Franco Battiato - The Jolly Story 1967 2x7"

Label: Jolly

Francesco Battiato was born on 23 March, 1945, in Jonia, a small town in the province of Catania. After attending the secondary school he moved to Milan to seek his fortune as a musician, but without any significant results during the first years.

Giorgio Gaber listened to him by chance and, sensing his talent, recommended him to Ricordi, who didn't want to engage him. Therefore, Gaber recommended him to Walter Gürtler, who immediately accepted to include him in the group of the protest singers, who were very popular in that period. Gaber prevailed over the shyness of Battiato and convinced him to take part to "Diamoci del tu," a TV program hosted by Gaber itself together with Caterina Caselli. Moreover, he convinced him to use the name Franco instead of Francesco. Since then everyone, his mother included, called him Franco.

In 1967 Franco Battiato recorded for the Jolly label the two singles described below. In that period Battiato hadn't registered at the SIAE (Italian Authors and Publishers Association), as you can guess reading the names of the authors and composers listed on the covers; "La Torre" (Medini-Lamorgese), "Le Reazioni" (Medini-Lamorgese), "Il Mondo Va Così" (Pagani-Buffoli), and "Triste Come Me" (Medini-Buffoli). Battiato worked with the Jolly label only for a year. As for his career and music choices, Battiato has never wanted to be influenced by record labels and has succeeded in being consistent with his way of thinking. Gürtler had left the satisfaction of helping such an influential and important personality of the Italian music culture make his debut.