“A fan destroyed my car because she caught me with another one. De Gregori? Great cook »- Corriere.it

Do you also chew anchovies for the uvula?

“I was crazy, the salt cleans the vocal cords but then you get terribly thirsty and the water is even worse. I know that Frank Sinatra used to drink Jack Daniel’s with ice, I am satisfied with half a glass of wine, if a whiskey comes along ».

That time with Mina, however, he exaggerated a bit.

«It was 1986, I came from a bad period, I hardly worked anymore, I got the songs wrong. One day she calls me. “I want to record a piece with you, it’s called Out of here. Do you want?”. I don’t want to repeat it. “Flight”. I introduce myself to her house, we lived nearby, she in Monza, I in Lesmo. I am one of the few to have duet with her live, face to face in the glass booth of the recording studio. I was excited, even terrified. Mina was a goddess, an imposing stangona, I in comparison a poor stopper. So, to cheer me up, I drank three glasses of whiskey, one after the other. ‘

Nice cool.

“But I immediately felt better. After we took some photos on the balcony for the cover of the single. It was September, a heat, but we posed wearing black coats and red scarves around our necks: I even look tall there, the truth is that she was barefoot and I had slipped on her rafts and among them and alcohol swayed here and there “, says Fausto Leali, thirteen Sanremo in the palmarès, 78 years old and now 55 that he just needs to sing a single vowel to his tonsils (” Aaaaa … “) with the powerful soul voice of a black- white – although born not in Alabama but in the mists of Nuvolento, Brescia – and close the love question (“To whom, I will smile, if not you?”) to unleash an irrepressible and nostalgic collective karaoke from the 60s around him. After all, 4 gold records and 4 million copies sold with a single song do not get there by chance, let alone remain a perennial evergreen.

Doesn’t she get hives every time they ask her?

«No, I always sing it willingly, at the end of every concert, I am fond of it. You will understand, with that single I bought myself a Jaguar and the villa in Brianza, which I then sold in 1985 because I separated: you know, when you change wives you usually also change house ».

Papa Vitale was a blacksmith.

“In the war he lost a leg, amputated just below the knee. Every morning he fastened his prosthesis with leather strings and rode his bicycle to reach the shop, 15 km to go and 15 to return, twelve hours on foot, when he returned home in the evening his scar was bleeding. But we were six children, I was the third, a very poor family, in order for us to find something to eat on the table, Mother Caterina charged everything to the baker and the greengrocer and then at the end of the month she paid what she could. Medicines were bought if really needed. Luckily we had some hens in the yard for eggs ».

At 11 he went to work.

«Before as an apprentice in the workshop, I helped to maneuver the rod that moved the mallet. Then, when we moved to Brescia, I was an apprentice at the butcher’s shop, I took the shopping by bike, he paid me a thousand lire a week. As a reward, Mom, she gave me the first guitar, an economic model, she will have signed thirty bills. I was already good at singing, she hoped I would make a fortune. I learned three chords and started playing it. I also won the Microfonino d’Oro, a prize offered by the parish priest, a small pin eh. Years later the thieves also took that away from me. “

And the first concert came for Faustino.

«He took me with his orchestra Tullio Romano of Los Marcellos Ferial, those of When the sun warms up. He took me to play for two months at the Sestriere. Fear? I have more now, as a kid I was unconscious. At 14, however, I went with the Max Corradini orchestra, we performed every Saturday evening between the Mantuan and the Lower Brescia. Uncle Sandrino accompanied me to take the bus to Acquanegra sul Chiese, we slept in the tavern, with the terracotta “nun” warming the bed, a basin for the sink and, underneath, the chamber pot. In the summer, on the other hand, we moved to Loano in a Fiat van, three in front and four in the back, the instruments in the trailer, with the double bass sticking out of the tarpaulin ».

Three thousand lire a day plus expenses.

«Every Friday I went to the post office accompanied by the orchestra leader to do the money order to send home. With that money, Mom bought herself the fridge and the TV ».

At first he called himself Fausto Denis.

