Giorgio Gaber

Giorgio Gaberscik (25 January 1939 – 1 January 2003), known as Giorgio Gaber (Italian: [ˈdʒordʒo ˈɡaːber]), was an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, actor, playwright, and musician. He was also an accomplished guitar player and author of one of the first rock songs in Italian ("Ciao ti dirò", 1958). With Sandro Luporini, he pioneered the musical genre known as teatro canzone ('theatre song').

Biography

Debut

He was born in Milan into a lower-middle-class family. His father, Guido Gaberščik, was born in Trieste when the city was still part of Austria-Hungary. The surname Gaberscik is of Slovene origin (Gaberščik). His mother was from the Veneto region. The two met and married in Veneto and later moved to Milan, where Giorgio was born.

Gaber began to play as rehabilitation for an injury to his hand which required constant but not strenuous activity to recover his motor skills. Since his health as a child was not the best and his older brother Marcello played guitar, he was encouraged to play as well. The outcome was good both in terms of his health and artistically, and at only fourteen years of age, he was engaged to play at a New Eve's party and earned his first paycheck of 1,000 lire.

Subsequently, he began to frequent the Santa Tecla, a venue in Milan where he had the chance to meet musicians of the time, including Luigi Tenco, Gian Franco Reverberi, Adriano Celentano, Ricky Gianco, and Mogol, who obtained a contract for Gaber with Dischi Ricordi. He then played with the Rocky Mountains Old Time Stompers (replacing Tony Dallara who had left to pursue a solo career) and with Rolling Crew.