Italian Premier Berlusconi working on CD

updated 6:32 p.m. ET Aug. 25, 2008

ROME - His days as a cruise ship crooner are long over but Silvio Berlusconi has not forgotten his love of music.

According to a new reports in Rome on Monday, the Italian premier is co-writing a CD of love songs with a Neapolitan singer. Berlusconi already co-wrote an album of Neapolitan ballads in 2003, during a previous stint as premier.

"We are working hard," the singer, Mariano Apicella, was quoted as saying in the daily newspaper La Repubblica. "I would like the CD to come out in December but it won't be easy, given the premier's many engagements."

Apicella said the CD would include 14 songs, with Berlusconi writing the lyrics, according to the reports. He said the album would be all about love and would not touch on politics.

Berlusconi did not sing on the previous album, also done with Apicella and called "Better With a Song" ("Meglio Una Canzone").

Berlusconi's office said it had no comment.

The 71-year-old premier has often said he likes to stay up at night to compose Neapolitan love songs. As a young man — before he became a media mogul and, later, a politician — Berlusconi used to sing on a cruise ship.

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