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Werther De Luca Costa (born April 6, 1975) is an iconic Belindian singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer and music video director. Since his breakthrough in 1998, he has established himself as one of the most influential and popular Belindian-born singers of a half century. Costa has recorded songs in Italian, his mother language, as well as Spanish, French, Portuguese and English.

Costa is usually noted for his experimental music — which ranges between several genres, instruments and vocal styles —, thoughtful and complex compositions, irreverence, and mostly for his innovative and uncommon music videos, often banned from MTV and other television music vehicles. Throughout his career, he has won eight "Accademia di Critici" Premio di anno awards (the Belindian equivalent of the Grammys) and astonishing twenty Premio AMB awards (based on sales and radio airplay). His record sales are estimated in around 60 million copies worldwide. He is openly bisexual since his adolescence.

Biography

1975—1997: Early life

Werther De Luca Costa was born in Maivres City, Federal District, Belindia on April 6, 1975. He is the first child born to attorney Raul Costa and junior high school Mathematics teacher Paola De Luca. His brother Magno (born 1979) died on October 2, 1999, as a victim of leukemia.

Costa lived a healthy childhood in the suburbs of Maivres City. His father gave him an acoustic guitar for his tenth birthday, which he taught himself to play. He began composing songs at the age of fifteen, while unveiling his own sexuality by having his first sexual experiences and falling in love. At this age, Costa also learned to play the piano.

He attended Scuola Pablo Ricci from kindergarden until graduating from high school in 1992. Then, he joined the high-rated Scuola Di Arti Ed Il Divertimento Di Maivres, obtaining a degree as a musician in 1996. While in college, he learned to speak English and Spanish fluently. After graduation, he moved to the apartment of one of his paternal cousins, worked low-paying jobs, and performed acoustic music and jazz at local bars.

In late 1997, Costa recorded a demo tape — containing a few of his own songs — and sent it to various record labels. An executive from Columbia Records was impressed, and eventually watched him at an underground bar. After the performance, the executive spoke to him and they made adjustments to sign a record deal.

1997—1999: Columbia Records

Costa signed Columbia Records on December 1, 1997. The recording sessions of his debut album were soon kicked off; the repertoire was composed of songs written solely by Costa. However, he was kept out of the production labor, what he expressed deep dissatisfaction about. Buona Notte was released in July 1998, and saw major success nationwide, thanks to substantial promotion and three popular singles. The album topped the ABM (Associazione di Musica Belindiana, Belindian Music Association) album chart and sold 1.6 million copies. Buona Notte was praised by critics; Oggi Magazine called it "a refreshing record[...], a mixture of pop, rock and jazz, filled with sugar sophisticated and intimate lyrics". The album was later released in selected areas of the world, including Latin America, Spain and United States. It sold 4 million copies worldwide.

Costa co-directed all the three music videos out of the album. The most notable one must be "Goccia", in which he is featured naked in a bathtub filled with cold water and ice. His music videos were significantly important for the success of the album. Costa finished 1998 with a small concert tour. In January 1999, he chose to break his contract with Columbia Records. The label sued him for breach of contract. The proccess was widely accompained by the media, what brought Costa even more public exposure. In March 1999, he founded his own record label Cherise Records under EMI and started to work on his sophomore album.

1999—2000: La Vita Dietro La Montagna and international success

After months of reclusion at studios in Maivres City, Costa finished his second studio album (officially on August 16, 1999). His management group made a press conference on August 22 to talk about the effort. They described it as a "carefree multicultural production, which full production and guidance by Werther Costa". It was named La Vita Dietro La Montagna and released in September 1999, after heavy promotion by EMI. The album debuted at number one on AMB album chart with first week sales of 256,412 copies. It had influences of many music genres, most notably indie rock, bossa nova, olodum, soul and classical music.

Costa turned down all the promotion schedules in late September, in order to spend time with his younger brother Magno, who was in the terminal state of leukemia. Magno died in early October, at 20 years old. Costa wrote a song for his brother's funeral, simply called "Magno". The song would be included in a special edition of La Vita Dietro La Montagna, released in December 1999. The song was never released as a single, but helped to boost sales of the album. La Vita Dietro La Montagna sold 5.4 million in Belindia, and nearly 11 million copies worldwide — making itself the best-selling Italian-language album of all time.

EMI realized that Costa already was a global superstar and suggested him to re-record his two albums in Spanish. Buenas Noches and La Vida Detrás De La Montaña were both released in April 2000 to worldwide success. The Brazilian issues of the albums featured a bonus disc with four songs in Portuguese each one, and so did the French issues, that featured a bonus disc with four songs in French each one. Impressively, both albums topped the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums.

Costa generated much controversy for the music video for the trance-influenced song "Istintivo". It featured both male and female homosexual kisses, unblurred nudity and real usage of ecstasy and cocaine. The video was initially restricted to the 0:00-6:00 broadcasting period on MTV Belindia, but it aired only seven times before being censored.

