Toto Cutugno dies

2023-08-22 19:26:19

Italian singer-songwriter and composer Toto Cutugnowinner of Eurovision in 1990 and author of the well-known hymn ‘L’italiano’, died this Tuesday at the age of 80 at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, where he was admitted due to illness.

The death, confirmed by his representative Danilo Mancuso to the media, occurred “after a long illness that had worsened in recent months“, although it has not transpired what ailment it was.

Cutugno I had turned 80 last July 7.

The musician was the author of one of the most beloved and representative musical hymns of Italy in the world, ‘L’italiano’, a song presented at the 1983 edition of the Sanremo Festival, where he was a regular.

Then, with his song ‘Insieme: 1992’, he became the second Italian winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1990a feat not seen since 1964 with the participation of Gigliola Cinquetti and that it would not be repeated until 2021 with the Roman group Maneskin.

Salvatore Cutugno was born in the Tuscan town of Fosdinovo on July 7, 1943, in the middle of World War II, although his family soon moved to the Liguria region.

From a very young age, he showed aptitude for music and, encouraged by his family, in the sixties he began to play drums in the group ‘Toto ei Tati’ and later formed the band ‘Albatros’, in which he also sang.

At the end of the seventies he began his solo career, conquering the public with albums such as ‘Voglio l’anima’ (1979), ‘La mia musica’ (1981) and ‘The Italian‘ (1983). On this latest album he included the homonymous song that had become an anthem around the world and in which he asked for ‘Lasciatemi cantare, with the chitarra in mano’ (let me sing guitar in hand).

With more than one hundred million records sold, he is one of the most internationally relevant Italian musicians.l, although he also wrote lyrics for other greats of the Italian ‘canzone’ such as Adriano Celentano, among others.

In 1980, he won the Sanremo Festival with ‘Solo noi’, although he would return to the legendary Italian competition on up to fifteen occasions, both solo and in duo with other artists.