Giandomenico "Gianni" Boncompagni (13 May 1932 – 16 April 2017) was a television and radio presenter, director, writer and lyricist.

Life and career

Born in

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, at 18 years old Boncompagni moved to Sweden, where he lived for ten years doing various jobs, graduating at the Swedish Academy of graphics and photography and starting a radio career as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

."Boncompagni, Gianni". ''Chi è. Mille nomi dell'Italia che conta''. Vol. I. L'Espresso, 1986. Married to a Swedish woman, after divorcing in the early 1960s he moved back to Italy with his three daughters, and together with

Renzo Arbore Lorenzo Giovanni "Renzo" Arbore (; born 24 June 1937) is an Italian television host, singer, actor and film director. Career Arbore became nationally recognized as radio anchor man, together with Gianni Boncompagni, in the late 1960s, with ...

he created the radio program ''Bandiera gialla'', the first Italian musical program focused on rock music and other avantgarde genres.Fabrizio Zampa. "Gianni Boncompagni". Gino Castaldo (ed.). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990.Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. "Boncompagni, Gianni". ''Catalogo dei viventi''. Marsilio, 2009. . In 1970 the duo Arbore-Boncompagni also created ''Alto Gradimento'', an innovative and successful radio variety show which launched the career of several comedians, including the brothers Franco and Giorgio Bracardi. Boncompagni made his television debut in 1977, as the presenter of the musical variety ''

Discoring ''Discoring'' was a music show broadcast by Rai 1 from 1977 to 1989, created by Gianni Boncompagni, aired mainly on Sunday. The program could be considered analogous to the English show ''Top of the Pops''. History The first episode was broa ...

''.Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti, Milano, 1996 – 2003. . In the mid-1980s, he got a personal success as the director and author of the television programs ''Pronto, Raffaella?'' and ''Pronto, chi gioca?'', and between 1987 and 1990 he wrote and directed the Sunday afternoon show '' Domenica in''. In 1991 he moved to

Fininvest Finanziaria d'investimento Fininvest S.p.A., also known as Fininvest, is an Italian holding company controlled by the Berlusconi family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi. Structure The Fininvest group is com ...

, where he created the show '' Non è la Rai'', which launched the career of several future actresses including

Ambra Angiolini Ambra Angiolini (born 22 April 1977) is an Italian actress and singer. She made her film debut in Ferzan Özpetek's '' Saturn in Opposition'' (2007) for which she won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress as well as the Nastro ...

(presenter from the third season), Nicole Grimaudo, Romina Mondello and Sabrina Impacciatore. In the second half of the 1990s he came back to RAI, where he got a further success with the late night variety show ''Macao''. Boncompagni is also well known as a lyricist, and his collaborations include songs by

Raffaella Carrà Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), known professionally as Raffaella Carrà () and sometimes mononymously as Raffaella, was an Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model. She is often widely cons ...

Patty Pravo Nicoletta Strambelli (born 9 April 1948), known professionally as Patty Pravo, is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in p ...

Johnny Dorelli Giorgio Guidi (born 20 February 1937), known professionally as Johnny Dorelli, is an Italian actor, singer and television host. Early life Giorgio Guidi was born in Meda, Lombardy, Italy. In 1946, he moved with his family to New York City, ...

, Renato Zero,

Jimmy Fontana Enrico Sbriccoli (13 November 1934 – 11 September 2013), known professionally as Jimmy Fontana, was an Italian actor, composer and singer-songwriter. Two of his most famous songs are " Che sarà", performed also by José Feliciano with Ricch ...

, and Carmen Villani.

Personal life

Boncompagni had a ten year relationship with the television presenter and singer

. He also had relationships with actresses Isabella Ferrari and Claudia Gerini. His younger daughter Barbara (born in 1963) had a brief career in the 1980s as a singer and a showgirl.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boncompagni, Gianni 1932 births 2017 deaths People from Arezzo Italian lyricists Italian television presenters Italian radio presenters Italian television directors Italian television writers Italian male television writers Italian radio writers Italian radio personalities