Gino Paoli

One of the most important Italian songwriters of his generation, Gino Paoli was born in Monfalcone, in the province of Gorizia, on September 23, 1934, and grew up in Genoa. He worked in a variety of odd jobs before turning to song, where he performed with a number of groups, until he was noticed by the Ricordi label, which signed him to a contract. In 1960, his first single , "La Gatta", proved an immediate success, followed by many others, including "Il Cielo Una Stanza", "Vivere Ancora", "Sassi ", which has been covered hundreds of times, and his emblematic song "Sapore di Sale", arranged by Ennio Morricone in 1963. Marked by his affair with Ornella Vanoni, he put an end to his life by shooting himself in the heart in 1963, and interrupted his career to devote himself to discovering young talents such as Lucio Dalla and Fabrizio De André. The suicide of his youthful friend Luigi Tenco in 1967 plunged him back into depression, and it was not until 1971 that Gino Paoli returned to song with the album Due Facce dell'Amore, followed by I Semafori Rossi Non Sono Dio (1974), Il Mio Mestiere (1977) and Ha Tutte le Carte in Regola (1980). Back on stage for a tour with Ornella Vanoni in 1985, the singer entered politics after recording L'Ufficio delle Cose Perdute (1988). Elected deputy for the Italian Communist Party from 1987 to 1992, he recorded Matto Come un Gatto (1991), then returned to music with King Kong Paoli (1994). In 2002, he reappeared at the Sanremo Festival to perform "Un Altro Amore", taken from the album Se. Two years later, the duets album Ti Ricordi? No Non Mi Ricordo, followed by Storie (2009), Un Incontro in Jazz with Flavio Boltro and Danilo Rea (2011), Napoli Con Amore (2013), 3 (2017), Appunti di un Lungo Viaggio (2019) and Groovin' with Paoli (2021).