Italian rock band formed in Arezzo (Tuscany) in 1991, Negrita takes its name from the Rolling Stones song "Hey Negrita", on the 1976 album Black and Blues. Initially made up of Paolo Bruni (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Enrico Salvi and Cesare Petricith (guitars), Franco Li Causi (bass) and Roberto Zamagni (drums), the quintet recorded several demos before finding a record company, in this case the Mercury-affiliated Black Out label (Universal), to record a first homonymous album released in 1994. Invited by Luciano Ligabue on one of his songs, Negrita became known to the Italian public through its videos and its stage presence, with a first tour of 140 concerts. In 1997, the third album XXX, recorded in Daniel Lanois' studio in Louisiana and preceded by the single "In un mare di noia", went platinum, while the tour that followed, which began in clubs, ended in stadiums. After composing the soundtrack to the film Cosi è la vita for the trio of directors Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo, the band recorded the album Reset (1999) in their brand-new studio, followed by Radio Zombie (2001), the compilation Ehi! Negrita (2003) and an appearance at the Sanremo Festival, where the unreleased song "Tonight " ranked 18th. A South American tour followed in 2004, before a return to Spain and the production of L'uomo sogna di volare (2005), with new drummer Cristiano Dalla Pellegrina. In 2008, the album HELLdorado reached number 5 in the Italian charts, while "Gioia infinita" was certified a platinum single. Negrita maintains her popularity with the albums Donnato vivere (2011), 9 (2016), Desert Yacht Club (2018) and MTV Unplugged (2021), released during the Covid-19 pandemic. Back on stage in 2023, the band, featuring Guglielmo Ridolfo Gagliano on keyboards (since 2013) and Giacomo Rossetti on bass (since 2014), returned to the studio to work on the album Canzoni per anni spietati (2025).
