Rudy Zerbi

Rudy Zerbi (born 3 February 1969) is an Italian radio television personality, personality, record producer, disc jockey and television presenter.

Biography

Born in 1969 in Lodi, Lombardy, he is the illegitimate son of television presenter Davide Mengacci, who, as a young man, was briefly romantically linked to his mother by future record producer Luciana Coi, but later refused to recognize his son. Rudy learned of his father's death at the age of thirty, when his mother, who at the time was suffering from a life-threatening cancer (though she later recovered), decided to reveal it to him by showing Mengacci on television. Zerbi said that discovering his father's identity was such a shock to him that he couldn't speak for 12 days. He only met Mengacci on 3 March 2001, at a party he had been invited to by Mara Carfagna (who at the time was co-hosting Mengacci's show, La domenica del villaggio). Rudy was raised by his mother's two husbands: Roberto Zerbi – who adopted him, giving him his surname and with whom his mother had her second son, Stefano – and Giorgio Ciana, a hotelier from Santa Margherita Ligure (who died in March 2018), with whom his mother had her third son, Piergiorgio.

At the age of three, he moved to Santa Margherita Ligure, where his family ran a hotel. At a young age, he decided to pursue his passion for music, becoming a disc jockey at the Covo di Nord Est nightclub and at Radio Tigullio. He attended a linguistic high school in Rapallo and graduated in law from the University of Milan. After some radio experience, he began working as a talent scout and record producer for Sony Music. He gained fame thanks to his witty interviews with international artists and various radio and television collaborations with the Gialappa's Band, including Rai dire Sanremo for Rai.