Gianni Morandi is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 pop singer and entertainer.

He made his debut in 1962 and quickly placed high at or won a number of Italian popular song festivals, including the Canzonissima festival in 1969. In 1970, he represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

 with "Occhi di ragazza

Occhi Di Ragazza

"Occhi di ragazza" was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, performed in Italian by Gianni Morandi.The song is a ballad, with Morandi musing on the power of his lover's eyes. Initially, he describes them as windows into her soul and places where he can see their future...

". His career went into a decline in the 1970s but underwent a revival in the 1980s. He won the Festival of Sanremo in 1987, placed second in 1995 and third in 2000.

It is estimated that Morandi has sold 30 million recordings. His songs "In ginocchio da te", "Non son degno di te" and "Scende la pioggia" were certified as having each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

. He has written a number of autobiographical books and appeared in 18 films. In TV he played Claude Jade

Claude Jade

Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade , was a French actress, known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses , Bed and Board and Love on the Run . Jade acted in theatre, film and television...

's husband Davide in the 1984 TV series

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 Voglia di volare.

Biography

Gianluigi Morandi was born in a little village called Monghidoro

Monghidoro

Monghidoro is a comune in the Province of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about 30 km south of Bologna.-Geography:...

 on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. His father Renato was active within the Italian Communist Party

Italian Communist Party

The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...

 and Gianni used to help him sell the party newspapers. At an early age Morandi worked as a shoe-shiner, cobbler and as a candy vendor in the village's only cinema. His vocal abilities led him to a number of small gigs, some of which were during the Communist Party’s activities.

In 1962 he was signed by RCA Italiana and achieved national stardom with the song "Fatti mandare dalla mamma", and remained Italy’s darling throughout that decade. During the 1970s he experienced a period of decline; however, he regained popularity during the 1980s and won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1987 with "Si può dare di più" together with Enrico Ruggeri

Enrico Ruggeri

Enrico Ruggeri is an Italian rock singer-songwriter.-Biography:A native of Milan, Ruggeri made his debut in the 1970s with the punk band Decibel...

 and Umberto Tozzi

Umberto Tozzi

Umberto Antonio Tozzi is an Italian pop/rock singer and composer, born in Turin. His most internationally famous song is "Gloria" -Biography:...

.

He also played as actor in several TV series, as well as the host in popular Italian television shows.

Morandi was chosen to be the host of Sanremo Music Festival 2011 together with Belén Rodriguez

Belén Rodríguez

María Belén Rodríguez Cozzani is an Argentinian showgirl, model, television personality, and actress who lives and works in Italy. She is known by the name of Belén Rodríguez and has presented many variety shows...

 and Elisabetta Canalis

Elisabetta Canalis

-Career:Canalis had minor roles in the films Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Virgin Territory. She was also a velina in the television show Striscia la notizia. In 2007, she hosted the annual music festival, Festivalbar. In 2009, she co-hosted the Italian version of Total Request Live. In 2010,...

. They were joined by comedians Luca Bizzarri and Paolo Kessisoglu from Italia 1

Italia 1

Italia 1 is an Italian commercial television channel on the Mediaset network. It is oriented especially at young people.Italia 1 was launched in January 1982 and, originally, was owned by Rusconi; after a few months, however, due to the aggressive dumping practices of Silvio Berlusconi's rival...

's satire show Le Iene

Le Iene

Le Iene is a television program broadcast on the Italian channel Italia 1 . Beginning in 1996, it is a comedy/satirical show, with sketches and reports into political affairs and consumer issues. It is based on an Argentine show Caiga Quien Caiga.The first series was hosted by Simona Ventura,...

.