Massimo Ranieri

The recorded working language is Italian. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are pop music. Distinctions recorded are Sanremo Music Festival, David di Donatello Award for Lifetime Achievement, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and Grolla d'oro for Best New Actor.

• Name — Massimo Ranieri • Birth Name — Giovanni Calone • Born — 3 May 1951 • Birthplace — Naples, Italy • Instrument — * Vocals • keyboards • guitar • Genre — Traditional pop • Occupation — * Singer • television presenter • actor • director • Years Active — 1964–present

Ranieri was born in Borgo Santa Lucia, Naples, the fifth of eight children in the family. When he was 10, young Giovanni would sing at restaurants, wedding receptions, etc. He was discovered by a music producer about four years later and was flown to New York to record an EP under the name of Gianni Rock.

Calone recorded four songs in 1964: "Tanti auguri signora", "Se mi aspetti stasera", "Non chiudere la porta", and "La prima volta". None of the records were successful, primarily because his young voice was changing. Two years later, he would re-emerge under his new stage name, Massimo Ranieri. In 1966, he made his TV debut singing "Bene Mio". A year later, he made another TV appearance singing "Pietà per chi ti ama". In 1968, he recorded two more songs: "Da bambino", "Ma l'amore cos'è" and "Preghiera". It was not until 1969 that he achieved success and became a teen idol when he sang 'O sole mio" on live TV. That same year, he had a string of hits: "Rita", "Se bruciasse la città", "Quando l'amore diventa poesia", "Il mio amore resta sempre", "Rose rosse" and "Zingara". In 1970, "Vent'anni", "Sogno d'amore", "Sei l'amore mio", "Aranjuez Amore Mio", and "Candida". In 1971, Ranieri recorded the songs "Adagio Veneziano", "Via del Conservatorio", and "Io e Te". He represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1971 where he placed 5th with the song "L'amore è un attimo". In 1972, he released the songs "Ti ruberei", 'O surdato 'nnammurato", and "Erba di casa mia"; in 1973, "Amo ancora lei". He returned to the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, to represent Italy with "Chi sarà con te", where he placed 13th. In 1974, came the singles "Te voglio bene assaie", "Immagina", and "Per una donna". In 1988, he made a comeback to his singing career with the song "Perdere l'amore", which won the Sanremo Music Festival 1988, that year. In 1997, he made another comeback with "Ti parlerò d'amore". In February 2007, he started a concert tour of Italy, titled "Canto perché non-so nuotare...da 40 anni", which lasted for more than two years, with more than 500 shows, was made into a CD and a DVD, which went platinum. In 2022, he won the Mia Martini critics' award at Sanremo Music Festival 2022. In December 2024, he was announced as one of the participants in the Sanremo Music Festival 2025. He placed 23rd with the song "Tra le mani un cuore".

In 1970, Ranieri decided to venture into acting. His screen debut, Metello, received rave reviews from critics and won him the David DiDonatello award for best actor for portraying the title character. He co-starred with Anna Magnani in the television film La Sciantosa later that year. In 1974, he filmed Salvo D'Acquisto, where he portrayed a carabiniere who was executed by the Nazis during World War II. When his singing career started to decline in 1975, Massimo concentrated on his acting career, both in the cinema and, most importantly, as a stage actor: he collaborated with the directors Mauro Bolognini, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Giorgio de Lullo, Giorgio Strehler and Maurizio Scaparro, performing a wide range of material from modern plays and musicals, to Molière and Shakespeare. In 1996, Ranieri provided the speaking and the singing voice of Quasimodo in the Italian-Language version of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He even reprised this role in the sequel. In 2004, he starred in his first French film, a trilogy series called Les Parisiens, where he played a street artist. In 2005, he returned to the stage with the show "Accussì Grande", after a long bout with illness, from which he fully recovered. In 2007, he was in a docu-film called Civico 0, where he played Guilano, a fruit vendor, who becomes homeless after the death of his mother. In 2008, he starred in the film L'Ultimo Pulcinella. In 2009, he played the storyteller in the play Polvere di Baghdad, directed by Maurizio Scaparro. In February 2009, after twelve years, he returned to the Sanremo Festival for a duet with Neapolitan singer Barbara Gilbo, a participant in the ‘Proposte’ section with the song ‘Che ne sai di me’ by Giancarlo Bigazzi and Sirio Martelli. In 2010, Massimo was featured in Passione, a documentary about the history of music from Naples, Italy, directed by Italian-American actor John Turturro. In November 2010, he took part in the miniseries remake of the classic play, Filumena Marturano, produced by Italian TV RAI Uno, with Mariangela Melato in the title role. Massimo portrayed Filumena's husband, Domenico Soriano.

On 16 October 2002, Massimo Ranieri was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Ranieri never married. However, in 1971, he fathered a daughter, Cristiana, out of wedlock with Franca Sebastiani. He did not have anything to do with the raising of his daughter, saying that he was too young and inexperienced for fatherhood, and that it would be damaging to his career. He was never linked with any other woman thereafter. He did not have any contact with his daughter until they met when she was about 20 years old. At the start of 2007, he decided to publicly acknowledge his long-estranged daughter, and embraced her for the first time on live TV. It was a tearful reunion between father and daughter. He also became a grandfather in July 2011.

