Francesco De Gregori -

Francesco De Gregori (born April 4, 1951) is an Italian singer/songwriter who emerged in 1972 as one-half of the folk duo Theorius Campus, which also included Antonello Venditti. As a solo artist, De Gregori released 12 albums on RCA Italiana between 1973 and 1985.

Background

Francesco De Gregori was born April 4, 1951, in Rome to library administrator Giorgio De Gregori and literature teacher Rita Grechi. His older brother Luigi De Gregori became a librarian and folk singer under the name Luigi Grechi. The family spent much of the 1950s in Pescara, where Giorgio served as bibliographic superintendent for Abruzzo and Molise, then returned to Rome.

De Gregori first played harmonica and learned part-singing from his father on Alpine songs. In 1966 he learned guitar on an instrument owned by his grandfather, starting with Adriano Celentano’s “Il ragazzo della via Gluck,” and began composing songs the following year. He attended Liceo Classico Virgilio in Rome and entered the Sapienza University faculty of Letters and Philosophy, where he shifted from sociology to contemporary history under Renzo De Felice.

Luigi introduced De Gregori to the Folkstudio, where the younger singer made his first public appearance at age 17 with the original “Buonanotte Nina.” De Gregori subsequently teamed with Giorgio Lo Cascio for Folkstudio sets of original material and Italian adaptations of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen songs; a Jan. 24, 1970 performance also featured Antonello Venditti on piano. De Gregori joined Venditti, Lo Cascio, and Ernesto Bassignano in the 1971 Folkstudio program I Giovani del Folk.

Caterina Bueno hired De Gregori as a guitarist for a 1971 tour through a referral from Giovanna Marini, who subsequently directed De Gregori and Lo Cascio to Vincenzo Micocci at IT, where the pair auditioned with a four-song lacquer that included De Gregori’s “Signora Aquilone.” Micocci offered the pair a recording contract, but the partnership with Lo Cascio ended, and IT paired De Gregori with Venditti for the sessions that became Theorius Campus.

Discography: