Gian Luigi "Gianni" Morandi (Italian:[ˈdʒannimoˈrandi]; born 11 December 1944) is an Italian pop singer, actor and entertainer. It is estimated that Morandi has sold about 50 million recordings.[1]
Early life
Born in Monghidoro, on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, the son of a cobbler, Morandi interrupted his studies after primary school to work and support the poor economic conditions of his family.[2] While working in a cinema as a candy vendor he began performing as a singer between films.[3] At 14 years old he entered the Scaglioni Orchestra, with whom he made his first tour in North Italy.[4]
After winning a music festival for newcomers in Bellaria, in 1962 Morandi made an audition for RCA Italiana, 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.[3] 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.[3] 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[3] 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.[3]e.
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 Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man".[3] 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.[3] 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' "Elenore") and "Bella Belinda".[3]
The new decade opened in January for Morandi with another victory at Canzonissima, with the song "Ma chi se ne importa".[3] The same year he enjoyed critical acclaim for his acting performance in Pietro Germi's A Pocketful of Chestnuts and represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 with the Lucio Dalla's penned "Occhi di ragazza".[4][3] Following the two minor hits "Capriccio" and "Al bar si muore" he slowed his activities.[3] In 1972 he took part for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival with "Vado a lavorare", which was a commercial disappointment, and enjoyed a stage success with the musical Jacopone.[3] 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 Ivano Fossati, being a resounding failure.[4][3]
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 Ombretta Colli and Arnoldo Foà.[4][3] The same year he took part in the Tokyo Music Festival, winning the award for best performance with "Per poter vivere".[3] At the end of the year he decided to take a hyatus from showbiz to study double bass at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory.[4][3]
1980s
Morandi made his professional comeback in 1980, taking part in the 30th Sanremo Music Festival with a song penned by Ron and Francesco De Gregori, "Mariù", which got unnoticed.[4][3] His career started rebounding with the Mogol-penned songs "Canzoni stonate" and "La mia nemica amatissima", the latter being his 1983 Sanremo entry.[3] The same year he recorded a cover of Bob Seger'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.[3] 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.[3]
After two well received albums (Immagine italiana and Uno su mille, whose title-track became a classic in his repertoire) and a Targa Tenco for best performer,
Morandi won the Sanremo Music Festival 1987 with "Si può dare di più" together with Enrico Ruggeri and Umberto Tozzi.[3] In 1988, he recorded a successful album in couple with Lucio Dalla, Dalla/Morandi, which launched by the singles "Dimmi dimmi" and "Vita" sold over one million copies.[3] In July 1988, the duo embarked on a long tour, which ended in Madrid in April 1989.[3] 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.[4][3]
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.[4] In 1995, he made his return at the Sanremo Festival, ranking second with "In amore", a duet with Barbara Cola.[5] Anticipated by the lead single "Dove va a finire il mio affetto", in 1997 he released the album Celeste azzurro e blu.[4] In 1999, he hosted the Rai 1 autobiographical musical show C'era un ragazzo, which achieved a large success, with an average of over 9 million viewers per episode.[6][7]
2000s
Morandi in 2002
In 2000, Eros Ramazzotti produced and penned all songs in Morandi's album Come fa bene l'amore.[4] The lead single "Innamorato" premiered at the 50th Sanremo Festival, placing third.[5] In 2002, Morandi co-hosted with Lorella Cuccarini and Paola Cortellesi the Rai 1 Saturday night show Uno di noi,[8] and released the album L'amore ci cambia la vita, which was certifid double platinum.[9] In 2004, he released A chi si ama veramente, an album to which collaborated Gaetano Curreri, Luca Madonia and Mariella Nava,[9] which like the previous one sold over 200,000 copies.[10]
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.[10] 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.[11]
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.[14] In 2017, he recorded with Fabio Rovazzi the hit "Volare".[15]
In 2020, Morandi participated in the charity single "Ma il cielo è sempre blu", in support of the work of Italian Red Cross during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] In March 2021, Morandi had a serious domestic accident that left his right hand badly burnt and almost without mobility.[19] In June he released the Jovanotti-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.[20] One year later, he co-hosted with Amadeus the Sanremo Music Festival 2023.[21]
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyGiannelli, Enzo (1990). "Morandi, Gianni". In Castaldo, Gino (ed.). Dizionario della canzone italiana. Curcio. pp. 1133–8.
^ abcdefghijDeregibus, Enrico (2006). "Gianni Morandi". Dizionario completo della canzone italiana. Giunti. pp. 315–8. ISBN978-88-09-04602-3.
^ abEddy Anselmi (2009). "Gianni Morandi". Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. Panini Comics. p. 805. ISBN978-8863462296.
^ abBenedetti, Luca (24 December 2015). "Morandi si fa in sei". Corriere della Sera. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
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