one of the most famous in Italian music for songs like Salt flavour o Endlessdied this Tuesday at the age of 91. “Tonight Gino left us with serenity and surrounded by the affection of his loved ones,” the family reported in a statement sent to the media.
Gino Paoli, who died in his native Genoa (north), was one of the great authors of classic Italian song, with internationally famous songs, capable like few others of talking about heartbreak and fragility. The singer-songwriter debuted in music in 1959 and throughout his six decades of career, with ups and downs and serious problems, he popularized many of the songs that set Italian culture to music.
He started singing at 26 years old. For music, he abandoned a job as an advertising designer and many hours dedicated to painting and bohemian life in a tiny, “cold and uncomfortable” attic. On three occasions he left music and returned on many other occasions.
He recorded more than fifty albums, but he has been recognized above all for his love songs. Five-time contestant at the Sanremo Festival, he is responsible for hymns such as The sky in a room (1960), with the voice of another of the greats, Mina; The cat (1960) o Salt flavour (1963). In the political sphere, he was a deputy of the Italian Communist Party between 1987 and 1992, after presenting himself as an independent on its lists.
“The perfect song is the one where the chemistry works,” said Paoli. Salt flavour was born in 1963 in Sicily, on a beach, before a performance, in a moment of total happiness. So, everything in Paoli’s life was provisional, he felt outside the world. A moment and a relationship of such intensity that it ended months later in a suicide attempt, shooting himself in the heart. He still had a splinter from the bullet that missed its trajectory.
“I have a method for composing, but I always tend towards emotions, something too abstract to describe. Each word has a rhythm, when I write it is as if I were putting together a puzzle and to do so I need the right piece. I don’t compose thinking about how to satisfy the audience, I prefer to create emotional phrases that stimulate them, without telling them what they should do. Part of my success, I think, lies in not having completely squeezed out the intensity. I also don’t like to pose answers, but rather questions. It couldn’t be any other way, my “The only certainty is doubt,” he said about his work in
Paoli dies just four months after his former partner, Ornella Vanoni, one of the great ladies of Italian music.
