Giorgio Faletti (; 25 November 1950 – 4 July 2014) was an Italian writer, musician, actor and comedian. Born in
Asti
Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...
,
Piedmont
Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...
, he lived on
Elba
Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...
Island. His books have been translated into 25 languages and published with great success in Europe, South America, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
Biography
Comedian
After graduating from law school, Faletti began his career as a comedian during the 1970s at the Milanese Club "
Derby
Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
". During the same period he shared the stage with the local circle of actors:
Diego Abatantuono
Diego Abatantuono (born 20 May 1955) is an Italian cinema and theatre actor, comedian and screenwriter, three-time winner of the Nastro d'Argento.
Biography and career
Abatantuono was born in Milan to a father of Apulian origin and a mother f ...
,
Teo Teocoli,
Massimo Boldi,
Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He led Italy national football team, Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup t ...
and
Francesco Salvi
Francesco Salvi (born 7 February 1953) is an Italian actor, singer, screenwriter, and director.
Biography
Born in the northern town of Luino, near the Italian border with Switzerland, Salvi started his career in the mid-1980s. His performan ...
.
In 1983, he appeared on
Antenna 3 Lombardia and alongside
Raffaella Carrà in ''Pronto Raffaella''. In 1985, he was cast as a comedian in Antonio Ricci's successful variety show ''
Drive In''.
[Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti, Milano, 1996–2003. .] Other television successes followed, on variety shows such as ''Emilio'', ''
Fantastico'' and ''Stasera mi butto... e tre!''.
Music
Approaching in the meantime the world of music, in 1988 he released the mini-album ''Colletti bianchi'', the soundtrack of the TV series of the same name in which he was one of the main actors. In 1991 he released his second album, ''Disperato ma non serio'', launched by the single ''Ulula'', and he composed the song "Traditore", included in
Mina's album ''Caterpillar''.
In 1992, he participated, for the first time, at the
Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...
in tandem with
Orietta Berti with the song "Rumba di Tango".
In 1994, Faletti got his main success as a singer-songwriter with the song "Signor Tenente", inspired by massacres of
Capaci and
Via D'Amelio, ranking second at the Sanremo Music Festival and also winning the Critics' Award.
The subsequent album, ''Come un cartone animato'', was a
platinum album
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
.
In 1995, at the Sanremo Festival, he sang "L'assurdo mestiere", a sort of prayer-thanks to the Lord, revealing a melancholic and reflective side. In the same festival, as part-author of the song sung by
Gigliola Cinquetti
Gigliola Cinquetti (; born Giliola Cinquetti on 20 December 1947) is an Italian singer, songwriter and television presenter.
Life and career
Gigliola Cinquetti was born into a wealthy family in Verona, Italy.
At the age of 16, she debuted at ...
, "Giovane vecchio cuore".
He has also written songs for
Fiordaliso, as well as two songs from the album ''Camminando, Camminando'' (1996), and the whole album ''Il dito e la luna'' (1998), both by
Angelo Branduardi
Angelo Branduardi (born 12 February 1950) is an Italian folk music, folk/folk rock singer-songwriter and composer who scored relative success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Greece.
Early and ...
.
In 2000, he released ''Nonsense'', his sixth and last album. In 2007, Faletti was back at the Sanremo Festival, as the author of the song "The Show Must Go On", sung by
Milva
Maria Ilva Biolcati, (; 17 July 1939 – 23 April 2021), known as Milva (), was an Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality. She was also known as ''La Rossa'' (Italian for "The Redhead"), due to the characteristic co ...
, ranked tenth position. The song was part of the album ''Territorio nemico'', entirely written (lyrics and music) by Faletti. In 2009 he composed the song "Gli anni che non hai", included in
Marco Masini
Marco Masini (born 18 September 1964) is an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and pianist. As of 2021, he has released 26 albums. His best-known songs include " Disperato" (1990) and " L'uomo volante" (2004).
Early years
Marco Masini was bo ...
's album ''L'Italia... e altre storie''.
Writer
Faletti was a motor-racing enthusiast. In the early 1990s he regularly wrote a column about
Rally
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Political demonstration, a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a North American school or college sporting event
Sport ...
and
Formula One
Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
for the Italian weekly magazine ''Autosprint''.
Faletti's debut as an author was the 1994 humorous book ''Porco il mondo che ciò sotto i piedi!'', published by Baldini & Castoldi, which recounts the exploits of his most famous character, Vito Catozzo, whom he had launched in ''
Drive In''.
In 2002, Faletti surprised critics and audiences with his first thriller novel, ''
I Kill'' (''Io uccido''), which sold more than four million copies.
At the end of 2002, he suffered a minor stroke. In 2004, his second novel, ''The Killer In My Eyes'' (''Niente di vero tranne gli occhi''), sold three million and a half copies.
Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery and crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a J.D. degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He lat ...
said of Faletti: ''"In my neck of the woods, people like Faletti are called larger than life, living legends."''
In November 2005, Giorgio Faletti received from the President of the Italian Republic the De Sica Prize for Literature.
In 2006, Faletti released his novel "Outside of an Evident Destiny" ''Fuori da un evidente destino''; the same year he starred in the film ''
Notte prima degli esami'' being nominated for the
David di Donatello
The David di Donatello Awards, named after Donatello's ''David (Donatello, bronze), David'', a symbolic statue of the Italian Renaissance, are film awards given out each year by the ''Accademia del Cinema Italiano'' (the Academy of Italian Cin ...
Award for
best supporting actor. He also appeared in the sequel, ''Notte prima degli esami – Oggi'' (2007). Also in 2007, he played the villain in ''
Cemento armato''.
In 2008, Faletti published his first collection of short stories, entitled A few useless hiding places ''Pochi inutili nascondigli'', followed by the novels ''I Am God'' (''Io sono Dio'', 2009), ''Appunti di un venditore di donne'' (2010), and ''Tre atti e due tempi'' (2011).
His commitment and his achievements in the field of literature led him to be appointed president of the Astense Library in September 2012.
He was a supporter of
Juventus FC
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
.
Death
Faletti died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
on 4 July 2014, aged 63.
He received the ''America Award'' in memory, from the
Italy-USA Foundation in 2019.
Further reading
*
*
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faletti, Giorgio
1950 births
2014 deaths
People from Asti
Italian male singer-songwriters
20th-century Italian singer-songwriters
21st-century Italian singer-songwriters
20th-century Italian male actors
21st-century Italian male actors
Italian male film actors
Italian male stage actors
Italian male television actors
Italian stand-up comedians
Italian mystery writers
Deaths from lung cancer in Piedmont
Italian male novelists
20th-century Italian novelists
21st-century Italian novelists
Italian television personalities
20th-century Italian male singers
21st-century Italian male singers
Italian male comedians
20th-century Italian comedians
21st-century Italian comedians