Elisa Toffoli (born 19 December 1977), known mononymously as Elisa, is an Italian singer, songwriter and record producer. She draws inspiration from many genres such as pop, alternative rock, electronica, and trip hop, recording songs both in Italian and English, which she considers her artistic primary language.
In Europe, she rose in fame for her double single "Come Speak to Me", English version of Sanremo Music Festival's winning song "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)", while she became famous in North America for "Dancing", featured in both the 2006 and 2007 seasons of So You Think You Can Dance. On 18 December 2012, her collaboration with Ennio Morricone, "Ancora qui", was featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Django Unchained soundtrack album, which was nominated at the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media in 2014.
Elisa has released eleven studio albums, five compilations, three live albums, eight video albums and 60 singles, topping the Italian Albums Chart five times and selling over 20 million records worldwide, of which 5.5 million copies certified by Musica e dischi and over 3 million units by FIMI since 2009, with a diamond album and several multiplatinum certifications. Elisa recorded songs with international artists such as Tina Turner, Muse, Imagine Dragons, and Italian artists from different music genres, including Luciano Ligabue, Negramaro, Andrea Bocelli, Cesare Cremonini, Mahmood and Rkomi. She also wrote and produced songs and albums for Francesca Michielin, Elodie, Alessandra Amoroso, Giorgia and Mina.
Throughout her career, Elisa has been recognized by the major Italian awards, including a total of seven awards at the Sanremo Music Festival with "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)" (2001) and "O forse sei tu" (2022), one Targa Tenco, two Lunezia Awards, 13 Italian, Wind & Music Awards, one award at the Festivalbar, and an MTV Europe Music Award. She also wrote and composed songs for films directed by Giovanni Veronesi, Alessandro D'Alatri, Luca Guadagnino, winning a David di Donatello and a Nastro d'Argento for Best Original Song.
Elisa Toffoli was born on 19 December 1977 in Trieste, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, north-eastern Italy. She grew up in Monfalcone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and lived in a border area, where she had the opportunity to listen to different languages and experience various cultures. Her early influences include Björk, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald, and she has credited Rudyard Kipling and Jim Morrison of The Doors as lyrical inspirations. She began writing songs at the age of 11 and later played in several local bands. At the age of 15, she appeared in a karaoke TV program, Karaoke, hosted by Rosario Fiorello.
At the age of 16, Elisa met Caterina Caselli, who signed her to the record company Sugar Music the following year. At the age of 18, she left for Berkeley, California to work on songs for her debut album with record producer Corrado Rustici, who has also worked with Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Zucchero.
Elisa's first single, "Sleeping in Your Hand", was released in late May 1997, followed by her debut album Pipes & Flowers on 22 September. She was credited as a writer or co-writer on all tracks. The album soon went quadruple platinum in Italy and won two awards: Targa Tenco and Premio Italiano Della Musica (PIM). She was also a special guest on Eros Ramazzotti's European tour. In 1998, the re-release of Pipes & Flowers included a new track, Cure Me, recorded in Venice with British producer Darren Allison (Spiritualized, Belle and Sebastian).
On 5 May 2000, Elisa released Asile's World (Asile being Elisa written backwards). The album featured songs produced by Howie B, Roberto Vernetti, Mauro Malavasi and Leo Z.
In September 2000, Elisa recorded her first song in Italian, "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)". The song was initially written in English, but the Italian lyrics were written in collaboration with singer Zucchero. The song was performed at the 2001 Sanremo Festival, supported by the Solis String Quartet, and won her the Critics' Award, Interpreter of the Year as well as the competition altogether. Both Italian and English versions were later included in a re-release of Asile's World. In November of the same year, she was awarded three prizes at the Italian Music Awards: Best Female Artist, Best Single (Luce) and Best Song, as well as winning the Best Italian Artist at the 2001 MTV Europe Music Awards in Frankfurt. She also received Premio Italiano Della Musica's Best Female Artist and Best Single (Luce).
Elisa's third album, Then Comes the Sun was released on 9 November 2001, with Corrado Rustici returning as producer. The album featured a more pop/rock genre and went triple platinum. In 2002, she performed both at the closing of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, singing a jazzy version of the Italian national hymn; and at the 2002 Pavarotti and Friends concert, singing Voglio vivere così (col sole in fronte) with the world-famous tenor.
In August 2002, Sugar Music released an international album, titled Elisa. It is a selection of songs from her first three albums with Come Speak to Me, the original English version of her hit Luce. The single received high rotation on MTV Europe as well as fair airplay and moderate attention in several European countries, but still failed to establish Elisa as an international artist.
In late 2003, Elisa released the album Lotus, an acoustic album featuring new, stripped-down versions of some of her songs, as well as a handful of new ones, including a cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". The album was followed by an extensive acoustic Italian tour and a double DVD set, consisting of an MTV Supersonic concert and The making of Lotus.
Elisa's fourth studio album Pearl Days was released on 15 October 2004. All tracks were produced by Glen Ballard, known for producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill and tracks for artists such as Anastacia, Michael Jackson, Shakira, Christina Aguilera and The Corrs. The album was more rock influenced and sported more electric guitars than her earlier records. One of the songs, Life Goes On, was later translated to Italian (Una poesia anche per te) and became the fourth best-selling single of 2005 in Italy. The single was accompanied by a self-directed video, which won the Premio Videoclip Italiano (PVI) for Best Female Artist. In the summer of 2005, Elisa appeared at the Live 8 concert in Rome alongside Zucchero, Luciano Ligabue, and other major Italian artists. Two non-album singles were released in 2005 and 2006, titled Swan and Teach Me Again (duet with Tina Turner) respectively. Both supported major Italian films, namely Melissa P. and All the Invisible Children (Segment 9: Song Song & Little Cat directed by John Woo). Elisa also performed Luce (Tramonti a nord est) at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
On 17 November 2006, Soundtrack '96-'06 was released, a collection of hits from her first ten years as a recording artist. The album also contained four new songs; three in Italian and one in English. The album peaked at number 1, was certified diamond and became the third best-selling album of 2006 in Italy, with more than 700,000 copies sold. A revised edition, titled Caterpillar, was released in September 2007, aimed at the international market. Several of the songs had been remixed, rearranged and partly rerecorded, and it featured an entirely new cover version of The Rolling Stones' song Wild Horses. The box set Soundtrack Live '96-'06 was released on 23 November 2007, containing a CD and DVD from a Milan concert during the 2007 Soundtrack Live Tour.
In the wake of Elisa's increased popularity due to her song Dancing appearing on So You Think You Can Dance, another compilation album, named Dancing, was released in the US on 15 July 2008. Being the singer's first album available in the US, it is recognised as her American debut.
Elisa released her next album, Heart, on 13 November 2009. The first single was Ti vorrei sollevare, with Giuliano Sangiorgi from Italian rock band Negramaro. The album also contains a collaboration with Antony Hegarty from Antony and the Johnsons on the song "Forgiveness". On 30 November 2010, Elisa released Ivy, an acoustic album, featuring three new tracks, acoustic versions of her past songs and covers such as "1979" by the Smashing Pumpkins. The album sold over 80,000 copies in Italy and was further supported by a tour. In the same year, Elisa collaborated with music producer and musician Gaudi for the track "Brainwashed Again", included on his album "No Prisoners".