Marco Armenise, better known as Marco Armani (14 June 1961) was born into a music-loving family in Bari, southern Italy.

While still in his childhood, he won several singing contests and entered his hometown's Music Conservatory (directed by Nino Rota). In 1975 he formed his first group, a Pooh tribute band.

Fame arrived suddenly in 1982 when TV icon Pippo Baudo invited him to perform on his popular Sunday show. The following year Armani took part in the national song contest in Sanremo with "È la vita" ("That's life"), which established him as one of Italy's most talented new voices. He would also appear on the Festival's subsequent three editions, most notably in 1984 with "Solo con l'anima mia" ("Alone with my soul"), written especially for him by fellow singer/songwriters Ron and Luca Carboni.

His debut album, produced by Pooh bassist Red Canzian, was 1985's Le cose che vanno lontano (Things that go far). The follow-up Molti volti (Many faces) was issued in 1988 and, for the first time, the lyrics were provided by poet Pasquale Panella, who at the time was also working with reclusive pop genius Lucio Battisti.

Armani has since released three more albums and a best-of, made a fleeting comeback in Sanremo in 1994, and starred in the first edition of reality show Music Farm ten years later. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.