Pupo

Childhood and adolescence
Enzo Ghinazzi was born on September 11, 1955 in Ponticino, a hamlet of the then municipality of Laterina and Civitella in Val di Chiana, in the province of Arezzo. His father, Fiorello, was a postman; his mother, Irene Bozzi, was a housewife. Both parents enjoyed singing and acting: his mother in various local choirs, his father in Tuscan ottava rima until he sang with many famous faces such as Roberto Benigni. His grandfather Santi Ghinazzi, on the other hand, was nicknamed “the poet”.

The beginnings
In 1970 he met Anna, a girl with whom he married four years later, giving birth to his first daughter Ilaria. After getting married, he abandoned his studies for military service with a destination in Orvieto and wrote his first song Primavera, dedicated to his maternal aunt, Clara, who died at 25 due to cancer. However, he never published the song. He will then write another song with the same title and which will be published in the nineties. In September 1975, at the age of twenty, he made his debut as a singer-songwriter at Baby Records, Freddy Naggiar’s record company who gave him the pseudonym Pupo. Many years later, he will reveal that he himself was not happy when the record company decided to give him this stage name and hoped that one day they would take it away from him. His first song is entitled Ti scriverò, a piece that the Tuscan singer-songwriter presents to TVL Radiotelevisione Libera performing it in playback. Two years later, even if almost at the closure, he participates again in the same Tuscan television station with Io solo senza te, a song written together with the musical duo La Bionda.

His first album dates back to 1976 and is entitled Come sei bella. In the same year he also begins his career as a lyricist and composer writing songs for various artists such as Paolo Barabani, an artist of the same label. Two years later he took part in Discoring with the song Sempre tu, which became his first most listened to piece (also present in the Spanish version with good success). This piece had a notable success not so much in Italy, but in Brazil. In Italy, he achieved great success again in 1978 with the love song Ciao, presented for the first time on the television program 10 Hertz. The following year he took part in the sixteenth edition of Un disco per l’estate with Forse, which became another great success, better known as Forse si forse no which was translated into numerous languages ​​as well as his other successes.

Gelato al cioccolato (1979)
1979 will be an important year for Pupo, with the publication of the song Gelato al cioccolato, which becomes his greatest success. The song, the Tuscan singer-songwriter initially stated, was inspired by a homosexual adventure experienced in Tunisia by the Sicilian singer Cristiano Malgioglio, who wrote the lyrics. The music was instead written by the Tuscan singer-songwriter. In the 2000s, Pupo stated that Malgioglio wanted to sign with the pseudonym of Miozzi because he did not want to lower himself to writing songs for the Tuscan singer-songwriter; he was always busy writing songs for Mina, Ornella Vanoni and many other musical artists; then he decided not to sign with his name, to avoid people finding out. Years later the truth was announced and also where the inspiration for Gelato al cioccolato came from. Pupo stated that he was disappointed, because he only then discovered the true meaning of this piece, after having sung it all over the world due to its enormous popularity. In December 2019, on Domenica Live, Malgioglio denied this version of events.

Pupo’s second album, released in 1979 and which has the same title as his worldwide hit, contains a song called Atomino, dedicated to the famous fictional character Atomino Bip Bip, created by the Venetian cartoonist Romano Scarpa and brought to popularity through stories and comics belonging to Walt Disney. This piece by the Tuscan singer-songwriter was composed by Pupo himself and Fabrizio Vanni, while the lyrics were written by Paolo Barabani and Giuseppe Tinti.

Pupo performing Su di noi at the 1980 Sanremo Festival
In 1980 Pupo took part in the Sanremo Festival for the first time singing Su di noi, which became one of his most famous and appreciated songs with the realization of an immense number of sales both in Italy and abroad. The song came in third place and tells of a sentimental moment that occurred between Pupo himself and Donatella Milani, who had been working with the Tuscan singer-songwriter as a backing vocalist for some time. This song was included in the album Più di prima, together with two other great successes, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, in which he sings his love for the Tuscan capital and Bravo, performed at the seventeenth edition of Un disco per l’estate. The song Bravo was completed with the collaboration of Paolo Amerigo Cassella and is a melancholic song that tells of an evening in which Pupo himself was alone at home; while playing the piano, he cried.

In September of that year, he won the Gondola d’oro in Venice with Cosa farai. The song will be the A-side of the famous single Firenze Santa Maria Novella, but it will not have the same success as the songs previously released.

In 1981 the Sanremo Festival wanted him again, after the great success of Su di noi. Pupo accepted, but participated in that edition only as an author writing Sarà perché ti amo for Ricchi e Poveri, a song with which the group reached fifth place and Hop hop somarello for the singer-songwriter Paolo Barabani, a song that instead came sixth. In the same year he participated for the second and last time in the Venice International Light Music Festival performing Lo devo solo a te, which became another of his most successful, most sold and listened to songs. The song was included in the album of the same name released in the same year together with five songs that marked his life, namely Nashville, dedicated to the capital of Tennessee and performed for the first time there during a big concert, Lidia a Mosca, another success inspired by a friendship between Pupo and a Russian girl, Non mi rivolgevo mai, which includes a flashback of the Tuscan singer-songwriter starting from adolescence up to all the results of his life, Burattino telecomandato, which will be a great hit for the Russian capital and La storia di noi due, a song dedicated to Barbara D’Urso. These five songs mentioned, will have considerable success especially in Russia and in other foreign countries. The interpretation of the song Lo devo solo a te at that Venetian exhibition, was preceded by the delivery of the Gondola d’oro won in the previous edition; it was delivered by the architect Benito Perinato, representing the municipality of Venice, which at that time was led by the mayor Mario Rigo.

Pupo receiving the golden gondola from Benito Perinato in Venice (1981)
The various times at the Sanremo Festival
As a performer, he repeated the Sanremo experience in 1983 with Cieli azzurri, with which he ranked last and in 1984 with Un amore grande, written by Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi; in this edition he replaced Loretta Goggi at the last minute who was supposed to perform with the same song and ranked fourth. Un amore grande became another great success of the eighties and remains one of his songs in all respects. In the 1983 edition he also participated in Sanremo as an author by writing Dammi tanto amore for Daniela Goggi, a song with which Loretta’s sister failed to reach the final.

In 1985 he published Change generation, an album of his musical career particularly characteristic that includes songs very different from the songs previously made, including the single of the same name, which talks about the new generation, Suona e va, La mia libertà, Cantando and Vita d’artista that Pupo himself will dedicate twenty-eight years later to Al Bano on Rai 1 in Russia.

Collaboration with Fiordaliso
In 1986 he collaborated with Fiordaliso through a tour abroad and as an author, together with Enzo Malepasso, of three songs: Un’altra storia d’amore, Siento, published only in Latin America, and the duet La vita è molto di più, with which they participated in Premiatissima ranking in third place and with which they obtained a good sales success.

The victory at Zecchino d’oro and the difficult period (1987-1989)
In 1987 he won the thirtieth edition of Zecchino d’Oro by writing the song Canzone amica, performed by Fabio Etter (7 years old, from Paderno Dugnano). The song was included two years later in the album Quello che sono together with the single of the same name, presented at the eleventh edition of Cantamare.
During this period Pupo also became a writer, publishing some books. His second autobiographical novel entitled Banco solo! Diario di un giocoso chiamato Pupo, also narrates some particularly sad moments experienced by the singer due to gambling.