Gino Paoli

Born in Monfalcone within Gorizia province near the present borders of Slovenia and Croatia, Gino Paoli relocated with his family to Genoa during early childhood and came to regard that port city as his lifelong home. Throughout the 1950s he earned wages first as a porter and later as a graphic designer until he recognized that his strongest aptitude lay in music. He performed with several local ensembles, including one alongside his friend Luigi Tenco, until Ricordi discovered him and signed the singer to record sessions. His debut self-penned single, “La Gatta,” appeared in 1960; in the immediately following years he issued the signature compositions “Il Cielo in una Stanza,” “Vivere Ancora,” “Sassi,” and “Sapore di Sale,” the latter of which eventually received three hundred cover versions. While scouting new talent he also launched the careers of Lucio Dalla and Fabrizio De André.

Even at the height of his popularity the 1960s proved turbulent: an unsuccessful suicide attempt that lodged shrapnel near his heart, followed by Tenco’s own suicide, plunged Paoli into severe depression and prompted a temporary withdrawal from recording. He resumed work in 1971 with Due Facce Dell’Amore; three years afterward he delivered the widely cherished I Semafori Rossi Non Sono Dio, a tribute to Spanish singer Joan Manuel Serrat. A tireless writer, Paoli maintained a pace of nearly one album annually well into the 1990s, among them L’Ufficio Delle Cose Perdute in 1988, Matto Come un Gatto in 1991, and King Kong in 1994. In 2002 he revisited the San Remo Festival with “Un Altro Amore,” a track also featured on the album Se. Two years later he issued the duet collection Ti Ricordi? No Non Mi Ricordo, twelve songs recorded with longtime friend and former flame Ornella Vanoni.