Jovanotti
Lorenzo Cherubini (born 27 September 1966), known professionally as Jovanotti (lang), is an Italian singer-songwriter, rapper, and disc jockey. The name Jovanotti derives from giovanotti, the plural form of the Italian word giovanotto ("young man"). Cherubini initially chose "Joe Vanotti" as his stage name, but a promotional poster for a night club incorrectly billed him as "Jovanotti" and the name stuck.
Also recorded as Gino Latino
Jovanotti

Jovanotti_firenze2008_3.jpg: Cassinam derivative work: RanZag (talk) · Jovanotti_firenze2008_3.jpg · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Jovanotti
- Birth Name
- Lorenzo Cherubini
- Born
- 27 September 1966
- Birthplace
- Rome, Italy
- Occupation
- * Singer-songwriter
- Full name
- Lorenzo Cherubini.
- Nationality
- Italy.
- Fields
- pop music, alternative hip-hop, funk, world music, pop rock and folk-pop.
- Honours
- David di Donatello for Best Original Song and Commendatore.
- Languages
- Italian.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Lorenzo Cherubini (born 27 September 1966), known professionally as Jovanotti (lang), is an Italian singer-songwriter, rapper, and disc jockey. The name Jovanotti derives from giovanotti, the plural form of the Italian word giovanotto ("young man"). Cherubini initially chose "Joe Vanotti" as his stage name, but a promotional poster for a night club incorrectly billed him as "Jovanotti" and the name stuck.
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gnd · 121949249 · wikidata · Q505455 · wikipedia · Jovanotti
In this article
Biography
Biography
Jovanotti worked across singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and disc jockey and 4 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in pop music, alternative hip-hop, funk, world music, pop rock and folk-pop. This article rests on 31 catalogued compositions, 4 published texts, 196 issued recordings and 3 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

Italian singer-songwriter Jovanotti
Elena Torre · Flickr.com

Jovanotti live at "Lorenzo in the Palasport" in Bolzano, Italy, on 11 January 2016.
Daniele Dalledonne
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jovanotti • Birth Name — Lorenzo Cherubini • Alias — Jovanotti, Gino Latino, Jeronimo • Born — 27 September 1966 • Birthplace — Rome, Italy • Genre — * Pop • alternative hip hop • funk • world • pop rock • Occupation — * Singer-songwriter • rapper • disc jockey • Instrument — * Drum • guitar • Years Active — 1988–present • Label — * Ibiza Records • Free Records Independent • Mercury • ATO • MapleMusic (Canada) • Verve • Universal • Soleluna • Website — http: www.soleluna.com/ www.jova.tv
Early life
Early life
Cherubini was born on 27 September 1966 in Rome to Tuscan parents, Mario and Viola Cardinali, but he spent part of his childhood in his parents' hometown, Cortona, in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany. After completing his high-school studies, he started working as a disc jockey in several discothèques and radio stations in the province of Rome. In 1985 he moved to Milan. Two years later, during the summer of 1987, while he was playing a DJ set in Palinuro, he met the record producer and talent scout Claudio Cecchetto, who proposed they begin working together. That same year Jovanotti released his first single, "Walking," and started working as a DJ for one of the most prominent national radio stations, Radio DeeJay, which was founded by Cecchetto five years earlier.
Career
Career
• Illustration — Jovanotti in 1993 His first studio album, Jovanotti for President, was released in 1988 and became the symbol of the Italian youth of the eighties, without any interest in ideologies and politics. Despite receiving strongly negative criticism, the album became a big commercial success, reaching the third position on the Italian Musica e dischi Albums Chart and selling over 400,000 copies in Italy. Moreover, the album spawned five singles, including the number-one hits, "Gimme Five" (also the name of his British TV show for Janet Street Porter's DEF II youth TV block on BBC Two) and "Gimme Five (Rasta Five)" and the songs "Go Jovanotti Go" and "Mix, Remix & The singers," which entered the Italian top 5. In 1998, Jovanotti played a brief role in the movie I Giardini dell'Eden, directed by Alessandro D'Alatri. The song "Piove" was released for the second season of The Sopranos as an ending credits track. His 2005 CD, Buon Sangue, was influenced by both rock and old school hip hop. It is one of his most innovative works to date. Edoardo Bennato collaborated on one track, while bass player Saturnino co-wrote two of the songs. • Illustration — Jovanotti in 2016 In 2007 he was featured at the end of Negramaro's song, "Cade la Pioggia," of their CD, La Finestra, and in 2008 he released the new album Safari. In 2008 he performed as guest artist on the track "Lugar Comum" from the album Encanto. At the end of 2009, he collaborated with Claudio Baglioni and Fabrizio Bosso, along with 70 other artists, in the song "Con tutto il mio cuore (With All My Heart)." On 1 January 2010 the group released "Baciami ancora (Kiss Me Again)" for the soundtrack of a film by Gabriele Muccino. In December 2010 he achieved a number one hit on the Italian Top 20 charts with "Tutto l'amore che ho." On 25 January 2011, he released his eighteenth album Ora. Later in 2011 he played at the Bonnaroo Music Festival.
