Giovanni "Tata" Giacobetti (24 June 1922 – 2 December 1988) was an Italian singer and jazz musician. He is mostly known for being a member of the vocal quartet Quartetto Cetra.

Biography

Giacobetti was a self-taught musician. He learned to play bass and piano. He started singing at students' parties when he studied

scenography Scenography (inclusive of scenic design, lighting design, sound design, costume design) is a practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography is the combination of technological and material ...

Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma The Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma is a public tertiary academy of art in Rome, Italy. It was founded in the sixteenth century, but the present institution dates from the time of the unification of Italy and the capture of Rome by the Kingdom ...

. In 1940–41 he co-founded a vocal quartet called

Quartetto Egie Quartetto Cetra (; ) was an Italian jazz vocal quartet established during the early 1940s and active until 1988. Career The band was based on the Mills Brothers and started performing under the name Quartetto Egie from the initials of the singers ...

, that changed line-up and name twice, becoming Quartetto Ritmo first and then Quartetto Cetra.Matteo Ceschi (2009)
Singing What We Were to Know What We Are:The Quartetto Cetra and National History in Italian TV Entertainment
Archivio Savona-Mannucci As part of Quartetto Cetra, Giacobetti's

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

career lasted for over forty years. He was singer and actor for

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

, TV,

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

and

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

. Besides singing, he was the group's main

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

, often writing together with

Virgilio Savona Antonio Virgilio Savona (21 December 1919 – 27 August 2009) was an Italian composer, arranger, and singer in the Italian vocal group, the Quartetto Cetra.Mario Luzzatto Fegiz, Corriere della Sera (29 August 2009)Addio a Virgilio Savona, ideo ...

, who composed the music. Their collaboration resulted in hundreds of songs which went to form Quartetto Cetra's vast repertoire. Tata Giacobetti also wrote lyrics for other Italian musicians, including Gorni Kramer,

Giovanni D'Anzi Giovanni D'Anzi (1 January 1906 – 15 April 1974) was an Italian songwriter. Biography D'Anzi was born in Milan. In 1935 he wrote music and lyrics of " O mia bela Madonina" ("My beautiful little Madonna"), a song dedicated to his hometow ...

, and

Armando Trovajoli Armando Trovajoli (also Trovaioli, 2 September 1917 – 28 February 2013) was an Italian film composer and pianist with over 300 credits as composer and/or conductor, many of them jazz scores for exploitation films of the Commedia all'italiana ...

. In 1964 Giacobetti married

Valeria Fabrizi Valeria Fabrizi (born 20 October 1936) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. Life and career Born in Verona, in 1936 Fabrizi made her acting debut in the revue ''Campione senza valore''. The same year, she had her first lead ...

, an Italian actress, singer and television personality. They had a daughter Giorgia Giacobetti. Giacobetti passed away in December 1998, a few months after Quartetto Cetra's final performance in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

References

External links

Tata Giacobetti (1922–1988)
IMDb {{DEFAULTSORT:Giacobetti, Tata 1922 births 1988 deaths Singers from Rome Italian songwriters Italian lyricists Male songwriters 20th-century Italian male singers Italian jazz musicians Male jazz musicians Quartetto Egie members Quartetto Ritmo members Quartetto Cetra members Italian bass guitarists