Gianni Morandi

BIOGRAPHY Gianni Morandi

Gianni Morandi was born on 11 December 1944 in Monghidoro, a town in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, to a cobbler father (Renato) and an ironer mother (Clara). At just seven years old, Gianni was sent to work to contribute to the family budget, polishing and repairing shoes and selling sweets in the only cinema in the town. After finishing primary school, his education is taken care of by his father who organizes his day in a rigid and demanding way, combining study with various jobs, including administering the section of the communist party, of which his father is responsible for press distribution. and propaganda.

Music is no stranger to the Morandi family, who never misses an opportunity to gather in the homes of farmer friends, where they entertain themselves by singing the songs of Luciano Tajoli and Claudio Villa. In the small town rumors spread quickly and little Gianni's singing skills attract the attention of Ubaldo Fabbri, owner of the cinema where he works. From that moment on, every meeting place becomes an opportunity for Gianni to sing and the town barber, Lino Lanzoni, accompanies him to the Club Claudio Villa in Bologna for an audition, which however does not give the desired results. The attempt, however, came to fruition in 1958, when Gianni, having passed an audition, became part of the Scaglioni orchestra as a permanent member.

Three years of shows led the young artist to perform on numerous stages in the north, but in 1960 the change in his voice forced him to interrupt his career which had just begun and to return to his native town to sell newspapers and work as a cobbler. A year later, the impresario Bruno Taschini proposed that he go to Novellara in Reggio Emilia to form an orchestra that bears his name: "Gianni Morandi and his ensemble". Gianni leaves and signs contracts for a series of shows. The moment of the audition with the multinational RCA arrives and for the first time Morandi sees Rome and a recording studio.

It is Franco Migliacci who takes care of Gianni, adapting for him a piece that came from France and written by an emigrant, Tony Dori, the title is "I was going at one hundred per hour", recorded on 16 April 1962. On September 16th of the same year the moment of his television debut arrived, the program that hosted Gianni's first appearance was "Alta Pressure", other shows would follow, until Morricone offered him an opportunity with a new 45 rpm single, GO KART TWIST. "Have your mother send you to get milk" and "I'm happy" (the first song written by Gianni) are his first big successes, and at nineteen he releases his first LP. In 1964, Gianni won the Cantagiro and began shooting his first film "In kneeling by you", after finishing his first forty-day tour in Japan. On the set of the film he met the woman who would become his wife and mother of his two children, Laura Efrikian, daughter of an orchestra conductor, with whom he also shared the set of his second film, "I'm Not Worthy of You". In '66 he won the Cantagiro with "Notte di ferragosto", while "There was a boy who loved the Beatles and the Rolling Stones like me" was censored by TV and did not achieve the hoped-for success.

On 7 February 1967, Morandi left for military service, taking his leave on 25 April 1968. Success still awaits him with "Scende la rainfall", with which Canzonissima wins overwhelmingly. The new decade opens with a new film, "Chestnuts are good" by Pietro Germi and with yet another victory at Canzonissima with "Ma chi se ne care". The 70s were years of protests, aimed at everything that Morandi represents, that is, the old values overcome by new trends and new American myths. These were dark years for Gianni, who also agreed to participate in Sanremo, a competition he had previously refused and in which he obtained a fourth place with "Vado alavoro". In 1972, the news of his father's death from a heart attack (he was 49 years old) put him to the test, in an already professionally difficult moment.

Marco was born on 12 February 1974, but Morandi's career now seems to be at its end, at just thirty years old. In '76 he tasted success again with "Sei forte papa", the theme song for "Rete Tre", a TV program in which Gianni plays the role of dancer and comedian, as well as naturally as a singer. The album climbs the charts, reaching first place, selling around a million copies. But Gianni has now made the decision to abandon the stage and dedicate himself to his family, taking the opportunity to study some music, hypothesizing a future as an orchestra conductor.

