Castiglioncello’s “Schiacciata Party”.
‘Every summer the four of us meet at Carlo Conti’s house. I, he, Giorgio Panariello and Leonardo Pieraccioni. Eating focaccia all’olio, flipping through the sports papers with greasy fingers, discussing friendly matches in August and the most unlikely deals on the transfer market. And the wildest of the group is really me.
That of “when you are in despair / like me without you”, as well as “it is melancholy / that kills at this age / it is the heart that beats / searches for what it already has” is the joy of society?
“Oh yes. And also the one who tells the jokes, who is always late, who never wants to go to bed, who thinks I’m the F… and the more I enjoy it, we Tuscans are like that. Carlo is the wisest. Leonardo, who doesn’t seem to take anything seriously, instead has a great sensitivity».
And George?
«Heavy Milan fan, every Milan-Fiorentina we make fun of each other until we die. But he understands football, the boy is competent. And then Giorgio is very sensitive, he spent difficult moments with his brother and was one of the first to be close to me when I needed him, he always manages to defuse and that helps».
You’ve known each other all your life.
“Carlo and I have met on private radio since 1980, when he was a DJ. He wrote a piece for the show’s theme song, “It’s okay it’s all right,” which I arranged.”
And how did it go?
«Well, ask him (laughs). But my real friends are also Riccardo the hardware store, Giuseppe the salesman and Giacomo the hairdresser, they were there before Carlo, Leonardo and Giorgio and they will always be there».
He punched his father Giancarlo in the face.
“Biggest mistake of my life. I was 18, I wanted to play with the band, I would be out for many days and driving at night. Dad was scared. “You’re not going there.” “I’ll do what I want,” I yelled. And before he did, I hit him. He stopped in disbelief. He didn’t even punish me and it was almost worse. I have apologized to him many times, but the regret stays with me.”
And yet they were very close, between opposite feelings (“You were my greatest hero / You were my first true friend / You were absent and unavailable / I hated you and I tell you so”, from “Dear Father”).
«Papà was a representative of hairdressing products, I often accompanied him on his tours: he was able to enter a shop for a coffee and leave with an order of 700,000 lire. I myself took a technique course on perms and color».
‘I’ve never dyed anyone’s hair, especially my own, but I could. In my life there were three important “Giancarli”, the first was he».
‘Bigazzi, record producer and lyricist. And Antognoni, the flag of my Fiorentina. We are friends, I always tell him: “Oh, you are the last Giancarlo I have left, don’t joke”».
How many crazy things has he done for Viola?
„I got a couple of slaps. Impossible transfers, cold, overcrowded regional trains, four in one plus drums because I was the head drummer».
Did you dream of becoming a soccer player?
“No, I was content to play for the singers’ national team, right midfielder.”
“In the squares, in the villages, at the fairs. Once we were late because there were three cops who didn’t want to move.’
In 1987 he was the leading voice for “Si può dare di più” by the trio Morandi, Ruggeri, Tozzi.
“On Bigazzi’s staff I did the arrangements, I was the best at the melody so Giancarlo asked me to sing it to hear what the melody was like.”
In 1990 he won the Sanremo Festival in the category “New Proposals” with “Disperato”.
‘I’ve sold 850,000 copies, a lot. But I didn’t enjoy it like I should have. Unfortunately, the happiest and most beautiful years are also the most quickly consumed. Right now you don’t appreciate what you have, if I could experience them again I would be different.”
Meeting VIPs behind the scenes at your first festival?
“Not many because we were all beginners. But I met the Poohs who won with “Men Alone”. They encouraged me like uncles, they are still big brothers. And they taught me tricks to be on stage.
The following year he was third among the Bigs, behind Riccardo Cocciante and Renato Zero, with “Why Do You Do It”.
‘Renato was very nice, as was a friend. He told me: “If I stop, you continue for me”».
But are they all his friends?
“Many. I recently connected with Francesco De Gregori, very nice. I visited him with Venditti. He showered me with compliments, that night I went to bed happy. We’ve known Antonello since the ’90s.”
He sang very sad stories: “Why are you doing this my desperate girl / why are you laying down like an angel in agony”.
“You accused me of speaking incompetently about drugs. At that time I got 400 letters a day, many of them were: “You know Marco, after listening to you, I’ll try to stop tomorrow”. Music is a universal language, I was happy to be able to do something good for others».
Then he strings together more hits, albeit with few TV or radio titles: “Vaffano…o” and “Bella str..za”.
“Instead, they were bloody television. Pippo Baudo played with it and on Raiuno he immediately introduced me: “And now Marco Masini Vaffano!” First the radios censored me, then one night at midnight Radio Italia, the most conservative and politically correct, broadcast it. And from there all the others».
Who was the beautiful str..a? Was it dedicated to an ex?
«I have never dedicated songs to anyone, I write and sing everyone’s stories. Anyway, who in life hasn’t met a beautiful Str..or a handsome Str..o?”
Effectively. “It would take the sea to go down there.” “When melancholy with all its glaciers / paralyzes your heart / when all this, when / you feel it inside you / you want to die”. After such verses, the absurd rumors began to circulate that she brought bad luck. In 2001 he announced that he would no longer sing: “They will ruin my life like Mia Martini”.
Who had started the shameful chain?
“An insider. The same one who did the horns or other exorcisms every time I was mentioned. Fortunately, colleagues and friends stayed close to me. Eros Ramazzotti is among those who have defended me the most».
Is music a particularly bad environment?
‘No, he’s like everyone else. And in every area it also depends on you what happens to you».
He won’t say it was his fault.
‘Maybe I made some mistakes. Written, social. I got it and changed. I have evolved. It wasn’t easy, but I was sure that time would tell. There are those who don’t make it to the end of the month, these are problems, overall I consider myself very lucky.”
His sin of vanity was his hair.
“I lost it when I was a kid doing my Vam Air Force Surveillance service because of the tight helmet. I didn’t have a transplant, but a thickening with artificial hair, these are Japanese, they can hold up to 80 kg in weight».
Little is known about his love life.
‘And you will continue to know little. I’ve had a partner for a few years, period.”
“I haven’t quit, I’ve settled down, I have no family. I have loved and been loved, I have betrayed and been betrayed, I have left and I have been abandoned».
Which is easier of the last two?
“It’s better to leave when you’re young, after that there’s always affection and that’s why it gets more complicated. The last one to leave me did me a favor and saved me from having to do it myself.”
Did she also have her groupies, suitors who are willing to do anything?
“Years ago, yes. Once I found one at home at four in the morning sleeping in my bed. At the moment, as tired as I was from the trip, I thought I was at the hotel and had the wrong room. She had entered through a hole in the fence and climbed over the window».
“Sorry, but this is my home, it was my pleasure, but for now I’ll call you a cab, I’ll pay and you go.”
“Yes. Except for that slap Dad got. And I wasn’t going to play the night my mother, Annamaria, died. I was 18 and I have a faded but very sweet memory of her, she was an angel who saved me many times and still saves me. It was bad, but I had a concert at Bussola in Chianciano Terme. I have fulfilled the obligation. Biggest shit of my life.”