Franco Battiato

Longtime Italian superstar Franco Battiato developed from a prog-psych singer/songwriter in the early '70s to one of the biggest pop stars in Europe, even as he pursued his recording interests in a variety of genres including but not limited to pop, electronic, and opera in which rock and classical music connect. In addition, he was a visual artist and filmmaker who worked under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani to keep his film work separate from his musical persona. Born in 1945 in the village of Ionia in Sicily and moving first to Rome, and then Milan in 1964, Battiato's initi...