock-blues cover band called Moon Dog’s Party and soon after she recorded her first album “Due parole” (A few words): a fascinating collection of pop-rock songs with an electric/acoustic feel. Her career surged quickly and successfully in 1997; her new album “Confusa e Felice” (Confused and Happy) was an immediate success sold over 120,000 and ignited a sold-out tour. The following year, 1998, Carmen’s third album was released, “Mediamente isterica” (Averagely Hysterical): a concentration of energy with cutting lyrics and a powerful sound full of purist melodies.
The mood and sound of her beginnings were powerful and rock, but she has never rested on her laurels and has always looked for something new, never doing what the public expects from her. Consequently, in 2000 with the album “Stato di necessità” (State of Necessity), she slightly switched to a more Mediterranean sound and South American atmospheres. She launched the album with the single In bianco e nero (In Black and White), which became the most played track on the radio that spring, while the summer was dominated by the bossanova rhythm of Parole di Burro (Buttery Words). The moving L’ultimo bacio (The last Kiss) song became the theme of the eponymously titled film by Gabriele Muccino; the film was a great success in Italy and was distributed all over Europe and Usa, where it was critically acclaimed (in 2006 Tony Goldwin made an American remake of it). As a result, the album bounced back to the top of the charts and sold more than 200,000 copies and it was released in France with a French version of two songs and a cover of a Serge Gainsbourg song produced by Henri Salvador: it was Carmen’s first international release.
Carmen’s 2002 sophisticated album “L’eccezione” (The Exception) had a special international edition including English versions of several songs and other previously unreleased tracks. The album was followed by an extensive tour in Europe: from then on she always did at least one international tour for every album released. In 2003 came the very first performance at Rome’s Olympic Stadium and became a producer in her own right and also launched her own, personally run label Narciso.
In March 2004 she became the first Italian artist to perform at “South By South West Festival” in Austin, Texas. A few months later, in May 2004, she was one of the artists invited to take part in “We Are the Future”, a humanitarian initiative organized by Quincy Jones, held in Rome and broadcasted worldwide. On 6 February 2005 she was the only Italian artist to perform at the celebrations commemorating Bob Marley in Ethiopia, organized by Rita Marley. On that occasion Carmen sang a duet with Angelique Kidjo, while in April she returned to the US for another series of concerts which consolidated her acclaim by overseas audiences. In 2005 she collaborated with Goran Bregovic co-penning the title track to the Roberto Faenza film “I giorni dell’abbandono”.
“Eva contro Eva” (2006) was released simultaneously all over Europe. In this album Carmen combines lyrics steeped in tradition and history with stories of women poised between the ancient and the modern; each song is a small story that hails back to Verga and the neorealism of the provincial South. The album contains collaborations with Angelique Kidjo in Madre Terra and Goran Bregovic in Il Pendio Dell’Abbandono and led to tours of Italy, Europe, USA and Canada, including three sold out New York concerts. In one of that gigs Elvis Costello was among the audience and praised her to NYT’s journalist Jon Pareles: “She has more original ideas in a handful of songs than some very famous English or American bands in a full concert”. For the Italian tour Consoli had a band composed of 12 musicians, performing with Sicilian traditional instruments, and an actress performing a monologue specially written by the European well known dramatist Emma Dante.
In 2008 she experimented a new form of songwriting, penning her first original soundtrack for the film “L’uomo che ama” (The Man who loves), by Maria Sole Tognazzi starring Monica Bellucci and Pier Francesco Favino; Carmen decided to give the main role in the soundtrack to the viola, a contralto instrument just like her voice.
In 2009 came “Elettra” (Electra), where Carmen, inspired by the heroic deeds of the mythological character explores the multifaceted nature of women, blending rock with electric sounds and with South American and Balkan rhythms. Mio zio (My Uncle), a song about domestic abuse, was awarded the 2010 Amnesty International Italy prize and Carmen was also named Ambassador for Telefono Rosa (women’s aid helpline). The album won the Tenco Best Album of the Year Prize (she was the first woman to receive this and the AI’s award).
In January 2015 Carmen Consoli released “L'abitudine di tornare” (Coming Back is a Habit), a pop-rock album on topical issues: migrants, violence against women, stalking. The last track is Questa piccola magia (This little magic), about the happiness of becoming a mother (she had a baby in July 2013). That year David Byrne chose her as Italian representative at the Meltdown Festival in London. In 2016 she was the first woman to arrange and conduct the ‘Notte della Taranta’ concert (the Taranta Night), an international event celebrating traditional music in Apulia, Italy.
Carmen’s 2018 live album “Eco di sirene” (Mermaids’ echos) is a compilation of some of the singer's most successful songs, again orchestrated and arranged with acoustic guitar, violin and cello. With the same band she toured all over the world, including USA, Cuba and Chile.
Playing live is the expressive dimension that suits her best and makes her most passionate, so to mark her career’s 25th anniversary she orchestrated and directed a big event at the Verona Arena, performing duets with the greatest Italian songwriters.
In the autumn 2021 Carmen Consoli released her new album “Volevo fare la rockstar” (“I wanted to be a rockstar”), which captured dreams, memories and aspirations. The album is focused on the necessity of safeguarding and cultivating one’s own dreams: they build up our identity and are seeds which become desires and desires may become projects. Musically, the writing of the album showcased varied musical styles, different suggestions; the harmonies are complex and refined, the music is full of echoes from the Sixties, from Motown and Surf, with quotes from the Bolero of the 1930s, from the orchestras of the 1950s full of woodwinds and Caribbean sounds, and with the mood of an American folk singer.
Many international artists have appreciated her music, from Robert Plant with whom she shared the stage at the Lucca Summer Festival 2022, to Peter Gabriel who wanted her at the Womad Festival in 2023, to Elvis Costello with whom she shared a memorable, amazing tour in August 2023.
Carmen also promoted the culture and tradition of her own country, by founding the first Traditional Sicilian Orchestra and organizing the extraordinary event “Terra ca nun senti” at the Ancient Greek Theatre of Syracuse in July 2023. With the Orchestra Carmen revisited her own songs and traditional songs, some of which are featured on the eponymous album released on 7 February 2025. The concert also included readings on prominent personalities of Italian social and cultural history born in Sicily too; these included a dramatic one on Rosa Balistreri and a very touching portrayal of Peppino Impastato given respectively by Donatella Finocchiaro and his brother Giovanni Impastato.
On 3rd October 2025, the album “Amuri Luci” will be released; it’s the first step of a more complex project on “Carmen’s three souls” which will be composed by three albums. Amuri Luci is a work on collective identity and consciousness, between history, myths, and legends. In Sicilian, but also in ancient Greek and Latin.