Credits: Omar Andrés León Torres (Valparaíso, Chile) — via Flickr / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 2.0 (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic).
At 82, the Italo-Belgian singer-songwriter Salvatore Adamo marks a recording comeback with a double album of 25 tracks, released on November 14, 2025. Conceived in Paris after vocal rehabilitation following aphonia that occurred in Chile in 2022. The project draws on childhood and the passage of time. The artist says he wants to continue as long as his voice holds, while considering farewells in Japan.
A Morning Ritual To Tame The Voice
Each dawn, Salvatore Adamo adjusts his breath. A few scales, a murmur, then the sustained note that reassures. The Italo-Belgian singer-songwriter (born in 1943) has never listened to his instrument—the voice—more closely. At 82, he makes a return to record with "Des nèfles et des groseilles." This project is a double album of 25 tracks released on November 14, 2025. The work matured to the rhythm of convalescence and vocal rehabilitation. This process led him to reinvent his relationship with singing, without denying the romantic drive that made him famous.
“As long as the voice is there, I’ll enjoy it.” The phrase now runs like a motto atop this seasonal record. It features childhood, memory, and the idea of time pressing on.
What The Record Tells
The project mixes new songs, half-voice confidences, and impressionistic portraits. You hear the call of childhood, nostalgia, and the quiet awareness of time passing. The song “Ma belle jeunesse” opens the way. This track is a tender dialogue with what is slipping away. It’s an address to the vitality of former days that hasn’t quite deserted him. The register remains that of a craftsman of words, attached to clear language and melodies that hold by their obviousness.
Across the tracks, Adamo allows himself restraint: memories of exile, dear silhouettes, seasons piled up. The form remains classic: clean verses, broad choruses, arrangements at human scale. The voice, softer, settles a half-step lower; it never strains, it tells.
A Trial: Six Months Without A Voice
The record is born from a serious alarm. In 2022, while performing in South America, the singer was exposed to tear gas in Chile. The next day, no sound: aphonia. This was followed by several months of silence and demanding vocal rehabilitation. From this fright, Adamo draws a lesson: put the voice back at the center and protect it.
This refocusing also fits into generally weakened health: late 2023, a pulmonary edema forced him to cancel concerts; he returned to the stage in spring 2024, cautiously, and resumed writing. The double album then appears as an artistic response to the ordeal: 25 songs strung together, like assembling a herbarium of seasons one refuses to lose.
“Easing Off,” Without Giving Up
On air and in the press, the artist repeats it: he intends to continue as long as the voice holds, without stubbornness. He expresses his fear of “making one album too many” and accepts a measure of lucidity. However, he claims the joy of work: writing and refining in the studio. He seeks the right intonation and lets experience guide phrasing.
In this dynamic, promotion is only an appendage: a few public-broadcast appearances (notably C à vous and Télématin) and listings on distributor pages—the time to record the release and remind listeners of the project’s singularity.
A Japanese Thread For Possible Farewells
Since the 1960s, Japan has shown unwavering loyalty to Adamo. The artist says he is considering a farewell tour in the Land of the Rising Sun, without ruling out continuing elsewhere. However, he clarifies that this project will depend on his voice, adding “if the voice follows.” The remark doesn’t sound like an announcement, but like a reasonable scenario under consideration. The man measures the weight of miles, fatigue, and audience demands.
The Adamo Workshop: Family, Microphones, A Studio
Adamo loves the workshop approach. Snatches are noted in a notebook or recorded on a smartphone, then trials happen at the piano. Then studio sessions let ideas take shape. The record bears this patina of craftsmanship: care for the lyrics, sobriety of arrangements, attention to breath—up to the inclusion of near voices that underline the idea of transmission.
A Popular Memory Reactivated
The singer does more than self-portrait. He reactivates a shared memory: that of dances, refrains hummed with family, long journeys. By implication, the record evokes “a world before social networks”, made of real presences, letters, and waiting. This perspective is not a complaint: it’s a proposal of attention to the present, an art of inhabiting age without denying impulse.
Reception And Horizons
First listens emphasize the overall coherence, the balance between restraint and buoyancy, the absence of emphasis. On stage, the artist says he keeps “a grain of madness,” and these new songs should coexist with the essentials. Thus, they will enrich the existing repertoire. The desire is there, he assures, but so is measure: one concert yes, then rest.
Writing At Human Scale
This release confirms a poetics without special effects. Adamo seeks neither disruption nor demonstration: he aims for the right word, the discreet image, and the rhythm that lets the line breathe. The music matches this choice: guitars, piano, woodwinds, a few strings, a drum that brushes more than it pounds. Emotion surfaces by capillarity, without imposed crescendos. One perceives an economy of gesture: every breath counts, every attack is weighed, and you sense the learning of a protected voice after the ordeal.
Where Does This Record Sit In Salvatore Adamo’s Discography?
Across a trajectory started more than six decades ago, "Des nèfles et des groseilles" reads as a bridge album. It links the young sixties singer—the one behind “La nuit,” “Tombe la neige,” and “Mes mains sur tes hanches”—to the artist of today who still composes and knows he is awaited. The themes aren’t new, but they gain in density. Indeed, family exile and audience loyalty are illustrated. They manifest in France, Belgium, and Japan. Moreover, yesterday’s letters become today’s messages. Nothing ceremonial: it’s a living record seeking the present.
TV And Radio: The Voice Returned
The release week sees Adamo reconnect with public-broadcast platforms (C à vous, Télématin) and radio. The tone remains sober: he speaks of work, caution, gratitude. Far from heavy-handed storytelling, he favors facts: the incident in Chile, the rehabilitation, the desire to sing as long as the breath responds. The story is clarified, without pathos, carried by a few straightforward phrases: “easing off,” “not making one album too many.”
Chronological Markers (2023–2025)
- October 18, 2023: concert cancellations for health reasons (pulmonary edema).
- May 2024: gradual return to the stage.
- Autumn 2025: promotion and announcements around the double album.
- November 14, 2025: official release of "Des nèfles et des groseilles" (25 tracks).
- End of 2025: the artist mentions the possibility of farewells in Japan, under consideration.
Health Notes: Understanding Aphonia
- Aphonia: total loss of voice, most often temporary, which can follow an acute irritation of the airways (gases, smoke, infections) or vocal overuse.
- Rehabilitation: managed by a speech therapist; work on breathing, voice placement, progressive recovery of timbre and endurance.
- Caution: graded return to singing, hydration, stress management, and rest.
The Album In Numbers
- Title: “Des nèfles et des groseilles.”
- Release: November 14, 2025.
- Format: double album.
- Number of tracks: 25.
- Opening track: “Ma belle jeunesse” (lyric video official).
Career Landmarks
- Early successes: 1960s (from “Sans toi ma mie” to “Inch’Allah”).
- Multilingual repertoire: Italian, French, Spanish, German, Japanese…
- Loyal audiences: France, Belgium, Japan, Latin America.
A Return, A Legacy
Adamo’s longevity comes from a simple recipe: singing true stories well, without straining, letting the voice—recovered—take center stage. “Des nèfles et des groseilles” is a record of memory more than nostalgia: a living inventory where one embraces what was in order to better inhabit what’s to come. Nothing like a hasty testament: rather the age of fidelity—to oneself, to others, to the songs that accompany.