Commitment
Commitment
Along with the evolution of his sound, his social and political commitment for mainstream causes has increased since the 1990s. As a convinced pacifist, he frequently worked with organizations such as Make Poverty History, Amnesty International, and he has contributed to events dedicated to debt relief (Global Call to Action Against Poverty). Jovanotti has a friendship with Bono due to their mutual quest for the cancellation of foreign debt in poor African countries. He also collaborated with Michael Franti of Spearhead on his Capo Horn and Ora albums. Both Michael Franti and U2 misspelled his name as Giovanotti in the liner note credits.
Television
Television
Even though Jovanotti has never had a UK chart hit under his own name, he was briefly known in the United Kingdom as the presenter of the DEF II programme Gimme 5. The show, which featured a brief introduction each week by Jovanotti, showcased youth television programmes from around the world. Starting in 1990, he also hosted the similarly formatted Earth to MTV for U.S. cable television; this music-video showcase competed with similar programming on VH1 (New Visions: Worldbeat), Bravo (Big World Cafe), and Spanish-language Telemundo (MTV Internacional) and Univision (Tu Musica). In 2020 he released exclusively for RaiPlay the documentary in sixteen episodes "Non voglio cambiare Pianeta" (I don't want to change Planet) which he filmed whilst travelling from Chile to Argentina on his bicycle, between January and February 2020. In 2025, he was announced as a special guest of Sanremo Music Festival. He has performed during the first night.
Gino Latino
Gino Latino
Jovanotti was behind one of two rival Gino Latino italo house tracks in the early 1990s. His Gino Latino single, "Welcome", reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.
Personal life
Personal life
On 6 September 2008, Jovanotti married Francesca Valiani at Cortona, in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova. Their daughter Teresa was born in 1998. He dedicated the lullaby "Per te" to Teresa, one of the hits of the album Capo Horn (1999), and the song "Libera" from the album Lorenzo 2015 cc. Jovanotti believes in a God but he does not follow any religion.
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1992 — Parenti serpenti — Himself — Uncredited cameo • 1998 — The Garden of Eden — David • 1998 — Jolly Blu — Record label's president • 2007 — The Simpsons — Milo (voice) — Episode: "Husbands and Knives"
Career and working life
Career and working life
Jovanotti worked as singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer, and the authority record catalogues a further 5 occupations under the same name, among them disc jockey, author, composer, musician and singer-songwriter. Active from 1988. The fields Jovanotti worked in include pop music, alternative hip-hop, funk, world music, pop rock and folk-pop. Jovanotti played the drum and the voice. Jovanotti worked in Italian.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Cortona.
Residences
Rome.
Birth place
Works documented in more than one form
Catalogued output
Works documented in more than one form
6 titles are catalogued under more than one form, which is to say the registers hold them both as a work and as a distinct object, score, recording or edition. Where a title is documented in several forms the evidence behind it is correspondingly wider, and the article treats those forms as separate records of the same work rather than as separate works.
Compositions, 2014
Catalogued output
Compositions, 2014
The entries below are works composed by the subject, as the institutional registers catalogue them; later performances and commercial recordings of the same music are listed separately. They belong to a run of 31 titles in all, from 2014 to 2014.
1 composition carry the date 2014
Compositions without a settled date
Catalogued output
Compositions without a settled date
30 further compositions are catalogued under Jovanotti's name without a date the collections agree on, which is why they are set apart from the dated run rather than placed in it. A selection is set out below and the complete run may be opened beneath it.
