Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno ; 7 July 1943 – 22 August 2023) was an Italian pop singer-songwriter and musician.

He was best known for his worldwide hit song, "L'Italiano", released on his 1983 album of the same title. Cutugno also won the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 held in Zagreb, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, with the song "Insieme: 1992", for which he wrote both the lyrics and music. He has been described as one of the most popular singers in Italy and a symbol of Italian melody abroad. During his career he sold over 100 millions records.

Early life

Toto Cutugno was born on 7 July 1943 in Tendola, a borough of Fosdinovo, Lunigiana, Tuscany, to a Sicilian sea marshal father from Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and a housewife mother. Shortly after his birth the family moved to La Spezia, Liguria.

Career

Cutugno began his musical career as a drummer, and at 19 he founded his first band, Toto e i Tati. He later formed the disco band Albatros together with Lino Losito and Mario Limongelli. He also started a career as a songwriter, contributing some of French-American singer Joe Dassin most well-known songs such as "L'été indien", "Et si tu n'existais pas", and "Le Jardin du Luxembourg" (written with Vito Pallavicini). He also co-wrote Dalida's "Monday Tuesday... Laissez moi danser" ("Voglio l'anima" in its Italian version), which achieved Platinum record status shortly after being released, as well as songs for Johnny Hallyday, Mireille Mathieu, Ornella Vanoni, Domenico Modugno, Claude François, Gigliola Cinquetti, Gérard Lenorman, Michel Sardou, Hervé Vilard and Paul Mauriat.

In 1976, Albatros participated for the first time in the Sanremo Music Festival finishing in third place with the song "Volo AZ 504". Following another chart success with the song "Santamaria de Portugal", in 1978 Cutugno left Albatros to concentrated on his solo career. 

In 1979, he wrote Adriano Celentano's number one hit "Soli".

In 1980, Cutugno returned to the Sanremo Music Festival and won the competition with the song "Solo noi" ("Only us"). However, Cutugno's affiliation with the festival is mostly remembered for "L'Italiano" ("The Italian"), a song he presented in 1983. Originally intended for Adriano Celentano, who declined to sing it, "L'Italiano"'s recapitulation of some of Italy's most popular social traits, made the song very popular with Italian expats. Although the song finished only fifth in Sanremo, it went on to become Cutugno's biggest international hit.

Cutugno would finish second in six more editions of Sanremo festival: in 1984 with the song "Serenata" ("Serenade"); in 1987 with "Figli" ("Sons" or "Children"); in 1988 with "Emozioni" ("Emotions"); in 1989 with the song "Le mamme" ("Mothers"); in 1990 with the song "Gli amori" ("Loves", but entitled "Good Love Gone Bad" in Ray Charles's version); and in 2005 with Annalisa Minetti with the song "Come noi nessuno al mondo" ("No one else in the world like us"). Toto Cutugno participated to the festival a total of 13 times.

In 1990, Cutugno won the Eurovision Song Contest in Zagreb with his own composition, "Insieme: 1992" ("Together: 1992"), a ballad which celebrated European political integration and the establishment of the European Union. Along with Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's earlier Eurovision winner, he presented the 1991 contest, which was staged in Rome as a result of his victory. 

Aged 46 years, 302 days, Cutugno became the oldest winner of the contest to date, surpassing the record set by André Claveau in 1958. Cutugno's record stood until 2000. He was also the last winner for Italy until Måneskin in 2021.

As a songwriter, during his career Cutugno composed hit songs for numerous artists, notably Miguel Bosé (the Festivalbar winning song "Super Superman"), Luis Miguel ("Ragazzi di oggi"), Fausto Leali ("Io amo"), Peppino di Capri ("Il sognatore"), Ricchi e Poveri ("Canzone d'amore"), Fiordaliso ("Per noi" and "Se non avessi te"). Starting from 1987, when he co-hosted with Lino Banfi the Sunday television show Domenica in, Cutugno also had a successful career as a television presenter.

In March 2019, a group of politicians from the Ukrainian Parliament tried to stop Cutugno from performing in Kyiv, demanding through an open letter to the head of the country's security services, Vasyl Hrytsak, to ban the singer from entering Ukrainian territory, labelling him as "a Russian war supporter in Ukraine". Two days before, fellow Italian singer Albano Carrisi had been black listed on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets. Despite the controversy, the concert was eventually held in Kyiv on 23 March.

Personal life and death

When he was 5, Cutugno witnessed the death of his seven-year-old sister Anna, who choked on a plate of gnocchi. His other siblings included Roberto and Rosanna (the first child to receive a heart surgery in Italy, in Turin).

Cutugno was married to Carla Cutugno from 1971 until his death. In 1990, he had his only son Nico from an extramarital relationship.

In 2007, Cutugno survived a prostate cancer with metastases reaching his kidneys, undergoing a surgery and having his right kidney removed. He regarded his collegue Albano Carrisi as the one who helped him to discover the cancer in time and who assisted him in the situation.

Toto Cutugno died from prostate cancer at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, on 22 August 2023, at the age of 80.

Discography

• Come ieri, come oggi, come sempre (1978)
• Voglio l'anima (1979)
• Innamorata, innamorato, innamorati (1980)
• La mia musica (1982)
• L'Italiano (1983)
• Per amore o per gioco (1985)
• Azzurra malinconia (1986)
• Mediterraneo (1987)
• Toto Cutugno (1990)
• Insieme: 1992 (1990)
• Non è facile essere uomini (1991)
• Voglio andare a vivere in campagna (1995)
• Canzoni nascoste (1997)
• Il treno va (2002)
• Cantando (2004)
• Come noi nessuno al mondo (2005)
• Un falco chiuso in gabbia (2008)

• Albatros (1976)