Italian singer Toto Cutugno, best known in Italy and abroad for his hit “Un Italiano vero” and his Eurovision win in 1990 with “Insieme: 1992”, died in Milan on Tuesday at the age of 80, according to his manager.
“After a long illness, the singer’s condition had deteriorated in recent months,” said Danilo Mancuso, quoted by the agency Ansa. “Ciao a Toto Cutugno, un Italiano vero,” immediately responded to X (ex-Twitter) Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
His greatest success dates from 1983: “Un Italiano vero” (also simply called “L’italiano”) reached number one in Italy and Switzerland and number two in France. The song also appeals to audiences in Israel, Iran and South Korea.
The heady chorus of this all-time hit is still a radio hit: “Lasciatemi cantare con la chitarra in mano, lasciatemi cantare, sono un Italiano” (“Let me sing with the guitar in my hand, let me sing, I’m a… “) Italian”).
The clip for the song, shot on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, is a sequence of rather cartoonish shots of Italy and the Italians: we see the singer eating pasta and flirting with the waitress.
In 1990 he won the Eurovision Song Contest with “Insieme: 1992”, a song about Europe. After Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964, he is the second Italian to win the Eurovision Song Contest. The following year, with the latter, he presents the program of the competition, which takes place in Rome.
Born on July 7, 1943, Salvatore Cutugno, known as Toto Cutugno, composed for many French singers, especially in the 1970s: from Michel Sardou (“En chantant”) to Mireille Mathieu, via Gérard Lenorman, Joe Dassin, Johnny Hallyday, Hervé Vilard and Sheila.
The singer-songwriter has also participated 15 times in the Sanremo Song Festival, a real institution on the peninsula, followed by millions of spectators every year.