Pino Donaggio

Giuseppe "Pino" Donaggio (born 24 October 1941) is an Italian composer. Born in Burano (an island of Venice), into a family of musicians, Donaggio began studying violin at the age of ten, first at the Benedetto Marcello conservatory[1] in Venice, followed by the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory[2] in Milan. At the age of 14, he made his solo debut in a Vivaldi concert for Italian radio, then went on to play for both the I Solisti Veneti and the Solisti di Milano.[3] The discovery of rock and roll during the summer of 1959 ended Donaggio's classical career when he made his singing debut with Paul Anka. He then began to write his own songs and established himself as one of Italy's prominent singer-songwriters. He took part in the Sanremo Festival with "Come sinfonia" (1961) and had a string of successes including "Il cane di stoffa".