Television roles showing year released, title, role played and notes • Title — Year — Role — Notes • Canzonissima — 1969–1975 — Contestant — Variety/musical show (seasons 6–12) • Doppia coppia — 1970 — Co-host — Variety show (season 2) • Tre donne — 1971 — Tonino — Episode: "La sciantosa" • Napulammore — 1974 — Performer — Special • Una città in fondo alla strada — 1975 — Lupo — Lead role; 5 episodes • Dal primo momento che ti ho visto — 1976 — Co-host — Variety show • Storie della camorra — 1978 — Gennaro Abatemaggio — Main role; 6 episodes • I ragazzi di celluloide — 1981 — Nicola — Miniseries • La vela incantata — 1982 — Angelo — Television film • Nata d'amore — 1984 — Maurizio Docque — Miniseries • L'ombra nera del Vesuvio — 1986 — Toni Carità — Miniseries • Lo scialo — 1987 — Giovanni — Miniseries • Il ricatto — 1989 — Massimo Fedeli — Lead role; 6 episodes • Fantastico Cinema — 1989–1990 — Presenter — Variety show • La festa della mamma — 1992 — Presenter — Special • La casa dove abitava Corinne — 1996 — Leonardo — Television film • Angelo nero — 1998 — Commissary Vanzi — Miniseries • Ama il tuo nemico — 1999 — Father Paolo — Television film • Camera Café — 2004–2005 — Anselmo Pedone — Recurring role (seasons 2–3); 8 episodes • Accussì grande — 2006 — Performer — Special • Operazione pilota — 2007 — Raffaele — Miniseries • Senza via d'uscita - Un amore spezzato — Matteo Della Torre — Miniseries • Filumena Marturano — 2010 — Domenico Soriano — Television film • Sogno e son desto — 2014–2016 — Presenter — Variety/musical show • Qui e adesso — 2020 — Presenter — Variety show

• 1976 – "Napoli: chi resta e chi parte" a show comprised by two one-act plays by Raffaele Viviani ("Caffè di notte e giorno" e "Scalo marittimo") directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and shown at the Spoleto "Festival dei due mondi". • "In memoria di una signora amica" a comedy by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, directed by Mario Ferrero, with Pupella Maggio and Lilla Brignone. • 1977 – "The Waltz of the Dogs" by Leonid N. Andreyev, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, with Romolo Valli. • 1978 – "The imaginary invalid" by Molière, directed by Giorgio De Lullo. • 1979 – "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare, directed by Giorgio De Lullo, with Monica Guerritore • 1980 – "The Good Person of Szechwan" by Bertolt Brecht directed by Giorgio Strehler with Andrea Johansson, Renato De Carmine. At the Teatro Comunale di Milano, and then in a European tour which lasted two years. • 1983 – "Barnum", a musical by Mark Bramble directed by Buddy Schwab and Ennio Coltorti, with music by Cy Coleman, with Ottavia Piccolo. • 1986 – "Varietà", directed by Maurizio Scaparro, with Marisa Merlini, Galeazzo Benti and Arturo Brachetti. • 1987 – "Pulcinella" by Manlio Santanelli (taken from a screenplay by Roberto Rossellini), directed by Maurizio Scaparro. • 1988 – "Rinaldo in campo", musical comedy written by Domenico Modugno, directed by Garinei and Giovannini. • 1990–91 – "Pulcinella" reprise • 1991–92 – "Liolà" by Luigi Pirandello directed by Maurizio Scaparro, with Carlo Croccolo and with original music by Nicola Piovani • 1993 – "Teatro Excelsior" directed by Maurizio Scaparro with original music by Antonio Sinagra. • 1994 – "L'Île des esclaves" (The Island of Slaves) by Marivaux, directed by Giorgio Strehler, with Pamela Villoresi, Philippe Leroy and Laura Marinoni, music by Fiorenzo Carpi. • 1996 – "Le mille e una notte" directed by Maurizio Scaparro, with Laura del Sol. • 1998 – "Hollywood-Ritratto di un divo", musical by Gianni Togni and Guido Morra, on the love between John Gilbert and Greta Garbo directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi • 2000 – "Il Grande Campione", by Maurizio Fabrizio and Guido Morra, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, the love story between the boxer Marcel Cerdan and Edith Piaf • 2007 – He is the narrator voice in "Peter and the Wolf" in a concert with the Solisti Veneti, conducted by Claudio Scimone. • 2009 – "Polvere di Baghdad" directed by Maurizio Scaparro, his goodbye production as head of the Theatre Sector of the Venice Biennale. Written by Scaparro, together with the poet Adonis and journalist Massimo Nava, it links today's Baghdad with its mythical status as the locus of the 2001 Nights. Ranieri is a storyteller who, from the distant past, is catapulted into today's ruined city.

• 2004 – "Cavalleria Rusticana" opera by Pietro Mascagni and "I Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo at the Opera Arena Sferisterio in the city of Macerata. • 2005 – "L'Elisir d'amore" opera by Donizetti at the Teatro di San Carlo of Naples. • 2006 – "La Traviata" opera by Giuseppe Verdi al Teatro Verdi di Trieste conducted by Daniel Oren. • 2007 – "La Traviata" at the Tirana National Opera House and at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. • 2008 – "La Cenerentola" opera by Gioachino Rossini at the Teatro Verdi in Teramo • "Poveri ma belli" a musical taken from the film by Dino Risi, with music by Gianni Togni. With Bianca Guaccero, Antonello Angiolillo and Michele Carfora. • 2009 – "Versi e diversi", a new show written in collaboration with Gualtiero Peirce, at the Ravello Festival.

Massimo Ranieri was recorded at birth as Giovanni Calone. He also worked under the name Massimo Ranieri. His recorded language was Italian.