Italian singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Toto` Cutugno was born as Salvatore Cutugno on 7th July 1943 in Fosdinovo, Tuscany and passed away on 22nd August 2023. He was married and had a son.
When he was in his 20s, Toto` started playing the drums with a band named ‘Ghigo’ and then formed ‘Toto & I Tati’, continuing as a drummer. In 1974, he created the group named ‘Albatros’ with whom he was the drummer as well as the singer. The band contested in the 1976 San Remo Music Festival with the song ‘Volo AZ504’, placing third. Another successful hit followed, however, the group split up.
Cutugno then focused on his solo career. Success arrived in 1980 with the song ‘Solo Noi’ which was the winning entry of that year’s San Remo Music Festival. Toto` participated 12 more times in this prestigious event and managed to arrive in second place six times.
Some of his songs include ‘Serenata’, ‘Figli’, ‘Emozioni’, ‘Amori’ and ‘Le Mamme’, but his most popular song is definitely ‘L’Italiano’, which is also a worldwide hit. He had participated with this song at the San Remo Music Festival, however, it only placed fifth. Interesting to note is that this song was meant to be sung by Adriano Celentano, however, he refused to do so and was then given to Cutugno.
In 1990, Toto` represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Croatia and succeeded in winning with the song ‘Insieme: 1992’. The following year, he hosted the Contest in Rome together with another popular Italian singer, Gigliola Cinquetti.
During his +55-year career, Toto` had 16 studio albums as a solo artist and 1 studio album with ‘Albatros’. He also released 10 collection albums and 38 singles, 4 of which were released with ‘Toto & I Tati’ and 6 with ‘Albatros’. Over the years, Cutugno wrote/co-wrote 50 tracks for numerous other Italian and foreign artists such as I Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Marcella Bella, Fiordaliso, Petula Clark and Luis Miguel. He has also appeared in about 20 TV shows.
Toto` passed away on 22nd August 2023 from prostate cancer at the age of 80.
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