Apri tutte le porte
Detto tra noi
The Sound of Sunshine
Non c'è libertà
The Godfather Waltz / Just a Villain
C’era un ragazzo che come me amava i Beatles e i Rolling Stones
Dolce far niente
Buona sera signorina
Via le mani dagli occhi
J’ai confiance en toi (Mi fido di te)
Tutto può succedere
Un giorno di sole
Catalogued output
Writings on music
These are catalogued publications carrying the name — editions and printings, distinct from the works they contain and from writing about the subject. The 2010s are the densest part of the run, with 2 titles, and that concentration is a fact about what the registers have catalogued rather than a judgement on the work itself.
4 editions carry dates between 1998 and 2022
The run opens with Il grande boh! And closes with Poesie da spiaggia
The entries follow Open Library
Discography
Discography
Studio albums • Jovanotti for President (1988) • La mia moto (1989) • Giovani Jovanotti (1990) • Una tribù che balla (1991) • Lorenzo 1992 (1992) • Lorenzo 1994 (1994) • Lorenzo 1997 - L'albero (1997) • Lorenzo 1999 - Capo Horn (1999) • Lorenzo 2002 - Il quinto mondo (2002) • Buon sangue (2005) • Safari (2008) • Ora (2011) • Lorenzo 2015 CC. (2015) • Oh, Vita! (2017) • Jova Beach Party (2019) • Lorenzo sulla luna (2019) • Il disco del Sole (2022) • Il corpo umano – vol. 1 (2025)
Issued recordings, 1988–2019
Primary material
Issued recordings, 1988–2019
These are published sound issues catalogued under the name. Most postdate the works they carry, and an issue is never counted here as a work of composition. 88 issues carry dates between 1988 and 2019. The run opens with Gimme Five and closes with Luna. They belong to a run of 115 titles in all, from 1988 to 2026.
Issued recordings, 2020–2026
Primary material
Issued recordings, 2020–2026
27 issues carry dates between 2020 and 2026. The run opens with Balla per me and closes with DNA. They belong to a run of 115 titles in all, from 1988 to 2026. Il corpo umano vol.
Recordings and discography
Primary material
Recordings and discography
The discography assembled here shows how Jovanotti's work has been published in sound, not what Jovanotti made. 81 sound issues are catalogued, carrying dates from 1988 to 2026. An issue is a published recording, distinct from the composition it carries, from a printed score of that composition and from any single performance of it; none of the entries below is counted in the catalogue of compositions above, and several of them carry the same work in different readings. The 2010s are the densest decade of publication, with 29 issues. The performers and issuing labels are as the discographic register states them; where it names no performer the article names none.
Il corpo umano, Vol
Primary material
Documents and archives
institutional register
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 121949249, Jovanotti.
General reference · GND (German National Library)
reference work
- “Jovanotti”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q505455: Jovanotti
General reference · Wikidata
Awards and nominations
Awards and nominations
• Year — Award — Nomination — Work — Result • 1996 — MTV Video Music Awards — Best European Video — "L'ombelico del mondo" • 1998 — Premio Italiano della Musica — Italian Album of the Year — Lorenzo 1997 - L'albero • Italian Song of the Year — "Bella" • Italian Tour of the Year — Lorenzo Tour 1997 • Special Award – Radio DeeJay — Himself • 1999 — MTV Europe Music Awards — Best Italian Act — Himself • 2000 — Premio Italiano della Musica — Song of the Year — "Il mio nome è mai più" (with Ligabue & Piero Pelù) • Music Video of the Year — "Il mio nome è mai più" (with Ligabue & Piero Pelù) • Lunezia Award — Best Singer-Songwriter Album — Lorenzo 1999 - Capo Horn • 2001 — Italian Music Awards — Best Tour — Lorenzo Tour 1999 • Best Music Video — "File Not Found" • 2002 — Premio Videoclip Italiano — Best Music Video of Research — "Salvami" • 2005 — Premio Videoclip Italian — Best Music Video by a Male Artist — "(Tanto)³" • 2006 — Premio Amnesty Italia — Voices for Freedom — "Mani in alto" • MTV Europe Music Awards — Best Italian