Cutugno began his musical career as a
drummer, and at 19 he founded his first band, . He also started a career as a songwriter, contributing some of French-American singer
Joe Dassin most well-known songs such as "", "", and "" (written with
Vito Pallavicini). He also co-wrote
Dalida's "
Monday, Tuesday... Laissez-moi danser" ("" in its Italian version), which achieved Platinum record status shortly after being released, as well as songs for
Johnny Hallyday,
Mireille Mathieu,
Ornella Vanoni,
Domenico Modugno,
Claude François,
Gigliola Cinquetti,
Gérard Lenorman,
Michel Sardou,
Hervé Vilard, and
Paul Mauriat. However, Cutugno's affiliation with the festival is mostly remembered for "" ("The Italian"), a song he presented in
1983. Originally intended for Adriano Celentano – who declined to sing it because, despite liking the song, he did not feel comfortable singing the refrain ("I am a true Italian") – ""'s recapitulation of some of Italy's most popular social traits made the song very popular with
Italian expats. Although the song finished only fifth in Sanremo, it went on to become Cutugno's biggest international hit. In 2013, Cutugno was awarded a lifetime career award at the Sanremo Festival. As a songwriter, during the 1980s Cutugno composed hit songs for numerous artists, notably
Miguel Bosé (the
Festivalbar winning song "Super Superman"), Adriano Celentano (""),
Luis Miguel (""),
Fausto Leali (""),
Peppino di Capri (""),
Ricchi e Poveri (""),
Fiordaliso ("" and ""). In 1990, at the refusal of Sanremo winners
Pooh, Cutugno, who had placed second, was invited to represent Italy at the
Eurovision Song Contest in
Zagreb. He went on to win the contest with his own original composition "" ("Together: 1992"), a ballad which celebrated European political integration and the establishment of the European Union. Along with
Gigliola Cinquetti, Italy's earlier Eurovision winner, he presented the
1991 contest, which was staged in
Rome as a result of his victory. In 2014, he was the main subject of a
Facebook page, (), which in a short time became an internet phenomenon, attracting thousands of likes, sharings and comments; the case eventually became the subject of a study of the
Institute for Advanced Study in
Pavia. In 2016, he returned to collaborate with Adriano Celentano, co-writing the song "" for the
Mina–Celentano album . Outside of Italy, Cutugno often toured in the United States, regularly performing in New York City and
Atlantic City; he also toured Australia three times, represented by Italo-Australian impresario Duane Zigliotto. Countries where he was very popular include Germany, Spain, Romania, Turkey and Russia, In March 2019, a group of politicians from the
Ukrainian Parliament tried to stop Cutugno from performing in
Kyiv, demanding through an open letter to the head of the country's security services,
Vasyl Hrytsak, to ban the singer from entering Ukrainian territory, labelling him as "a
Russian war supporter in Ukraine" – probably because of his success in Russia and his relationship with the Red Army Choir. Two days before, fellow Italian singer Al Bano had been blacklisted on the Ukrainian website
Myrotvorets. Cutugno rejected the accusations, describing himself as
apolitical and highlighting how he had refused to perform in
Crimea following its
2014 Russian occupation. Despite the controversy, the concert was eventually held in Kyiv on 23 March. The same year, Cutugno had his last significant television role as one of the coaches in the musical show . In August of that same year, he made one of his last live performances, as a guest in
Jovanotti's Jova Beach Tour. ==Personal life and death==