The Ambassador of La Dolce Vita

It’s usual to wonder how people describe you. For Patrizio Buanne, he has the honour of being known as the Ambassador for La Dolce Vita (the good life) – which is a pretty fantastic description.

Dancing With The Stars fans will have seen Patrizio perform in this week’s show from his new album Viva la Dolce Vita. He describes himself as a crooner, but hopes one days that his musical style will be more aptly described as simply vocal. He is also passionate about singing Italian songs – some of which have been bigger hits in English. “Many people don’t realise that some very popular songs were actually written in Italian.”

“Life is beautiful,” he say, “and rich is he who needs less. I love singing, it is what I was born to do.

“Happiness is a lifestyle,” he says. “Like everybody, I sometimes wake up and don’t feel good, but I don’t allow bad energy to flow and affect my mood for a ling time.”

Patrizio started singing at the tender age of four. “Children sing because they are spontaneously happy and they feel like it,” he says. “I also grew to love the effect that singing had one people – that it made them happy too.”

As a teenager, he had a go at singing everything, but soon found a genre that best suited his voice. His voice extremely expressive and listening to the album, even if you are not an Italian speaker, you are able to understand the songs because of the feelings they evoke.

He has also had the honor of singing for the Pope in Poland in front of 85,000 people – which lead to his first recording contract.

He grew up listening to and appreciating amazing vocalists like Tom Jones, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. “Sometimes there is a stereotype for Italians who sing – people think we only romantic and sing opera,” he says. “But as Frank Sinatra says, 'You can only be yourself, so you may as well be good at it.' I am honoured to get many emails from fans with compliments, and the best I can hope for is that they think I am a great performer.”

Patrizio has been to New Zealand twice before and his albums have reached gold here. While this visit to sing was a flying one, he will be back in November for a tour (keep checking GrownUps.co.nz for details). he is an enthusiastic traveller and loves New Zealand, but thinks it is too far away. “The breakfasts are the most amazing in New Zealand,” he says. “I can’t wait to spend more time here in November and see more of the beach and the outdoors.”

Follow Patrizio on Facebook and Instagram@patriziobuanneofficial

GrownUps.co.nz has copies of Patrizio Buanne’s new album Viva la Dolce Vita to give away. Make sure you are a registered member to be in to win!