MOSCOW, August 23 Italian singer and composer Toto Cutugno has died at the age of 80, Rainews24 TV channel reports.
According to the manager, the artist has died in the San Raffaele hospital after a long illness that has worsened in recent months.
«Great composer»
Singer Toto Cutugno was looking forward to concerts in Russia, was the decoration of many festivals «Disco of the 80s» , was a real Italian in everything: in his walk, in the sparkle of his eyes, in the ability to charm any interlocutor, Vadim Tereshchuk, General Director of Gazprom-Media Radio, said.
«Toto Cutugno. Italiano vero, a great composer, singer, friend of Avtoradio, decoration of many festivals «Disco 80s» and other concerts of our radio stations. Which of us did not pick up his famous «Lasciatemi cantare con la chitarra in mano» from a half-word. Sono un italiano… italiano vero». A real Italian in everything: in his walk, in the sparkle of his eyes, in the ability to charm any interlocutor, even if he does not speak Italian, because he always spoke brightly, emotionally and passionately about wine, women and music,» — he said.
According to him, when the singer went on stage, everyone literally froze and immediately began to sing; Toto Cutugno always looked forward to his concerts in Russia, they gave him new feelings, unforgettable emotions, he considered the Russian audience the most educated and prepared.
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Biography of Toto Cutugno
Toto Cutugno (full name Salvatore Cutugno) was born on July 7, 1943 in Fosdinovo in Tuscany. From childhood, he began to study music: his father taught him how to play the saxophone, guitar, piano, drums, double bass. The future composer began writing his own music early. At the age of 13 he took part in a music competition for the first time, at the age of 20 he began to form musical groups. He performed as a drummer in the group Ghigo ei goghi. In 1965 he created the group Toto ei Tati.
His debut as a singer took place in the group Albatros in 1975, with whom he first took part in the Sanremo festival in 1976, where he took third place with the song Volo AZ 504.
Cutugno's work attracted the attention of the famous chansonnier Joe Dassin , who superimposed French text on the music of Cutugno. This is how the famous Et si tu n`éxistais pas, Salut and the French pop hit of the summer of 1975 L`été Indien appeared.
Cutugno soon began collaborating with the poet Vito Pallavicini, who wrote the lyrics for many of his songs. In 1980, Cutugno began his solo career and won the Sanremo competition with the song Solo noi. A few weeks later, he took first place at the international festival in Tokyo (Japan) with the song Francesca non sa.
In 1983, the singer took part in the Sanremo festival with the song L «italiano. At the festival, the song took fifth place. However, according to the results of the «popular» vote, L «italiano won the competition, becoming the artist's hallmark for many years. The following year, Cutugno took second place in Sanremo with the song Serenata. In total, Cutugno participated in the Sanremo festival 15 times.
In the 1980s, his songs Serenata, Mi piacerebbe, Azzurra malinconia, Emozioni, Le mamme became popular.
In 1990, Toto Cutugno won the international Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb (Croatia) with the song Insieme: 1992.
During his musical career, Cutugno has released more than 20 albums, written many songs for such famous performers as Adriano Celentano, Joe Dassin, Mireille Mathieu, Dalida, Ricchi e Poveri and others.
Toto Cutugno repeatedly visited Russia, where he took part in the show «Legends of Retro FM 2009», in 2011 he gave a concert at the State Kremlin Palace.