Toto Cutugno

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Toto Cutugno
File:Cutugno vincitore Festival di Sanremo 1980 (cropped).jpg
Toto Cutugno in 1980
Background information
Birth name Salvatore Cutugno
Born (1943-07-07)7 July 1943[citation needed]
Fosdinovo, Tuscany, Kingdom of Italy
Died Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day
Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Occupation(s)
  • Singer-songwriter
  • instrumentalist
Instruments
  • Piano
  • acoustic guitar
  • drums
  • saxophone
  • melodica
Years active 1966–2023
Associated acts Albatros

Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtɔːto kuˈtuɲɲo]; 7 July 1943 – 22 August 2023) was an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician. He was best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 held in Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, with the song "Insieme: 1992", for which he wrote both the lyrics and music.

Life and career

Toto Cutugno was born in Tendola,[1] a borough of Fosdinovo, Lunigiana, Tuscany, to a Sicilian sea marshal father from Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and a housewife mother.[2][3] Shortly after his birth the family moved to La Spezia, Liguria.[4]

He began his musical career as a drummer, and at 19 he founded his first band, Toto e i Tati.[3] He later formed the disco band Albatros together with Lino Losito and Mario Limongelli.[3] He also started a career as a songwriter, contributing some of French-American singer Joe Dassin most well-known songs such as "L'été indien", "Et si tu n'existais pas", and "Le Jardin du Luxembourg" (written with Vito Pallavicini).[3][5] He also co-wrote Dalida's "Monday Tuesday... Laissez moi danser" ("Voglio l'anima" in its Italian version), which achieved Platinum record status shortly after being released, as well as songs for Johnny Hallyday, Mireille Mathieu, Claude François, Gérard Lenorman and Paul Mauriat.[3]

In 1976, Albatros participated for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival finishing in third place with the song "Volo AZ 504". Following another chart success with the song "Santamaria de Portugal", in 1978 Cutugno left Albatros to concentrated on his solo career.[3] In 1979, he wrote Adriano Celentano's number one hit "Soli".[3]

Cutugno in 1976

In 1980, Cutugno returned to the Sanremo Music Festival and won the competition with the song "Solo noi" ("Only us").[3][6] However, Cutugno's affiliation with the festival is mostly remembered for "L'Italiano" ("The Italian"), a song he presented in 1983. Originally intended for Adriano Celentano, who declined to sing it, "L'Italiano"'s recapitulation of some of Italy's most popular social traits, made the song very popular with Italian expats. Although the song finished only fifth in Sanremo, it went on to become Cutugno's biggest international hit.[3]

Cutugno would finish second in six more editions of Sanremo festival: 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" ("Mothers"); in 1990 with the song "Gli amori" ("Loves", but entitled "Good Love Gone Bad" in Ray Charles's version); and in 2005 with Annalisa Minetti with the song "Come noi nessuno al mondo" ("No one else in the world like us").[6] Toto Cutugno participated to the festival a total of 13 times.[6]

In 1990, Cutugno won the Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb with his own composition, "Insieme: 1992" ("Together: 1992"), a ballad which celebrated European political integration and the establishment of the European Union.[6] Along with Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's earlier Eurovision winner, he presented the 1991 contest, which was staged in Rome as a result of his victory.[6] Aged 46 years, 302 days, Cutugno became the oldest winner of the contest to date, surpassing the record set by André Claveau in 1958. Cutugno's record stood until 2000.[7] He was also the last winner for Italy until Måneskin in 2021.[8]

File:Тото Котуньо (cropped).jpg
Cutugno in 2013

As a songwriter, during his career Cutugno composed hit songs for numerous artists, notably Miguel Bosé (the Festivalbar winning song "Super Superman"), Luis Miguel ("Ragazzi di oggi"), Fausto Leali ("Io amo"), Peppino di Capri ("Il sognatore"), Ricchi e Poveri ("Canzone d'amore"), Fiordaliso ("Per noi" and "Se non avessi te").[3][6] Starting from 1987, when he co-hosted with Lino Banfi the Sunday television show Domenica in, Cutugno also had a successful career as a television presenter.[9]

In 2007, Cutugno survived a prostate cancer with metastases reaching his kidneys, undergoing a surgery and having his right kidney removed. He regarded his collegue Albano Carrisi as the one who helped him to discover the cancer in time and who assisted him in the situation.[10]

In March 2019, a group of politicians from the Ukrainian Parliament tried to stop Cutugno from performing in Kyiv, demanding through an open letter to the head of the country's security services, Vasyl Hrytsak, to ban the singer from entering Ukrainian territory, labelling him as "a Russian war supporter in Ukraine". Two days before, fellow Italian singer Albano Carrisi had been black listed on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets.[11][12] Despite the controversy, the concert was eventually held in Kyiv on 23 March.[13]

Personal life and death

When he was 5, Cutugno witnessed the death of his seven-year-old sister Anna, who choked on a plate of gnocchi. His other siblings included Roberto and Rosanna (the first child to receive a heart surgery in Italy, in Turin).[1][14]

Cutugno was married to Carla Cutugno from 1971 until his death.[1] In 1990, he had his only son Nico from an extramarital relationship.[1][14]

He died on 22 August 2023, aged 80, at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, where he had been hospitalised following a long illness.[15]

Discography

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  • Come ieri, come oggi, come sempre (1978)
  • Voglio l'anima (1979)
  • Innamorata, innamorato, innamorati (1980)
  • La mia musica (1982)
  • L'Italiano (1983)
  • Per amore o per gioco (1985)
  • Azzurra malinconia (1986)
  • Mediterraneo (1987)
  • Toto Cutugno (1990)
  • Insieme: 1992 (1990)
  • Non è facile essere uomini (1992)
  • Voglio andare a vivere in campagna (1995)
  • Canzoni nascoste (1997)
  • Il treno va (2002)
  • Cantando (2004)
  • Come noi nessuno al mondo (2005)
  • Un falco chiuso in gabbia (2008)
  • I miei Sanremo (2010)
  • Ritratto: 50 anni di musica (2015)

With Albatros

  • Albatros (1976)

See also

References

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External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Mino Vergnaghi
with "Amare"
 Sanremo Music Festival
Winner
1980		 Succeeded by
Alice
with "Per Elisa"
Preceded by
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Riva
with "Rock Me"
 Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
1990		 Succeeded by
Sweden Carola
with "Fångad av en stormvind"
Preceded by Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
1990		 Succeeded by
Peppino di Capri
with "Comme è ddoce 'o mare"
Preceded by Eurovision Song Contest presenter
(with Gigliola Cinquetti)
1991		 Succeeded by
Sweden Lydia Capolicchio and
Harald Treutiger


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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 Ernesto Assante. "Cutugno, Toto". Gino Castaldo (edited by). Dizionario della canzone italiana. Curcio Editore, 1990. p. 460-1.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Toto Cutugno at AllMusic
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official Celebration. Carlton Books, 2015. ISBN 978-1-78097-638-9. Pages 32–33
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. "Cutugno, Toto". Enciclopedia della Televisione. Garzanti, 1996 – 2003. p. 174. ISBN 881150466X.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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