After a period of crisis on a sentimental and private level, Morandi met Mogol in 1980 who brought back his enthusiasm and the desire to start singing again. "Canzoni stonate" is the song that opens a new successful period in his career. Critics noticed him in '83, with his third participation in Sanremo, where he won the respect of experts with "La mia nemica amatissima". The top places in the charts await him in the same year with "Thank you because", sung together with Ami Stewart. In 1984 he published the album IMMAGINE ITALIANA and obtained satisfaction from the television drama "Voglia di vola" and the following year from the drama "Voglia di canto". Gianni, however, dreams of a discographic comeback and in the same year he releases a new album, UNO SU MILLE, from which the famous song of the same name is taken. In 1986, Morandi won the Tenco Prize as best performer.

The following year he won the Sanremo Festival with "Si can give more", sung together with Tozzi and Ruggeri; unfortunately the victory coincides with the news of Claudio Villa's death, which hits Gianni to the heart of his memories. On 4 July '88, Morandi went on tour together with his friend Lucio Dalla, a journey from which a live album was born that sold a million copies. The artistic collaboration with Dalla is still alive in '90, when Lucio decides to produce and write Morandi's new album VARIETA', which will bring together audiences and critics thanks to pieces such as the song of the same name and "Bella Signora. Nasce nel ' 92 - following the desire to also engage in production - MORANDI MORANDI, followed by a new tour of over two hundred dates, all sold out. In '95 he goes to Sanremo again, with a song written by Pasquale Panella entitled "In Amore": Gianni sings in a duet with Barbara Cola, placing himself in second place.The album MORANDI is released, in which the singer from Monghidoro leaves room for young authors and among the musicians we find his son Marco.

After the birth of Pietro, her third child in August '97, a new album was released, CELESTE AZZURRO E BLU, an album which for the first time was not followed by a tour. Between '97 and '98, Gianni published a collection, 30 TIMES MORANDI, with three unreleased songs, the songs that make up the anthology are all rearranged and reinterpreted. In '99 a new television bet awaits him, "There was a boy", hosted with his son Marco. In 2000 Morandi was still in Sanremo, where he performed a song by Eros Ramazzotti, "Innamorato", which placed third. And it is Ramazzotti himself who produces Gianni's new album, COME FA BENE L'AMORE, followed this time by a tour that ends with an excellent result. In 2002, Gianni brings together very famous authors and emerging young people to create a new album entitled L'AMORE CI CANGIA LA VITA, which is the soundtrack to the new RaiUno Saturday evening program linked to the lottery and hosted by him, "Uno our".

In 2006 the musician returned to television with a traveling musical program in six episodes, entitled "Let's not panic", which was followed - in October of the same year - IL TEMPO MIGLIORE; in November, however, "Diary of an Italian boy" was published, in which Morandi tells his story intertwined with the Italian one of the last sixty years.

On 19 October 2007 it was the turn of a collection entitled THANK YOU ALL which contains fifty of the most significant songs of his career, with an unreleased song, "Stringimi le mani", composed by the singer-songwriter Pacifico. This was followed in 2008 by AGAIN THANKS TO ALL and in 2009 SONGS NOT TO BE MISSED, the most recent album by "l'eterno massimo". In October 2010, after rumors and denials, it was announced that Morandi was the host of the 2011 Sanremo Festival, supported in the artistic direction by Gianmarco Mazzi, former curator of the editions presented by Paolo Bonolis and Antonella Clerici. After also hosting the 2012 edition, Morandi returns to his first love: in 2013 he releases BISOGNA VIVERE, preceded by the single "Only together we will be happy". In October of the same year he was the protagonist of two evenings on Canale 5 entitled Gianni Morandi – Live in Arena, at the Verona Arena.