In September 2000, Costa embarked on his first major worldwide tour, Estadium 1 Tour. The tour made 26 stops in 18 Belindian cities, as well as three in France, two in Mexico, two in Brazil and one at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, which attracted a crowd of 20,000 people and was sold out in less than one hour. The concert tour was one of the highest-grossing tours worldwide of the year.

2000—2002: Soldati and North American crossover

In December 2000, Costa flew to India and visited many cities. This experience was said to be "meant to conscientize myself that we're all different, but inside we're all the same and one". On January 1, 2001, he reportedly donated $2 million USD for the United Nations. While in India, Costa started writing songs for a new album.

In early 2001, Costa went to New York City to record his third album at The Hit Factory, a recording studio known for having been used by artists such as Madonna, John Lennon and Michael Jackson. Werther Costa was the first Italian-speaking artist to record there. He also went to French and Portuguese classes in this period, as his previous recordings in these languages were sung phonetically.

Soldati was completed on June 15, 2001. Costa said that the choice of the title was based on "the strong, yet vulnerable image of a soldier; if one dies, there are others to keep fighting". It was released in August 2001. The album debuted at number one on AMB album chart, with first week sales of 396,824 copies. It included elements from Middle Eastern and Indian music blended with the regular pop/rock tunes. Soldati also showed Costa's first foray into hip hop. It sold 3.8 million copies in Belindia to date; even though it sold considerably less than its predecessor, Soldati was still a huge hit nationally. Worldwide sales figure around 7 million units.

Costa received widespread attention one more time for his music video for the song "Occhio Accecato". It was shot in several places around the world — especially in Third World and Fourth World nations — and showed many shocking scenes such as children holding firearms, child prostitution and illegal drug trade; at the end of the video, children from Mozambique depose (in Portuguese) about their lives and show situations of extreme poverty. The music video premiered on MTV Belindia on September 4, 2001 and was played once an hour in that day. However, it was censored in the following day to never be played again.

The Spanish version of the album, Soldado, was released in November 2001 and was very successful in Spanish-speaking countries. Special edition Portuguese and French renditions for some songs were also recorded.

Due to the relative success of Werther Costa in the United States, especially among people of Latin heritage, EMI agreed to record his first English album. The recording proccess began in January and finished on April 28, 2002. Costa, who was already fluent in English, flew to the United States in May to promote the album. Memories In My Stereo was released in the United States in June 2002. It was composed of English versions of some previous hits and six brand new songs. The album debuted under the top twenty on the Billboard 200, but quickly fell off the chart, and was eventually certified Gold by RIAA. Memories In My Stereo was moderately successful, having sold 650,000 copies in the United States to date. Even though not a massive success, it made Costa popular in the country. The album was also successful in Belindia, where it sold 1.2 million copies — a respectable amount for an English-language album. It sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

Perhaps Memories In My Stereo is Costa's most homogeneous album. Some old fans criticize the album for being "too commercial", lacking experimental tracks or "sounding too pop/rock". Costa justified himself, declaring "I intended to make a fresh, lite record, so that it becomes accessible for anyone in any country or culture". The album also featured Spanish and Italian versions for the lead single "I Do" as bonus tracks.

In September 2002, Costa kicked off his second major worldwide tour, War Memories Tour. The shows were mostly composed of songs from Soldati/Soldado and Memories For Sale. The tour featured 48 performances in several nations including Belindia, Mexico, Spain, United States, Brazil, Portugal, United Kingdom, France and Canada. It was another high-grossing tour for Costa.

2003—2005: World trip and Isola Gialla

In January 2003, Costa announced that he would take a break to travel the world. He visited several cities around the world, among which are Salvador, Machu Picchu, Acapulco, New York City, Montreal, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, and Sydney. Costa stated "exploring the world, learning about other cultures and exchanging knowlege are things I always wished to do". In most cities, Costa was photographed at gay bars, often reacting aggressively against papparazi. His worldwide 33-city trip ended in May, when he flew back to Maivres City to spent time with his parents and childhood friends.

In July 2003, Costa ended his break and reportedly started the recording sessions of a new album. Unlike Soldati, which was recorded in the United States, the recording of the fourth Italian-language album happened in his home studio. Costa announced that he would take longer to record this effort than his last albums, "[...]because when you do things slowly, you have more time to improve a song you didn't like so much, to write more reflexive songs, to make the final cut better". The album was finished on August 2, 2004.

Isola Gialla was released in September 2004. It gave Costa his third consecutive number-one debut at AMB album chart and sold 212,834 copies in its first week out. The album was a jump back to his post-college days, featuring mostly acoustic guitar-driven pop songs, and also jazzy piano numbers and hard rock tunes. Many fans consider Isola Gialla as Costa's most intimate and deep album. Even though acclaimed among fans and critics, it sold only 2.2 million copies — low numbers if comparing to his previous releases. It is important to know that Isola Gialla was still among the ten best-selling albums of 2004 in Belindia. It sold 4 million units worldwide. The album was re-issued in Spanish in December 2004. La Isla Amarilla was a global success and sold 2 million copies worldwide.

