Biography
Paoli was born in Monfalcone, a little town near Trieste, but moved very early to Genoa.
After several different jobs, he was called by Ricordi with his friends Luigi Tenco and Bruno Lauzi. His first success was the single "La gatta," which has been used in world language Italian task disks in America for middle schools and high schools.
Another early song was "Il cielo in una stanza" composed in 1959. According to Paoli, the lyrics had come to him while lying on the bed of a brothel. Looking at the purple ceiling, he thought, "Love can grow at any moment at any place". Mina's single release of the song topped the list of annual sales in Italy and reached Billboard Hot 100. Video performances of the song were included in the movies "Io bacio... tu baci" and "Appuntamento a Ischia". Later it was featured in the "Goodfellas" movie. Carla Bruni Sarkozy covered the song (mixing French with her native Italian) in her debut album ("Quelqu'un m'a dit").
Gino Paoli’s debut album – Gino Paoli was released in Italy on October 8, 1961 on Dischi Ricordi.
"Il cielo in una stanza" success was followed by "Sapore di sale" (1963), arranged by Ennio Morricone and believed to be his most famous song. In the same year he attempted suicide by shooting himself in the heart (the bullet is still inside his chest).
In 1974 he returned with the LP I semafori rossi non sono Dio, followed by Il mio mestiere (1977). Both showed a more mature inspiration than his 1960s works. In the 1980s Paoli produced a series of successful albums, and in 1985 he toured Italy together with Ornella Vanoni.
In 1987 he was elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies for the Italian Communist Party. He abandoned politics in 1992 to pursue his music ambitions.
He had a long relationship with actress Stefania Sandrelli. Their daughter, Amanda Sandrelli, is also an actress.
Read more about this topic: Gino Paoli
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