2001 – Another Summer Night

2006 – I Do

A few days prior to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan we had the pleasure of speaking with Fabrizio Faniello, the representative of Malta in the2001 and 2006 edition of the contest about his career post Eurovision, the importance of the contest in Malta, his participations in the Maltese national finals over the years and his thoughts on this year’s competition.

Fabrizio, good morning ! How are you ? You have just returned from a very successful tour of Indonesia . Could you elaborate on this ?

Yeah, it was amazing! Have been there 5 weeks in a row and did all TV Programs they have there and numerous of interviews and other promotion activities and some performances, - its great over there and people really appreciate my music a lot!

What were the highlights of this visit ?

The highlights of going to Indonesia is always to meet the people there and enjoy their special way of life. Great food & super nice polite people, …. If I would get a euro for every photo I did with someone over there, I would get millionaire J)

Could you tell us about your career since 2006 when you represented Malta in Athens ?

Well, ups and downs like usual, especially after Athens I needed some time to realize what happened! But luckily that was as well the start of my “Asian career” as my management realized that for a moment of time we needed to get our heads free of Athens, so we went to Shanghai / China at the end of 2006 where I won the Award of Best Male Performer and directly after that we had our first trip to Jakarta/Indonesia, where “I’m in love (the whistle Hit)” was huge. We did MTV and all good TV and Radio promotion and the Indonesian adventure already started in this year with the same company Nagaswara Music. After this we recorded “Love me or leave me” did a video and released the HITS & CLIPS as a result of my first 5 years so far …. 

Then starting in 2009 I was getting keen again to do some new music, was sitting down with my management, musicians, writers and other crazy people and we started again to write and record new songs. 

The first big single was I NO CAN DO which immediately entered the EUROVISION ON TOP 20 Charts and has been the record breaking No. 1 record over there, we went on going to record the new Album “NO SURRENDER” and now I am back on track and I am very happy to have really a good bunch of great and loyal fans and followers ….

How have your two participations in the actual contest and your national final experiences helped you ?

Well, it gave me lots of experience and showed me how professional you have to be to “survive” in this music bizz …..

What is it about the Eurovision Song Contest that makes it so special to the Maltese people ?

Malta is a very small island, we do not have a proper music scene over there, so Eurovision is for all Maltese Singers a step to one of the biggest stages of the world, which the Eurovision Song Contest still is, … I don’t know if I would have had several chart hits in different countries without this Eurovision start …..

You represented your country with the songs ‘Another Summer Night’ and ‘I Do’. Can you give a brief outline of these songs mean to you and do you have a favourite ?

Sure “Another Summer Night” was an outstanding moment for me, so maybe that’s my favourite from this two, …..

Of the 7 songs that didn’t quite make it to the actual Eurovision stage,  is there one that you felt particularly strongly about when it didn’t win ?

I think, my last both participations have been with extremely good songs, - with “No Surrender” I came back and this song and lyrics is really reflecting my life!

As well my last song “I will fight for you (Papa´s Song)” is really about me, and it is doing quite successful by now being in some Radio charts in Europe, right now at #2 in the Radio Contact charts in Belgium, So I really would have loved to present these songs at Eurovision, but happily I am in a position to release my music as well in all countries without the need of Eurovision, so I am quite ok with it, ….. music is my main motivation, not the success of the songs on first place ….:-)

In recent years Malta has unfortunately not had the same success in the contest that it enjoyed in previous years. What in your opinion is the reason for this ? What is the direction for Malta to take to improve the results ?

Sure it must always be a perfect package of the right song & right artist, seems Europe did not enjoyed too much the past Maltese entries, so we have to analyse  what we will do in the upcoming years to get better placing in future, …. We are thinking about this ! ….. J

2012 and in a few days Kurt Calleja will fly the flag for your islands. What would your words of advice be for Kurt on the eve of his Eurovision adventure ?

I don’t need to give him advices, sure he knows what’s important, he has a great song and I hope he will be in the finals!

Mention must also be made of your talented sister Claudia. What did you think about her second place in Malta Eurovision 2012 with the song ‘Pure’ ?

I honestly think, she would have been a great representative this year for Malta , I could imagine her standing on this huge stage and performing Pure, she was fantastic and incredible in Malta , she would have been sure in the finals and would have given us a great place in Baku , everybody is convinced about this!

Have you had the opportunity to listen to this year’s entries and if so, do you have any favourites ?

Well, I did not had the chance to hear a lot, I am watching Eurovision of course and most of the songs I will hear  then  for the first time, so I really can not point out a favourite now ….

Perhaps one day in the future we can enjoy a super duet with you and Claudia to try ensure the first victory for Malta ? A question of uniting forces …

Haha, yeah , ……. Good idea ….:-) several times we got this question, so it seems we really have to think about it once, …… let’s see, I have never spoke to Claudia about it and she never mentioned it to me ….. but indeed there are many who are asking this …….:-)

Can you tell us about your plans for the future ? What are your next musical projects ?

Well, I am touring around a bit to promote I WILL FIGHT FOR YOU and play some gigs in Germany, Belgium, Estonia, - definitely I need to get back to Indonesia soon as they are organising right now a tour through the whole country for me with between 10 to 15 concerts, ….. and of course I am always in the studio to work on new songs, …. So watch out and be prepared for more …..

Do you have a message for the readers of this interview ?

I want to thank everybody who read until this point as it means it’s a real fan of mine!! (Right ? …..:-)) )

And I am wishing the readers all the best and just want to suggest my motto of these days > NO SURRENDER – Never give up living your dreams !!

Hugs & xxx

Fabrizio

Fabrizio, many thanks and every success with your further career …