In early 2005, Costa filmed the music video for "Fuga". The video tells the stories of five different people — an adolescent girl whose lover was shot, an overworked business man, a struggling paraplegic woman, a young gay victim of prejudice, and a drug addicted man. All the five characters are unsatisfied with their own lives, what leads them to different ways of suicide. The video never aired on MTV due to its potential suicide-encouraging aspect.

To help the promotion of the album, Costa kicked off his third global tour, titled Yellow Fantasies Tour, in April 2005. The tour made 71 stops around the world and was his longest, highest-grossing and most attended tour to date. It ended in November 2005.

2005—2006: Retrospettiva and career hiatus

In December 2005, less than one month after the end of his Yellow Fantasies Tour, Costa released his first hits compilation, titled Retrospettiva. The 2-CD album features his biggest hits in Italian and Spanish, excluding other languages. Even receiving little-to-no promotion from EMI, the album debuted at number two on the AMB album chart with first-week sales of 183,120 copies. Despite not topping the chart, the compilation had an extensive longevity among the best-sellers and sold 1.3 million copies to date.

After much speculation, Costa announced that he was dating Belindian film actress Claudia Marchesi, whom he met earlier in that year, on March 7, 2006. The relationship was heavily publicized in newspapers and magazines worldwide. The singer also reported that he would take a break from music industry, stating "I have not actually taken a break in eight years. If I was not in studio, I was touring. If not touring, I was on a trip. It can be really exhaustive". The couple bought a $4 million USD mansion in a small town near Maivres City in April 2006.

2006—present: Present activities

As of October 2006, Costa and his management crew were in talks with a still-secret film studio corporation to make his acting debut. Costa has also said that he plans to release his sophomore English language album in late 2007, and his fifth Italian language album sometime in 2008.

In an interview in November 2006, he stated he would like to perform with British pop singer Robbie Williams and American singer Christina Aguilera one day.

Status, controversies and personal life

The August 2006 issue of Rolling Stone Belindia (to which Costa gave an interview) stated "Today, Werther Costa means to Belindia what Shakira means to Colombia or what The Spice Girls once meant to the United Kingdom — a major cultural product for exporting. The nation needs him. His popularity in his home country, extended to Latin America, France, Spain and Italy, has reached a level similar to the Backstreet Boys in the United States in mid-to-late 1990s". Having sold 18 million albums in Belindia, Costa ranks as the ninth best-selling male artist in Belindian music history based solely on album sales.

Costa's rebel behavior has always attracted substantial media attention. His intimate and sexual songs, as well as his unusual music videos and live performances, are usually a topic for discussion among worldwide music fans.

It started in mid-1998, when the press announced that Costa was bisexual. He was quickly invited to the high-rated talk show Tardi di Notte in CTB. When being interviewed about his sexual orientation, he said "I don't need to explain a thing about it to anyone. I presented my first boyfriend to my parents when I was 16, and they supported me. My sexuality is indeed a subject I write a lot about, but I won't talk about who I date or even if I'm dating someone, because the media often distorts your words to make it more interesting or bombastic and sell more. I express my feelings through my songs, but I do it in a subjective tone".

At the 1999 Belindia MTV Video Music Awards held on August 22, Costa performed in a nightclub-like stage, moved suggestively with both male and female dancers, and ended the performance lifting his middle finger up. These acts shocked many and were considered offensive; the singer defended himself saying "This is art. I release my deepest wishes, fantasies and memories on stage. If you don't like it, just change the channel. I'm not performing for a child audience, anyway".

In 2002, Forbes ranked Costa the seventh most influential celebrity in the world. The same magazine estimated Costa's net worth in $110 million USD in 2005.

Werther Costa was sued in 2003 by a papparazo who claimed to have been physically aggressed by the singer. Costa was sentenced guilty and paid $300,000 USD for the photographer. Later in the year, he gave an interview to Oggi Magazine, in which he said that the papparazo "did deserve some punches", and also declared that he has sexual fantasies with Ricky Martin and Britney Spears.

In the October 2004 issue of Donna Magazine, Costa made a controversial photoshoot in which he is displayed in bed, wearing nothing but white Calvin Klein Collection underpants. Some pictures were taken under the shower, making the underpants utterly see-through.

Since 1999, Costa is ranked each year on Vestito Rosa Magazine's "100 Uomini Più Belli". He topped the list in 2001 and 2005.

Costa always declared that he consumes alcoholic beverage excessively at parties. However, he is against tobacco smoking, cannabis, coca or any other psychoactive drug.

Tours

1998 — Untitled
2000 — Estadium 1 Tour
2002 — War Memories Tour
2005 — Yellow Fantasies Tour

Awards

As one of the most proeminent recording artists of Belindian music history and also an internationally popular icon, Costa has accumulated uncountable awards since his career kicked off in 1998. In view of this, minor awards and nominations are excluded from the list below.

Coming soon.

Discography

See Werther Costa discography.