Gian Luigi "Gianni" Morandi (; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. It is estimated that Morandi has sold about 50 million recordings.

Early life

Born in Monghidoro, Emilia-Romagna, the son of a cobbler, Morandi interrupted his studies after primary school to work and support the poor economic conditions of his family. While working in a cinema as a candy vendor he began performing as a singer between films. At 14 years old he entered the Scaglioni Orchestra, with whom he made his first tour in north Italy.

Career

1960s

Gianni Morandi e Laura Efrikian in una scena del film n ginocchio da te

After winning a music festival for newcomers in Bellaria – Igea Marina, in 1962 Morandi made an audition for

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 ...

, and while his performance left dubious a large part of the commission he was put under contract for the insistence of Franco Migliacci, who became its producer and main author for the first part of his career. The same year Morandi made his record debut with "Andavo a 100 all'ora" and his television debut in the RAI show ''Alta pressione'', where he launched his first hit " Fatti mandare dalla mamma a prendere il latte" and which gave him and Rita Pavone an early popularity as teen idols. In 1964, he got his first number one hit with " In ginocchio da te", which won the Cantagiro festival and was adapted into a ''musicarello'' film which turned to be a massive success, grossing over 800 million lire. The same year, he got another major hit with the '' Canzonissima'' winning song " Non son degno di te", and he held his first successful tour in Japan. In 1965, Morandi had other two number one hits with " Se non avessi più te", with whom he placed second at Cantagiro, and the melanchonic "Si fa sera", and held a successful tour in South America. The following year was as well massimally successful thanks to "La fisarmonica", runner-up at ''Canzonissima'', "Notte di ferragosto", which gave him a second Cantagiro win, the protest song " C'era un ragazzo che come me amava i Beatles e i Rolling Stones", and "Se perdo anche te", a cover of

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's " Solitary Man". In early 1967, Morandi centered another major hit with the romantic " Un mondo d'amore" before taking a one-year break due to mandatory conscription. He reprised his career in April 1968, closing the decade with another string of hits, notably Cantagiro runner-up "Chimera", ''Canzonissima'' winning song "Scende la pioggia" (a cover of

the Turtles The Turtles are an America, American Band (rock and pop), rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The band achieved several Top 40 hits throughout the latter half of the 1960s, including "It Ain't Me Babe" (1965), "You Baby (song), ...

' " Elenore") and "Bella Belinda".

1970s

The new decade opened in January for Morandi with another victory at ''Canzonissima'', with the song "Ma chi se ne importa". The same year he enjoyed critical acclaim for his acting performance in

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's '' A Pocketful of Chestnuts'' and represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 with the

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's penned " Occhi di ragazza". Following the two minor hits "Capriccio" and "Al bar si muore" he slowed his activities. In 1972 he took part for the first time in the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

with "Vado a lavorare", which was a commercial disappointment, and enjoyed a stage success with the musical ''Jacopone''. In the following years, his career suffered a commercial downturn, with his ambitious 1975 album ''Il mondo di frutta candita'', enterely penned by Oscar Prudente and

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, being a resounding failure. In 1976, Morandi got an unexpected number one hit with the ecologist children song "Sei forte papà", opening song of the Saturday night show ''Rete Tre'' he co-hosted with

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at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia.

1980s

Morandi made his professional comeback in 1980, taking part in the 30th Sanremo Music Festival with a song penned by

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and Francesco De Gregori, "Mariù", which got unnoticed. His career started rebounding with the Mogol-penned songs "Canzoni stonate" and "La mia nemica amatissima", the latter being his 1983 Sanremo entry. The same year he recorded a cover of

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...

's " We've Got Tonite" in a duet with Amii Stewart, "Grazie perchè"; the song was chosen as opening theme of '' Domenica in'' and reached the third place on the hit parade. Also important for his professional relaunch were three television miniseries he starred in between 1984 and 1987, '' Voglia di volare'', ''Voglia di cantare'', and ''Voglia di vincere''. After two well received albums (''Immagine italiana'' and ''Uno su mille'', whose title-track became a classic in his repertoire) and a

Targa Tenco The Targa Tenco ("Tenco Plaque") is a prize awarded annually by the Club Tenco. Founded in 1984, it has a large jury of 200 journalists and critics awarding the best works of the year.Cantore, Lalla (1990). "Club Tenco". Castaldo, Gino (edited by) ...

for best performer, Morandi won the Sanremo Music Festival 1987 with " Si può dare di più" together with Enrico Ruggeri and Umberto Tozzi. In 1988, he recorded a successful album in couple with

, ''Dalla/Morandi'', which launched by the singles "Dimmi dimmi" and "Vita" sold over one million copies. In July 1988, the duo embarked on a long tour, which ended in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in April 1989. The decade ended for Morandi with another significant success, the half a million copies-selling album ''Varietà'' and its top ten singles, the Mogol- Lavezzi title-track and "Bella signora" by Lucio Dalla and Mauro Malavasi.