Act — Himself • Premio Videoclip Italiano — Best Music Video by a Male Artist — "Falla girare" • 2008 — Mogol Award — Best Lyrics — "Fango" • World Music Awards — Best-Selling Italian Artist — Himself • Premio Videoclip Italiano — Special Award for the Art of Music Videos — Himself • Musica e Dischi Critics' Prize — Best Italian Album — Safari • 2009 — Mogol Award — Best Lyrics — "A te" • 2010 — David di Donatello — Best Song — "Baciami ancora" (from Baciami ancora) • Nastro d'Argento — Best Original Song — "Baciami ancora" (from Baciami ancora) • 2011 — TRL Awards — Superman Award — Himself • Mogol Award — Best Lyrics — "Le tasche piene di sassi" • MTV Europe Music Awards — Best Italian Act — Himself • Musica e Dischi Critics' Prize — Best Italian Album – Pop & Rock — Ora • Best Concert Tour — Lorenzo Live – Ora in Tour 2011–2012 • Rockol Awards — Best Italian Album — Ora • Best Italian Single — "Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang" • Best Italian Tour — Lorenzo Live – Ora in Tour 2011–2012 • 2012 — TRL Awards — Superman Award — Himself • Best Video — "Il più grande spettacolo dopo il Big Bang" • 2013 — MTV Italian Music Awards — TwITStar — Himself • Medimex Awards — Artist of the Year – Special Award — Himself • 2015 — MTV Italian Music Awards — TwITStar — Himself • Medimex Awards — Best Album — Lorenzo 2015 CC. • Best Music Video — "Sabato" • Best Concert Tour — Lorenzo negli stadi 2015 • 2016 — Assomusica Award — Music Award for Best Visual Live Show 2015 — Lorenzo negli stadi 2015 • Onstage Awards — Platinum Ticket – Most-viewed Italian tour in indoor arenas — Lorenzo nei Palasport • Best Performer — Himself • Best Tour — Himself • Live Anthem — "Gli immortali" • Best Look — Himself • 2017 — David di Donatello — Best Original Song — "L'estate addosso"
Honours
Honours
– Commander Order of Merit of the Italian Republic: Awarded the third highest civil honour in Italy, by President Sergio Mattarella on 30 January 2026.
Honours and awards
Where the work is held
Honours and awards
2 honours stand against the name
David di Donatello for Best Original Song
Authority records
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Buon compleanno Jovanotti! – Fotogalleria – Foto 1 di 11. la Repubblica. 27 September 2006.
- 2.Wuz.it. Jovanotti – La biografia di Jovanotti.
- 3.Buon compleanno Jovanotti! – Fotogalleria – Foto 1 di 11. la Repubblica. 27 September 2006.
- 4.MSN. L'incontro con Cecchetto. 2 February 2011.
- 5.Buon compleanno Jovanotti! – Fotogalleria – Foto 3 di 11. la Repubblica. 27 September 2006.
- 6.Tummino Titti. Jovanotti, la musica e l'impegno. la Repubblica. 21 April 2002.
- 7.Andrea Laffranchi. Temevo un altro flop. Il futuro? Potrei fare tv. Corriere della Sera. 27 December 2005.
- 8.www.eventiverona.it. Buon sangue tour 2005.
- 9.www.hitpadadeitalia.it. Gli album più venduti del 1988.
- 10.Jovanotti si sposta al Palaeur. Corriere della Sera. 16 April 1994.
- 11.TVARK Media Player. www.tvark.org.
- 12.hitparadeitalia.it. Indice per artista: J.
- 13.McLane, Daisann. Pop View: Around the Dial, and Around the World. The New York Times. A.26. 1990-09-23.
- 14.Ragone, Martina. Non voglio cambiare pianeta. Il Messaggero Italiano. 2020-05-25.
- 15.Sanremo 2025, Jovanotti e Damiano David i primi super ospiti.
- 16.Jovanotti, primo superospite del Festival di Sanremo.
- 17.Jovanotti insieme alla figlia Teresa, 'tali e quali', cinguetta mamma Francesca Valiani (Italian)
- 18.Cazzullo, Aldo. Sono diventato un uomo di spettacolo per far sorridere la mia mamma, malata di tristezza. Dipiù. 1. 66–69. 10 January 2025.
- 19.Mtv censura gli affreschi di Giulio Romano. Corriere della Sera. 28 July 1996.
- 20.Tutte le nomination del P.I.M. 1998. la Repubblica. 25 March 1998.
- 21.Premio Italiano della Musica. la Repubblica. 3 March 1999.
- 22.Rockol.it. MTV Europe Music Awards: scatta la caccia ai superfavoriti, a Jovanotti il premio per l'Italia?. 11 November 1999.
- 23.Antonio Dipollina. Lacrime e canzoni ricordando De André. la Repubblica. 13 April 2000.
- 24.Rockol.it. Da Jovanotti a Baglioni, i candidati al Premio Lunezia. 29 April 2000.
