It was the home of the out-of-towners Radio DeeJaythe commune of those who dreamed of living on airthe factory – in due proportion – of Claudio Cecchetto. Via Alberto da Giussano, east of Parco Sempione, a Milano. Lì Fiorello, Sandy Marton, Marco Baldini and Franchino Tuzio («a great manager who unfortunately no longer exists») took their first steps in the Milan of the the eighties. They weren’t the only ones, because Pippo Baudo of the radio discovered many others: Linus, Nicola Savino, Paola & Chiara, Sabrina Salerno, Fabio Volo…
Why did he put those four in the same house?
“I have always been convinced that the province has more to say than the city – explains Cecchetto -; for those who live in the province, the city is a goal; for those who already live in a metropolis that is just reality. Generally speaking, you have no stimuli to progress, you have no goals. Those who come from outside, on the other hand, want to smash everything».
What do those walls tell?
“That house was only used to sleep and maybe to meet some girls. It was basic, three rooms and a kitchen of the kind that were recently sold on TV. It was an excellent starting point for those arriving from outside, so for them the only concern was conceiving a good radio product, not looking for accommodation. The radio was the real place for the exchange of ideas. I have always attached great importance to creating the right, comfortable environment. I put the best air conditioner, the best furnishings: if they were fine, they would have stayed there after working hours».
Fiorello sorted the intercom for girls looking for Sandy Marton.
“Sandy was a wanderer, a citizen of the world, his last destination was Ibiza. I had heard a lot about it but I didn’t even know where she was and I thought that many Italians imagined her as an Eden, a paradise. The idea was to make him sing a song about Ibiza so many, especially the girls, would have imagined that everyone on the island was like him. It wasn’t true, but it worked».
The private Fiorello?
‘Like the public one. He’s not a comedian playing a character, his nature is that of an entertainer. He wants whoever is in front of him to have fun and feel good with him, be it one person or a hundred. He’s a constant entertainer, there’s no difference between when he’s on stage or off stage. My prediction was that from being a village animator he would have become an animator of the Italia village».
Marco Baldini also started from there.
“It hit me right away. I had asked him to send me a tape to understand what type he was, 25 arrived. I immediately glimpsed Fiorello’s shoulder in him, because the other deejays hadn’t understood that they shouldn’t compete with him, because Fiorello always won. Baldini was perfect, he made the assist but Fiore had to score all the goals».
A missed tenant of that apartment is Amadeus.
‘It was his strength. He told me that he lived in Milan with a friend who hosted himbut that wasn’t true. After a month of seeing him with dark circles under his eyes I thought it was for evenings full of depravities, instead every day he took the train at 5 in the morning from Verona. He didn’t tell me anything so as not to create problems. It was precisely this availability and desire that pleased me. Then he went to the house that Tracy Spencer had left.’
Gerry Scotti, on the other hand, had the house.
“But he wanted to leave Milan. I blocked him on the steps of an airplane as he was leaving for America. At the time, if you said you were a disc jockey then they’d ask you: yes, but what do you do for work? He also worked as a copywriter for McCann, the advertising agency, and that seemed like a more solid job. I spoke to him and convinced him to stay, I told him that he was born for this job. I wanted a radio made up of people you recognized by his voice, for me his different timbre from him was a plus».
The soul of Jovanotti?
‘I think I figured it out long before the others. Everyone saw how it was, I saw how it would be. I remember the first meeting: he was participating in a musical competition and found himself against a group (the Tutus) that I had proposed; Lorenzo lost the direct confrontation, but I immediately said to one of my collaborators: say hello to the Tutus, I want the other one. I made him a boss call, an aut aut: if you come well, otherwise I’ll find another one. I was afraid I had exaggerated.’
Someone who has escaped you, a failed tenant?
‘They ask me often. Absolutely no. I have a sixth sense that has never betrayed me».
