Giusto Pio (11 January 1926 – 12 February 2017) was an Italian conductor, composer, violinist, music educator and songwriter. Born at

Castelfranco Veneto Castelfranco Veneto ( vec, Casteło) is a town and ''comune'' of Veneto, northern Italy, in the province of Treviso, by rail from the town of Treviso. It is approximately inland from Venice. History The town originates from a castle built here ...

, he studied music in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

. Later he was engaged as violinist in the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terr ...

orchestra of Milan. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he became popular as a long-standing collaborator of singer-songwriter

Franco Battiato Francesco "Franco" Battiato (; 23 March 1945 – 18 May 2021) was an Italian musician, singer, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes, a ...

, by whom he was initially hired as violin teacher. Apart from working as a producer and musician on several successful albums with Battiato (including ''

L'era del cinghiale bianco ''L'era del cinghiale bianco'' (Italian: "The Era of the White Boar") is an album by Italian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato. It was released in 1979 by the label EMI ''Italiana''. This album marks the return of Battiato to pop, after a peri ...

'' and ''

La voce del padrone La voce del padrone was the Italian label for the His Master's Voice recording house. The house belonged to The Gramophone Company Ltd., of Hayes (Middlesex, United Kingdom) which owned several labels in Italy, like Columbia, Marconiphone, Angel ...

''), Pio also collaborated with him as a producer for several singers such as

Milva Maria Ilva Biolcati, (; 17 July 1939 – 23 April 2021), known as Milva (), was an Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality. She was also known as ''La Rossa'' (Italian for "The Redhead"), due to the characteristic co ...

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

and Giuni Russo. In 1984 Pio, Battiato and lyricist Rosario "Saro" Cosentino penned the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

entry "

I treni di Tozeur "I treni di Tozeur" ("The trains of Tozeur") is an Italian song, written by Franco Battiato, and Giusto Pio. It was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed in Italian (with some lyrics in German) by Alice and Battiato. In a stu ...

", performed by Battiato and Alice, which finished 5th in the contest and became a considerable commercial success in Continental Europe and Scandinavia. Pio also released two instrumental LPs (also in collaboration with Battiato) under his own name, entitled '' Legione straniera'' (1982) and ''Restoration'' (1983).

Discography

*'' Motore immobile'' (1978) *'' Legione straniera'' (1982) *''Restoration'' (1983) *''Note'' (1987) *''Alla corte di Nefertiti'' (1988) *''Attraverso i cieli'' (1990) *''Utopie'' (1990) *''Missa populi'' (1995) *''Le vie dell'oro'' (2000)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pio, Giusto 1926 births 2017 deaths People from Castelfranco Veneto Italian male composers Italian male songwriters Italian songwriters Male songwriters Italian violinists Male violinists Eurovision Song Contest conductors