Born in Monza on May 26, 1962, singer/songwriter Luigi Giovanni Maria "Gatto" Panceri first appeared at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1986 under the stage name Gigi Panceri, performing the song "Scherzi della Vita." Around the same time he issued the EP A Cento Metri da Casa and the album Il Suono del Gatto. A 1989 demo of "Canterò per Te" reached Mina, who placed the track on her album Uiallalla and thereby launched Panceri's professional path.
Produced by former PFM bassist Patric Djivas, the 1991 release Cavoli Amari marked what Panceri would later regard as his true debut; its single "Aiuto" earned him a spot on the Festivalbar lineup. The following year the album was reissued with the added song "L'Amore Va Oltre," which Panceri presented at Sanremo, while the hit "Un Qualunque Posto Fuori o Dentro di Te" drove sales past 50,000 copies. His second album, Succede a Chi Ci Crede, arrived in 1994 and featured the successful single "Abita in Te." During this period he also supplied material to Gianni Morandi, Giorgia, and Mietta, most notably co-writing the decade-defining duet "Vivo per Lei" for Andrea Bocelli and Giorgia.
The 1995 collection Impronte Digitali gathered unreleased recordings and remixes, after which the self-produced Stellina appeared in 1997; singles "Le Tue Mani" and "Mia" helped it reach 90,000 units sold. Panceri returned to Sanremo in 1999 with "Dove Dov'è" and later claimed victory at Un Disco per l'Estate with "Anello di Fumo," both songs appearing on the album Cercasi Amore. In 2000 he joined Angelo Branduardi at Rome's Youth Jubilee concert, performing before the Pope and an audience exceeding two million. Vibrazioni followed in 2001 and 7 Vite in 2003, while he continued writing for Syria, Fausto Leali, Riccardo Fogli, and Dennis. Signing with Solo Musica Italiana in 2006, he released Passaporto; the next year a double-CD retrospective, The Best of Gatto Panceri, compiled his hits from 1992 through 2001.