- 25.Rockol.it. Le nomination agli Italian Music Awards: quasi un plebiscito per i Lùnapop. 12 January 2001.
- 26.Rockol.it. Jovanotti al M.E.I. 12 November 2002.
- 27.Rockol.it. Comunicato Stampa: Premio Videoclip Italiano, i vincitori. 18 November 2005.
- 28.Rockol.it. Premio 'Una canzone per Amnesty 2006': Jovanotti e De Gregori tra i candidati. 14 February 2006.
- 29.Giuseppe Videtti. Justin, re degli Mtv Awards. Miglior artista italiano i Finley. la Repubblica. 3 November 2015.
- 30.Chiude il PVI 2006. 'And the winners are.'. 18 November 2006.
- 31.Mediaset. A Jovanotti Premio Mogol per Fango. TGCOM. 9 June 2008.
- 32.entertainment.ie. Winners World Music Awards 2008: The Winners. 10 November 2008.
- 33.Rockol.it. Premio Videoclip Italiano, ecco il programma della decima edizione. 10 November 2008.
- 34.Adnkronos. Musica: a Jovanotti e Coldplay il Premio della Critica di Musica & Dischi. 21 November 2008.
- 35.Premio Mogol: Povia vince la seconda edizione, Cremonini è il più votato dai nostri lettori. TV Sorrisi e Canzoni. 15 June 2009.
- 36.David di Donatello, tutti i premi. Corriere della Sera. 7 May 2010.
- 37.Nastri d'Argento – tutte le cinquine. la Repubblica. 27 May 2010.
- 38.Excite.it. Trl Awards 2011, tutte le nomination. 28 February 2015.
- 39.Jovanotti, Le tasche piene di sassi vince il Premio Mogol. La Stampa. 15 June 2011.
- 40.Federica Palladini. I Modà vincono il Best Italian Act. Elle (Italian Edition). 19 October 2011.
- 41.Premio della critica a Jovanotti e Adele. Musica e Dischi. 1 December 2011.
- 42.Rockol.it. Rockol Awards 2011, i vincitori: Adele trionfa, bene Jovanotti, Liga e Coldplay. 9 February 2012.
- 43.MTV Italy. TRL Awards 2012: scopri i nominati e vota ora!. 22 March 2012.
- 44.Conto alla rovescia per gli Mtv Awards. Da seguire in diretta su Max. Gazzetta dello Sport. 12 June 2013.
- 45.Adnkronos. Musica: a Jovanotti premio speciale dell'Academy Medimex. 20 September 2013.
- 46.MTV Italy. MTV Awards 2015: Via al VOTO! Scopri tutte le categorie e sostieni i tuoi artisti preferiti!!!. 4 May 2015.
- 47.Gabriele Antonucci. Jovanotti: Lorenzo 2015 cc premiato dal Medimex come miglior album. Panorama. 16 October 2015.
- 48.Lorenzo Jovanotti, il Premio Assomusica a coronamento del tour. 19 January 2016.
- 49.RAI. TimMusic Onstage Awards: Ecco i vincitori!.
- 50.Luca Marra. Tim Music On Stage Awards 2016: ospiti, nomination. Su Rai 2 il 18 marzo. International Business Times. 16 March 2016.
- 51.Sky Italia. David di Donatello 2017: scopri tutte le candidature21. 21 February 2017.
- 52.Marta Blumi Tripodi. Jovanotti nominato Commendatore della Repubblica: Grande onore. Corriere della Sera. 30 January 2026.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 9
- Yo, brothers and sisters: siamo o non siamo un bel movimento? preface by Roberto D'Agostino, Milano, Vallardi, 1988. ICCU|
- Cherubini, S.l., Soleluna, 1993.
- Il grande boh!, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1998. ISBN 88-07-70102-2
- Quarantology, 1966-2006, Milano, Rizzoli, 2006. ISBN 88-17-01165-7
- La parrucca di Mozart, Torino, Einaudi, 2009. ISBN 978-88-06-20054-1
- Per te, Roma, Gallucci, 2009. ISBN 978-88-6145-086-8
- Viva tutto!, Add Editore, 2010. ISBN 978-88-96873-18-2
- Gratitude, Torino, Einaudi, 2013. ISBN 978-88-06-21834-8
- Sbam!, Milano, Mondadori, 2017. ISBN 978-88-04-68543-2
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
institutional register
Gemeinsame Normdatei 121949249, Jovanotti.GND (German National Library)
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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