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Toto Cutugno

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Toto Cutugno

Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (born July 7, 1943) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter.

Biography

Toto Cutugno was born in Fosdinovo, Tuscany, to a Sicilian father and a Tuscan mother. Shortly after his birth the family moved to La Spezia (Liguria).

He began his musical career as a drummer, but later formed a band that performed his own songs. He also had written for popular French-American singer Joe Dassin, contributing some of his most famous songs, including "L'été indien" ("Africa"), "Et si tu n'existais pas" and "Le Jardin du Luxembourg" (written with Vito Pallavicini). He also co-wrote Dalida's "Laisser moi danser" (Voglio l'anima"), which became a Platinum record shortly after its release.

In 1976 Cutugno participated for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival coming up with 3rd place with his band Albatros rd. He then won in 1980 with the song "Solo noi" ("Only us", in Italian), and subsequently finished second in six editions: in 1984 with the song "Serenata" ("Serenade"), in 1987 with "Figli" ("Sons" or "Children"), in 1988 with "Emozioni" ("Emotions"), in 1989 with the song "Le mamme" ("The Mamas"), in 1990 with Ray Charles with the song "Gli amori" ("Loves", but entitled "Good Love Gone Bad" in Charles' version) and in 2005 with Annalisa Minetti with the song "Come noi nessuno al mondo" ("No One Else in the World Like Us"). Toto Cutugno participated in the festival a total of 13 times.

He won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990 with his own composition "Insieme: 1992" ("Together: 1992"), a ballad which celebrated European political integration. Along with Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's only other Eurovision winner from 1964, he presented the 1991 contest, which was staged in Rome as a result of his victory. However, when the scoring ended with a tie for first place the event descended into a degree of chaos, partly due to confusion over how the scoring system worked.

Cutugno may be best-known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano (Lasciatemi Cantare)", which was on his hit CD, "I Grandi Successi". [citation needed]

In November 2009 Cutugno accused the writers of the pro-Viktor Yanukovych song “Leader” written for the 2010 presidential campaign of Yanukovych of having plagiarized his song "Ti amo". Yanukovych distanced himself from the song, stating “I have heard nothing and I have ordered nothing”.[1]

Discography

  • Albatros (1976)
  • Come ieri, come oggi, come sempre (1978)
  • La mia musica (1981)
  • L'italiano (1983)
  • Azzura malinconia (1986)
  • Voglio l'anima (1987)
  • Innamorata, innamorato, innamorati (1987)
  • Mediterraneo (1987)
  • Toto Cutugno (1990)
  • Insieme 1992 (1990)
  • Non è facile essere uomini (1992)
  • Voglio andare a vivere in campagna (1995)
  • Canzoni nacoste (1997)
  • Il treno va (2002)
  • Cantando (2004)
  • Come noi nessuno al mondo (2005)
  • Un falco chiuso in gabbia (2008)
  • Aeroplani(2010)

See also

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
1990
Succeeded by
Preceded by Eurovision Song Contest presenter
(with Gigliola Cinquetti)
1991
Succeeded by