Gino Paoli (; born 23 September 1934 in

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain ...

) is an Italian singer-songwriter. He is a seminal figure who has written a number of songs widely regarded as classics in Italian popular music, including: " Il cielo in una stanza", "Che cosa c'è", " Senza fine", "Quattro amici al bar" and " Sapore di sale".

Biography

Paoli was born in

, a little town near

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

, but moved to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

at a young age. After several different jobs, he was signed to

Ricordi Ricordi may refer to: People *Giovanni Ricordi (1785–1853), Italian violinist and publishing company founder * Giulio Ricordi (1840–1912), Italian publisher and musician Music *Casa Ricordi, an Italian music publishing company established i ...

with friends and fellow musicians Luigi Tenco and

Bruno Lauzi Bruno Lauzi (; 8 August 1937 – 24 October 2006) was an Italian singer-songwriter, poet and writer. Biography Bruno Lauzi was born in Asmara, then part of the Italian Eastern Africa, to a Catholic father, Francesco Lauzi and a Jewish mot ...

. His first success was the single "La Gatta", which has been used in Italian language teaching classes in American middle schools and high schools. "Il cielo in una stanza" was composed in 1959. According to Paoli, the lyrics came to him while lying on a brothel bed. Gazing at the purple ceiling, he thought, "Love can grow at any moment at any place". Mina's single release of the song topped the list of annual sales in Italy and reached Billboard Hot 100. Video performances of the song were included in the movies "Io bacio... tu baci" and "Appuntamento a Ischia". Later it was featured in the "

Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' W ...

" movie.

Carla Bruni Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

Sarkozy covered the song (mixing French with her native Italian) in her debut album ("Quelqu'un m'a dit"). Gino Paoli's debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

– ''Gino Paoli'' was released in Italy on 8 October 1961 on Dischi Ricordi. "Il cielo in una stanza" success was followed by " Sapore di sale" (1963), arranged by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

and believed to be his most famous song. In the same year he attempted suicide by shooting himself to the heart (the bullet is still inside his chest). In 1974 he returned with the LP ''I semafori rossi non-sono Dio'', followed by ''Il mio mestiere'' (1977). Both showed a more mature inspiration than his 1960s works. In the 1980s Paoli produced a series of successful albums, and in 1985 he toured Italy together with Ornella Vanoni. In 1987 he was elected to the

Italian Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies ( it, Camera dei deputati) is the lower house of the bicameral Italian Parliament (the other being the Senate of the Republic). The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform identical func ...

for the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

. He abandoned politics in 1992 to pursue his music ambitions. He had a long relationship with actress

Stefania Sandrelli Stefania Sandrelli (born 5 June 1946) is an Italian actress, famous for her many roles in the ''commedia all'Italiana'', starting from the 1960s. She was 14 years old when she starred in '' Divorce Italian Style'' as Angela, the cousin and love i ...

. Their daughter,

Amanda Sandrelli Amanda Sandrelli (born 31 October 1964) is an Italian actress. Born in Lausanne, she is the daughter of Italian singer Gino Paoli and actress Stefania Sandrelli. She debuted in '' L'Attenzione'', from director Giovanni Soldati, in 1984. Fil ...

, is also an actress. During an interview in February 2015, when the journalist cited a famous phrase of an Italian minister saying that taxes are a good thing, Gino Paoli insulted him. At the time Paoli was under investigation for tax evasion, accused of having brought 2 million € of untaxed income to a Swiss bank. The singer was acquitted in 2016 due to prescription of the crime.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Gino Paoli'' (1961) * ''Le cose dell'amore'' (1962) * ''Basta chiudere gli occhi'' (1964) * ''Gino Paoli allo Studio A'' (1965) * ''Le canzoni per "Emmeti"'' (1966) * ''Gino Paoli and The Casuals'' (1967) * ''Le due facce dell'amore'' (1971) * ''Rileggendo vecchie lettere d'amore'' (1971) * ''Amare per vivere'' (1972) * ''I semafori rossi non-sono Dio'' (1974) * ''Ciao, salutime un po' Zena'' (1975) * ''Le canzoni di Gino Paoli' (1976, collection) * ''Il mio mestiere'' (1977) * ''La ragazza senza nome'' (1978) * ''Il gioco della vita'' (1979) * ''Ha tutte le carte in regola'' (1980) *''Averti addosso'' (1984) *''La luna e il Sig. Hyde'' (1984) *''Insieme'' (1985) *''Cosa farò da grande'' (1986) *''Sempre'' (1988) *''L'ufficio delle cose perdute'' (1988) *''Gino Paoli '89 dal vivo'' (1990, live) *''Matto come un gatto'' (1991) *''Senza contorno solo... per un'ora'' (1992) *''King Kong'' (1994) *''Amori dispari'' (1995) *''Appropriazione indebita'' (1996) *''Pomodori'' (1998) *''Per una storia'' (2000) *''Se'' (2002) *''Una lunga storia'' (2004) *''Ti ricordi? No non-mi ricordo'' (2004) *''Gino Paoli & Arsen Dedic u Lisinskom'' (2005)

Singles

*1959 – ''La tua mano/Chiudi'' (

Dischi Ricordi Dischi Ricordi is an Italian record company founded on by and Guido Crepax, active from 1958 to 1994. History Dischi Ricordi had its seat in Milan (Via Giovanni Berchet, 2). In 1994, the company was bought by BMG, who acquired the catalog ...

