Rino Gaetano

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Rino Gaetano
Rino Gaetano

Salvatore Antonio "Rino" Gaetano (Crotone, October 29, 1950 - Rome, June 2, 1981), was an Italian singer-songwriter very popular during the 1970s.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Rino Gaetano was born in Crotone, in the Calabria region. At the age of ten, due to his parents' employment reasons, he moved to Rome where he would remain for the rest of his life.

After the first shows at Folkstudio, he was discovered by Vincenzo Micocci and released his first single in 1973, under the pseudonym Kammamuri. The first single was I love you Marianna (Jacqueline on the B side) produced by Antonello Venditti and Piero Montanari. The A side could be interpreted as a catchy pun about marijuana. However, in reality it refers to Gaetano's fondness for his grandma, Marianna, who used to play with him as a child.

In 1974 he published his first album, Ingresso libero, which did not gather any particular commercial or critical success, but was already showing the signs of the estroso and eccentric style that would go on to characterize his short career. Success came in the following year with the 45 rpm record Ma il cielo è sempre più blu("But sky is bluer and bluer").

In 1976 his song "Berta filava" (litterally "Berta span", but, in Italian, the idiom "Berta filava" means "The old good time has gone away" and the verb "filare" means "to spin", but also "to flirt": and Berta, in this song, lirted with a lot of men...)was very popular.

In 1978 Rino Gaetano took part in the Sanremo Music Festival performing the song Gianna, coming in third place after Anna Oxa and Matia Bazar. This success lead to chart success, and Gianna was the bestseller for several weeks. At the beginning, he wanted to play another song of his, "Nuntereggeppiù" (an italian bad slang for "I'm exhausted about you", where "you" is referred to a lot of Italian show men, sport men and politicians), but he was obliged to choose "Gianna" because "Nuntereggeppiù" spoke about Red Brigades and terrorism as well.

An extremely versatile artist, he played the role of the fox in Pinocchio in 1981 in Rome in a film directed by Carmelo Bene.

Tragically, the career of Rino Gaetano was cut short by his death, at age of 30, in a car accident. On June 2, 1981 in Rome his car, a Volvo 343, crashed into a truck on Nomentana street. After the crash Rino Gaetano, injured but still alive, was rejected by five hospitals, and died on the way to a sixth. His death is like the death of the protagonist of one of his song, "La canzone di Renzo" ("Renzo's song"). He was buried in Verano Cemetery, only few days before his wedding date.

The first book on his life, also the first official biography, was published in 2001, 20 years after his death.

A a two-episodes tv movie about Rino Gaetano's life aired on Rai 1, on 11-12 November 2007.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Anthologies

  • 1990 - Gianna e le altre (includes the previously unreleased Solo con io and Le beatitudini)
  • 1996 - Superbest
  • 1998 - La storia
  • 2003 - Sotto i cieli di Rino

[edit] Singles

  • 1973 - I love you Marianna
  • 1973 - Jaqueline
  • 1975 - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu ( 1st part )
  • 1975 - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu ( 2nd part )
  • 1978 - Visto che mi vuoi lasciare
  • 1979 - Resta vile maschio, dove vai?
  • 1980 - Solo con io
  • 1981 - Le beatitudini

[edit] Movie

  • Rino Gaetano. Ma il cielo è sempre più blu - Raifiction, 2007

[edit] Bibliography

  • Rino Gaetano (La Vita, le canzoni, le poesie e l'ironia di un grande artista) by Peppe Casa and Dario Marigliano - (first book and first unofficial biography), Roma, 1999.
  • Rino Gaetano live (first official book and biography) by Emanuele Di Marco, 2001 ISBN 88-7226-625-4
  • Rino Gaetano by Yari Selvetella, 2001 ISBN 88-8185-349-3
  • Fontana chiara: omaggio a Rino Gaetano by Stefano Calò and Massimiliano Gentile, 2001
  • Se mai qualcuno capirà Rino Gaetano by Alfredo Del Curatolo, 2003 ISBN 88-86267-65-7
  • Rino Gaetano: ma il cielo è sempre più blu (unreleased thoughts, stories and songs) by Massimo Cotto, 2004 ISBN 88-04-52794-3

[edit] Others project

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[edit] External links