Francesco Facchinetti

Francesco Facchinetti, also known under the mononym Dj Francesco or as Oz, is an Italian DJ, producer, singer, musician and TV presenter. He rose to fame as a singer during the summer of 2003, when he released his debut single, "La canzone del capitano", which became a hit in Italy. Before retiring from his music career in 2007, he released three studio albums, and he competed for three times in the Sanremo Music Festival. He is the founder of Italian EDM trio "We Are PresidentS".
In 2004, he was also a contestant of the Italian reality show L'isola dei famosi. Three years later, he became the co-presented of the show. Starting from 2008, Facchinetti presented the first four series of X Factor, the Italian version of the talent show created by Simon Cowell in the United Kingdom. When RAI decided to discontinue the show, Facchinetti presented Star Academy, which replaced X Factor. Together with his father Roby Facchinetti, he was part of a duo coach on the third series of talent show The Voice of Italy.

Francesco Facchinetti was born in Milan on 2 May 1980, to Italian singer Roby Facchinetti, better known as a member of the pop band Pooh, and Rosaria Longoni. His elder sister, Alessandra Facchinetti, is a fashion designer.

Music debut and Bella di padella

After becoming part of a punk band, Facchinetti became a presenter of the Italian satellite television channel Hit Channel 102.5, directed by the record producer and talent scout Claudio Cecchetto. The jingle for his TV programme, "La canzone del capitano", was also used during Canale 5's quiz show Passaparola. After being released as his debut single under the pseudonym DJ Francesco, "La canzone del capitano" became a hit in Italy, peaking at number three on the FIMI Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks and being certified gold.

His second single, "Salta", became another top 20 hit in Italy. In October of the same year, DJ Francesco received a nomination for Best Italian Revelation of the Year at the fourth Italian Music Awards. Facchinetti's third single, "Ti adoro", a rap version of Luciano Pavarotti's song with the same title, was released in February 2004. In March of the same year, DJ Francesco competed in the 54th Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Era bellissimo", placing 11th in a field of 22. The song was included in his first studio album, Bella di padella, also including DJ Francesco's previous singles, released in March 2004.

L'isola dei famosi and Il mondo di Francesca

In September 2004, DJ Francesco became a contestant of the reality show L'isola dei famosi. In March 2005, he competed for the second time in the Sanremo Music Festival, performing the song "Francesca" as part of the DJ Francesco Band. The song compteded in the category Groups, but it was eliminated after the second round of the competition. The song became the lead single from DJ Francesco's second studio album, Il mondo di Francesca. In the meanwhile, Facchinetti debuted as a voice actor, dubbing Rodney in the Italian version of the computer animated film Robots.

The third studio album and the debut as a TV presenter

In 2006, Facchinetti started to present his own radio programme, Non esco, c'è Francesco, broadcast by RTL 102.5. On 16 June of the same year he released his first single for Sony Music, "Non cado più", under the mononym Francesco. The single, presented during the singing competition Festivalbar, was certified gold in Italy.

In February 2007, Facchinetti competed in the 57th Sanremo Music Festival, performing the song "Vivere normale", a duet with his father Roby Facchinetti. The song placed eighth in a field of twenty, and was later included in Francesco's third studio album of the same title. The album also spawned the singles "Amante e regina" and "Superman".

On 27 June 2007, Facchinetti presented the 2nd Venive Music Awards, an award ceremony celebrating pop music. In September of the same year, he started to co-present the fifth series of L'isola dei famosi, from the Cayos Cochinos islands, in Honduras. As a result, he received the Premio Regia Televisiva, also known as Oscar TV, for TV Personality Revelation of the Year in March 2008.

X Factor, Star Academy and Rai Boh

In March 2008, Facchinetti became the presenter of the first series of the Italian talent show X Factor. Facchinetti also presented the following three series of the show. In the meanwhile, Facchinetti also presented the musc show Scalo 76, the Italian Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2008, and Il più grande (italiano di tutti i tempi). In 2011, when Rai 2 decided not to confirm X Factor replacing it with Star Academy, Facchinetti was chosen as the presenter of the new show. During the same year, he presented the music-based show Ciak si canta with Belén Rodríguez.

In 2012, Facchinetti founded a dance trio, We Are presidents. The band's first single, "Hello World", was released in November 2012. In January 2013, Facchinetti presented a new late night show, Rai Boh, which experimented with chaos-based interviews.

Braccialetti rossi soundtrack and The Voice of Italy

In 2014, Facchinetti returned to music, performing the song "Conta" for the Italian drama television series Braccialetti rossi. The song was released as a single in February of the same year. He also recorded the theme song for the second series of the same show, "L'inizio del mondo", a duet with Niccolò Agliardi, released as a single in 2015.

During the spring of 2015, Facchinetti was chosen as part of a duo coach for the third series of Italian talent show The Voice of Italy, together with his father Roby Facchinetti. Father and son won the program.

During the reality show L'isola dei famosi, Facchinetti started an on-again off-again relationship with fellow contestant and Venezuelan television personality Aída Yéspica. Their relationship lasted until July 2006. In August 2010, Facchinetti started dating Italian TV presenter Alessia Marcuzzi. On 4 September 2011, Marcuzzi gave birth to their first daughter, Mia Facchinetti. On 9 October 2012, Alessia Marcuzzi and Francesco Facchinetti announced their separation through a co-written official message posted on their Facebook and Twitter official accounts.

Studio albums

Singles