In 1985, “Ricchi e Poveri” won the Sanremo festival with the song “Se m’innamoro” (“If I fall in love”), receiving 1,506,812 audience votes for it. In May 1986, the first tour of the group in the Soviet Union took place. In 1991, the band members signed a contract with the RAI TV channel and became the hosts of the popular television program Domenica in and released the album “Una domenica con te”. In 1998, the trio released the album “Parla col cuore”, which included their best songs, as well as 6 unreleased songs (“Mai dire mai” (“Never say never”), “La stella che vuoi” (“Star, which you wish”), etc.), written by themselves in collaboration with the writer Fabrizio Berlincioni. In 1994-2008, the group conducts numerous tours in Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Moldova, Georgia, Lithuania, Australia, Albania, Slovenia, Hungary, Canada and the USA. The band’s records have sold over 20 million copies. In 2012, the band released their first album after a 14-year hiatus with several new songs called “Perdutamente Amore”. In 2013, their performance at the Sanremo Festival was canceled due to the death of their son, Franco Gatti. On May 4, 2016, Franco Gatti announced that he was leaving the group, linking this with a desire to spend more time with his family. Personal life of Franco Gatti: Wife – Stefania. The couple have a daughter, Federica, who is a law graduate. They also had a son, Alessio Gatti, who died in early 2013 at the age of 23. The body of a young man was found in his apartment in the city of Genoa. A number of media reported that the guy died from a drug overdose, but Franco Gatti denied this information. The performer said that Alessio did not use drugs and in the last days of his life complained of pain in the stomach. The pain caused by this personal tragedy pushed the singer to end his musical career. He explained: “After the death of my son Alessio, my life changed. I’m different, on stage I used to laugh at myself, joke with my mustache, on my nose I made a little fool. Now I don’t feel it anymore.”
The cause of Gatti’s death is still unknown. However, a few years ago, Gatti said that he was suffering from Crohn’s disease (intestinal disease), in addition, in 2020 he had a severe case of coronavirus.
PS Alas, the disco stars are leaving. And we stay. Listen to children’s counting rhymes to music in 1 chord.