«An idea of ​​the accountant Gigi Piras, record manager who came to meet my parents:“ Don’t be offended, but Leali sounds bad. Better Denis ”. He was Sardinian, obsessed with surnames with them, he had also renamed Tony Renis. I recorded a single, side A a slow triplet, side B a rock. He didn’t sell anything, but when I heard him on the radio it seemed to me who knows what. Soon I began to perform in the most beautiful clubs in Italy, such as the Shaker di Napoli by Antonio Rosolino, father of the swimmer, there were also Peppino di Capri and Fred Bongusto. Thirty thousand lire a night, when an employee took 80 thousand a month ».

A whim satisfied with that money?

«A forest green Fiat Ghia 2500, there was only the one from the dealership. And I said to my mother: “Now come with me and let’s go pay all the debts with the shopkeepers.” After a year I bought a second-hand Ferrari from ’58, but it had a flaw: it went with 11 cylinders instead of 12. So I gave it back for a 124 special ».

Not really a bargain.

«Eh but I was in a hurry, they were waiting for me in Naples for a show. Later I learned that it was sold for a million. ‘

The Beatles were in fashion.

“In 1963 I recorded two covers,
Please, please
And
She loves

you.
I was trying to imitate their bob. I had curly hair, I straightened it with a brush but it was filthy and the fringe came back up ».

In 1965, with Peppino di Capri, you supported the Fab Four in their Italian concerts.

«They had signed the contract for twelve pieces, after 40 minutes it was all over. So, to extend the time, we went on stage first. I was shy, I never exchanged a word, at most there was a few photos taken by Peppino ».

In July 1968 he married Milena Cantù, the Girl of the Clan, formerly of Adriano Celentano. Did you invite him?

«But imagine if he came! His brother Alessandro hired me, I was part of the group, in August we took turns at La Bussola with Mina, Bongusto and Rocky Roberts, but we never met with Adriano, he didn’t give confidence, he must have greeted me twice in his life. And then we got married in secret with Milena, signing an exclusive with Tv Smiles and Songsa huge mistake, it is not done ».

He was not exactly a model hubby, it is said:

“I am physically incapable of being faithful,” his words.


«Faithful never. I had too many opportunities, you can’t always say no, I was weak, what could I do? But all short stories ».

And did the interested parties know?

“I’ll tell you this: 1964, I wasn’t married yet. I sang at the Gallery in Piazza San Babila. I met a girl, she waited for me until three in the morning, then she took me to her house. A few nights later she came to see me. At the time I was staying at the Hotel Pavone in via Dandolo. She asked the doorman if she could go up, but he explained that… well, I was already busy. She then went out, looked for my car and smashed all the windows with the jack ».

But he insists. After his first wedding he had a long coexistence with Claudia Cocomello and finally in 2014 he married Germana Schena, one of his choristers.

«Eh eh eh, I like to suffer. But with Germana straight line, I am white and pure as a lily ».

After a few years of ups and downs, in 1987 he returned to Sanremo with “I love”, written by Toto Cutugno.

“We are friends with Toto, I often went to spend Christmas and New Year in his villa in Recco, I remember endless poker games with Angela dei Riches and Poors. In order not to lose too much, we played at 10 percent: 10 thousand lire was worth a thousand. Or a great table at Popi Minellono’s house, with Fabrizio De André, to drink, eat and sing Genoese songs “.

In 1989 he triumphed with Anna Oxa and «I’ll leave you». Is everything okay between you?

«Yes, Anna was extraordinarily happy and joyful then, shortly after she came to live near me and baptized my son Francis Faustino. We enjoyed making imitations. I from Totò and Alberto Sordi, she from Ornella Vanoni and Massimo Troisi. Special celebrations? Nobody. In Sanremo it works like this: if you don’t win, go to dinner, if you win, go ahead, but with the journalists around ».

Francesco De Gregori, who recorded “Always and forever” with her in 2016, is a great friend of hers. Unusual couple.

“So it works. We met in a hotel in Acireale, we had two singers in common. Chatting she told me that To who it is one of his favorite songs, which he often hummed, in fact then he also recorded it. Every now and then he invites me to eat at his house, he cooks, he is very good, especially with fish. We laugh at each other, he’s a funny guy, not with everyone, of course ».

He also duet with Claudio Baglioni.

«In 2010 he invited me to Lampedusa for O’Sciafunny, full of ideas, a poet. And what an athlete: like nothing you can swim 3 km in the sea, I at most two 25-meter pools and then gasp ».