, SRL 10.047) *1959 – ''Dormi/Non occupatemi il telefono'' (

, SRL 10.048) *1959 – ''La notte/Per te'' (

, SRL 10.074) *1959 – ''Dediceato a te/Senza parole'' (

, SRL 10.075) *1960 – ''La gatta/Io vivo nella luna'' (

, SRL 10.114) *1960 – ''Co-eds/Maschere'' (

, SRL 10.115) *1960 – ''Il cielo in una stanza/Però ti voglio bene'' (

, SRL 10.116) *1960 – ''Grazie/Volevo averti per me'' (

, SRL 10.130) *1960 – ''Sassi/Maschere'' (

, SRL 10.161) *1961 – ''Un uomo vivo/In un caffè'' (

, SRL 10.177) *1961 – ''Un vecchio bambino/Tu prima o poi'' (

, SRL 10.209) *1961 – ''Gli innamorati sono sempre soli/Senza fine'' (

, SRL 10.197) *1961 – ''Un delitto perfetto d'amore/Me in tutto il mondo'' (

, SRL 10.208) *1962 – ''Le cose dell'amore/Due poveri amanti'' (

, SRL 10.256) *1962 – ''Devi sapere/Non andare via'' (

, SRL 10.260) *1962 – ''Una di quelle/Anche se'' (

, SRL 10.291) *1963 – ''Le cose dell'amore / Domani'' (

RCA Italiana RCA Italiana was an Italian record company founded in 1949 and active until 1987, the date on which, together with the parent company RCA Records, it was bought by BMG Entertainment. History Founded in Rome in 1949 under the Vatican's protec ...

, PM45 3181) *1963 – ''Sapore di sale / La nostra casa'' (

, PM45-3204) *1963 – ''Che cosa c'è / Sarà così'' (

, PM45-3234) *1964 – ''Ieri ho incontrato mia madre / Ricordati'' (

, PM45-3244) *1964 – ''Vivere ancora / Ricordati'' (

, PM45-3274) *1964 – ''Lei sta con te / Vivere ancora'' (

, PM45-3284) *1965 – ''Sarà lo stesso / Prima di vederti'' (

, PM45-3304) *1965 – ''Rimpiangerai rimpiangerai / Il poeta'' (

, PM45-3310) *1966 – ''Un uomo che vale/Sempre'' ( CGD, N 9603) *1966 – ''La carta vincente/La vita è un valzer'' ( CGD, N 9607) *1966 – ''A che cosa serve amare/Due ombre lunghe'' ( CGD, N 9611) *1967 – ''Il mondo in tasca/Io che sarei'' ( CGD, N 9655) *1968 – ''Se Dio ti da/Dormi'' ( Durium, CN A 9271) *1968 – I giorni senza te/La vita è come un ring (Durium, CN A 9286) *1969 – ''Come si fa/Monique'' ( Durium, CN A 9305) *1969 – '' Albergo a ore''/''Il tuo viso di sole'' ( Durium, CN A 9314) *1970 – ''Un po' di pena/Accadde così'' ( Durium, CN A 9324) *1971 – ''Con chi fai l'amore Mimì/Mamma mia'' ( Durium, Ld A 7735) *1972 – ''Non si vive in silenzio/Amare per vivere'' ( Durium, Ld A 7754) *1973 – ''Un amore di seconda mano/Amare inutilmente ( Durium, Ld A 7808) *1975 – ''La ragazza senza nome/È facile amarti'' ( Durium, Ld A 7882) *1977 – ''Parole d'amore/Madama malinconia'' ( Durium, Ld A 7981) *1980 – ''Tu no/Livorno'' (

, PB 6533) *1984 – ''Una lunga storia d'amore/I cinque sensi'' ( Five Record, FM 13065) *1985 – ''Ti lascio una canzone/Coppi'' ( Five Record, FM 13102) *1986 – ''Da lontano/Tema di Anna'' ( Five Record, FM 13145) *1991 – ''La Bella e la bestia'' ( Wea)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paoli, Gino 1934 births Living people People from Monfalcone Italian composers Italian male composers Italian male singer-songwriters Italian singer-songwriters Italian lyricists Italian Communist Party politicians 20th-century Italian politicians