Luigi Tenco is an Italian singer, musician, songwriter and romantic icon of the 1960s whose life ended very early. Luigi committed suicide after a failed performance at the San Remo Song Festival. At that time he was 28 years old.
Luigi's creative biography began in his school years, when he gathered his first musical group. In 1959, the singer went on tour in Germany with the famous Adriano Celentano. The singer released his first professional album in 1962.
The popularity of the singer was added by his love relationship with the French pop star Dalida. It was she who found Luigi's body in the hotel room "Savoy" after performing at the competition in San Remo. The singer shot himself with his own pistol on January 27, 1967, he was only 28 years old.
Biography facts
Luigi was born in the spring of 1938 in Italy. He did not know his father and never saw him. Giuseppe Tenco died in an accident before the boy was born. Mom was not officially married and therefore never talked about her relationship with Giuseppe.
In 1948, the family moved to Genoa, where they opened a liquor store selling Piedmont wines.
While studying at Andrea Doria High School, Luigi became interested in music and began to master musical instruments. He learned to play the piano, clarinet and saxophone. And soon he formed his first jazz band.
Despite the fact that the young man's main interest was creativity, he continued his education in college at the technical faculty. That was his mother's wish, and Luigi really didn't want to upset her.
After entering college, Tenko gathered a new team, I Diavoli del Rock, but it lasted only a few months. Then another group was organized - I Cavalieri, where the singer performed under the stage name Gigi Mai. In 1958, he and his team went on a tour of the cities of Germany together with A. Celentano.
Creative career
In 1961, Tenko released his first single and signed a contract with the Ricordi recording studio. A year later, his first full-length album was released. In the same year, Luigi tried himself in the role of an actor, getting a small role in the film "Bonanza" directed by Luciano Salce.
In 1965, Luigi was drafted into the army, his career was temporarily suspended. A year later, the singer was demobilized for medical reasons and went to Rome to pursue a musical career. He recorded several new songs that quickly became popular. Many were sure that his further career would begin to grow rapidly and he would become a pop star.
Personal life
In Rome, Luigi met the singer Dalida. Soon, rumors about their romantic relationship appeared in the media, which sparked a keen interest in the musician.
Later they said that it was a kind of publicity stunt in order to draw attention to it. These conversations arose due to the fact that during the same period Luigi met with a conservatory student named Valeria and was even going to marry her. According to some reports, the girl was pregnant, but had a serious accident and eventually lost her child. Nothing is known about further relations with Valeria. But with Delilah Luigi was together until the very end.
Death of a singer
The last time the singer appeared on the stage was at the San Remo festival in 1967. At that time, Luigi was already suffering from depression and was taking strong sedatives, psychotropic and narcotic drugs. At the competition, he performed one of his favorite songs, but the jury awarded him only 12th place and excluded him from further participation in the project. The decision shocked the singer so much that he left the hall, refused to participate in the banquet and went to his room at the Savoy Hotel.
Arriving at the hotel, the singer shot himself with his own pistol, leaving a suicide note in which he accused the audience and the jury of the competition of injustice.
Delilah, returning to the room, found the body of her lover. The singer was so shocked that a month later she also tried to commit suicide by taking a large dose of sleeping pills, but she was saved.
For a long time, the singer's death was discussed in all media and was overgrown with various rumors. Many refused to believe that he killed himself. After 39 years, the body was even exhumed to confirm the fact of Luigi's suicide. After the examination, no one had any doubts that the famous singer had committed suicide.
