Giorgio Gaber, born Giorgio Gaberscik on January 25, 1939, in Milan, was an Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist, playwright, and actor whose career helped shape modern Italian popular music. After emerging in the late 1950s as one of Italy's pioneering rock and roll performers, he found success with songs including "Non arrossire," "La ballata del Cerutti," "Trani a gogò," "Goganga," and "Porta Romana," many written with Umberto Simonetta. He also appeared four times at the Sanremo Music Festival during the 1960s. From the late 1960s onward, Gaber shifted toward socially conscious songwriting, creating the influential teatro canzone ("theatre song") genre with the stage production Il signor G. Later works such as "Far finta di essere sani" and Io non mi sento italiano cemented his reputation as one of Italy's most original singer-songwriters. He received the inaugural Tenco Award in 1974 and additional Targa Tenco honors later in his career. Gaber died on January 1, 2003.
