ITALIAN SINGER, SONGWRITER’S 1983 ‘L’ITALIANO’ REMAINS VERY POPULAR

Toto Cutugno, an Italian singer and songwriter whose 1983 hit song “L’Italiano” became a worldwide sensation and was still hugely popular decades later, died Tuesday in Milan. He was 80.

His longtime manager, Danilo Mancuso, said the cause of Cutugno’s death was cancer.

In a career that began when he was in his late teens, Cutugno sold more than 100 million albums worldwide.

“He was able to build melodies that remained stuck in the audience’s mind and heart,” Mancuso, who had worked with Cutugno for 20 years, said in a phone interview. “The refrains of his most popular songs are so melodic.”

Cutugno’s career began with a stint, first as a drummer and then as a pianist, with Toto e i Tati, a small local band in northern Italy. He soon branched out into songwriting.

His talent for writing memorable songs earned him collaborations with famous French singers, such as Joe Dassin, for whom he wrote “L’été Indien” and “Et si Tu N’Existais pas”; and Dalida, with whom he wrote the disco hit “Monday, Tuesday … Laissez-Moi Danser.” International stars like Celine Dion sang his songs as well.

But Cutugno also found success singing his own compositions, first with Albatros, a disco band, which took third place at the Sanremo Festival of Italian Song in 1976. He then began a solo career and garnered his first national recognition in Italy in 1980, when he won the festival with “Solo Noi.”

He returned to the festival three years later with “L’Italiano.” He finished in fifth place, but the song, a hymn to a country straining to rebuild after World War II — marked by symbols of Italy like espresso, the Fiat Seicento and a president who had fought as a partisan during the conflict — became tremendously popular. It is still one of Italy’s best-known songs, played on television and at street festivals across the country, as well as a nostalgic reminder of their homeland for expatriates elsewhere.

The song’s success paved the way for an international career: Cutugno went on to tour over the years in the United States, Europe, Turkey and Russia.

“Russia was his second homeland,” Mancuso said. “The only Western entertainment that Russian televisions broadcast at the time was the Sanremo song festival, and Toto was often on and was appreciated.”