1990s

In 1992 Morandi released the album ''Morandi Morandi'', that included "Banane e lamponi", which became one of his best known songs of his repertoire. In 1995, he made his return at the Sanremo Festival, ranking second with "In amore", a duet with Barbara Cola. Anticipated by the lead single "Dove va a finire il mio affetto", in 1997 he released the album ''Celeste azzurro e blu''. In 1999, he hosted the

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

autobiographical musical show ''C'era un ragazzo'', which achieved a large success, with an average of over 9 million viewers per episode.

2000s

In 2000,

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produced and penned all songs in Morandi's album ''Come fa bene l'amore''. The lead single "Innamorato" premiered at the 50th Sanremo Festival, placing third. In 2002, Morandi co-hosted with Lorella Cuccarini and

Paola Cortellesi Paola Cortellesi (; born 24 November 1973) is an Italian actress, comedian, film director, screenwriter and producer. She has starred in about 20 movies as well as a number of theatrical, television and radio shows. In 2023, she made her director ...

the Rai 1 Saturday night show ''Uno di noi'', and released the album ''L'amore ci cambia la vita'', which was certified double platinum. In 2004, he released ''A chi si ama veramente'', an album to which collaborated Gaetano Curreri, Luca Madonia and Mariella Nava, which like the previous one sold over 200,000 copies. In 2006, Morandi hosted a new Rai 1 show, ''Non facciamoci prendere dal panico'', released the new album ''Il tempo migliore'', and penned an autobiography in a diary form, ''Diario di un ragazzo italiano''. In 2009, he took part in the charity single " Domani 21/04.09", co-hosted with Alessandra Amoroso the television show ''Grazie a tutti'' and released the album of cover songs ''Canzoni da non perdere''.

2010s

Morandi was chosen to be the presenter of Sanremo Music Festival 2011, together with Belén Rodríguez,

Elisabetta Canalis Elisabetta Canalis (; born 12 September 1978) is an Italian actress and showgirl. Early life Canalis was born in Sassari, Sardinia, in Italy. Her father, Cesare, is a clinical Radiology, radiologist at the University of Sassari, and her mother, ...

and comedians Luca Bizzarri and Paolo Kessisoglu from

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

's satire show '' Le Iene''. In October 2011, he was confirmed as the presenter of the Sanremo Music Festival 2012. At the beginning of 2016, Morandi started a tour called "Capitani Coraggiosi Tour" with Claudio Baglioni. A double album will be published on 5 February. In 2017, he recorded with Fabio Rovazzi the hit " Volare". In 2019, his 1964 song " In ginocchio da te" gained renewed popularity as it was featured in one of the main scenes of the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

winning film ''

Parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

''.

2020s

In 2020, Morandi participated in the charity single " Ma il cielo è sempre più blu", in support of the work of Italian Red Cross during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In March 2021, Morandi had a serious domestic accident that left his right hand badly burnt and almost without mobility. In June he released the

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-penned single "L'allegria", and one year later he participated at the Sanremo Music Festival 2022, finishing third with "Apri tutte le porte", also penned by Jovanotti. One year later, he co-hosted with Amadeus the Sanremo Music Festival 2023.

Personal life

In June 1966 Morandi married actress Laura Efrikian, with whom he starred in several ''musicarelli'' films. The couple divorced in 1979.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

*''Cantare'' (1980) *''Morandi in teatro'' (1986) *''Live @RTSI Gianni Morandi'' (1999) *''Grazie a tutti, il concerto'' (2009) *''Capitani coraggiosi – Il live'' (2016)

Filmography

Films

Television

Honours

* Commander of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

(24 January 2005) *

Honorary citizenship Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

of the Municipality of Carloforte (Carloforte, 28 June 2019) * Golden Neptune of the City of

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

(Bologna, 3 March 2022)

References

External links

* * * *
Archivio di Rai Uno
– biography at raiuno.rai.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Morandi, Gianni 1944 births Living people People from the Metropolitan City of Bologna Italian musicians Sanremo Music Festival winners Italian television personalities Spanish-language singers of Italy Conservatorio Santa Cecilia alumni Eurovision Song Contest entrants