While his Facebook page becomes more and more popular, Morandi announces the release of the AUTOSCATTO 7.0 collection, whose songs are chosen through a survey on the social network.
In 2015 he was the protagonist with Claudio Baglioni of the Capitani Coraggiosi project, a series of 10 concerts held at the Centrale del Foro Italico in Rome by the two singers in September 2015, which gave rise to a tour of the most important sports halls in Italy and a CD/ live DVDs.

In 2017 he published d'amore d'autore, his 40th album of unreleased songs, in which he chooses to interpret songs that have love as their underlying theme. The album is released on the Sony Music label with the executive production of F&P Group and Riservarossa. d'amore d'autore is a unique project, also released in 33 rpm format, which bears the signature of great authors of Italian music, Elisa, Ivano Fossati, Levante, Luciano Ligabue, Ermal Meta, Tommaso Paradiso, Giuliano Sangiorgi, Paolo Simoni and which contains Onda suonda, the song by Paolo Conte in which he duets with Fiorella Mannoia. The album is preceded by We must make light, a song written for Gianni by Luciano Ligabue, and then accompanied by the single Una vita che ti dream, written by Tommaso Paradiso of Thegiornalisti. Gianni Morandi's new musical project is also live in the most important Italian sports halls with the Gianni Morandi Tour 2018 "of author's love".

In 2017 he created the feat of "Volare" with Fabio Rovazzi, with which he entered the history of YouTube for having reached 126 million views with the video clip in which Anna also appears. For the third year in a row, in May 2019, Gianni Morandi was together with his crew on the island of Carloforte in Sardinia to shoot the third season of L'Isola di Pietro, the drama directed by Alexis Sweet and Luca Brignone which will be released air this autumn on Canale 5.

On 16 July 2019 he was the guest of the stage in Marina di Cerveteri of Jovanotti's Jova Beach Party, the tour that toured the Italian beaches far and wide. Together on stage they went wild singing "Let your mother send you". 

From 1 November 2019 he is in Bologna with a "permanent" stage for 16 events at the Teatro Duse, where the show "Stasera gioco in casa - A life of songs" takes shape, a project that tells Gianni Morandi through Gianni Morandi and the musical repertoire which continues to be passed down from generation to generation in Italy and around the world. In the spring of 2020, Morandi was one of the performers of Ma il cielo è semper blu (Italian Stars 4 Life), a record single marketed with the aim of raising funds to combat SARS-CoV-2. The following June 9th in Assisi he conducted Con il cuore - Nel nome di Francesco, together with Carlo Conti. On New Year's Eve he hosts, together with Amadeus and again on Rai 1, L'anno che come.

Also in 2020, his 1964 "In kneeling by you" is the soundtrack to the film "Parasite", by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, winner of the 2020 Oscar award. On June 11, 2021, a new single entitled L'allegria will be released, written for him by Jovanotti. The song marks his return to the scene after a bad accident. On 4 December 2021, his participation in the 72nd edition of the Sanremo Festival was made official, scheduled for February 2022.

On February 4, 2022, he performed at the Sanemo Festival together with Lorenzo Jovanotti in an extraordinary medley of hits that led him to victory in the cover evening of the 72nd edition of the Festival. On 5 February 2022 he ranked third at the 72nd Sanremo Festival with the song Apri tutti le porte and also received the Lucio Dalla Press Room Award.

On 3 March 2022 he received the "Golden Nettuno" award from the Municipality of Bologna for having honored the Emilian city with his professional and public activity.
On 15 July Morandi released the single La Ola, the enthralling bachata with a "Latin-Romagna" flavour, once again the result of the artistic collaboration with Jovanotti, author of the lyrics. The song was presented live for the first time on the stage of the Jova Beach Party, where Morandi was a guest several times during the summer, performing iconic performances and new duets.

2023 also promises to be full of events for Morandi: he will be host, alongside Amadeus, of the 73rd edition of the Sanremo Festival and from March he will return to the stages of the main Italian sports palaces with the "Go Gianni Go" Tour, produced by Trident Music.

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