Who Wants This Music Tonight? (Che vuole questa musica stasera)

Peppino Gagliardi (25 May 1940 – 9 August 2023) was an Italian singer. Born in Naples his first hit in Italy came in 1963 with “T’amo e t’amerò.” In 1970, he had another big hit with the song, Settembre, and more hits followed in the early 1970s. Gagliardi achieved two-second placings at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1972 with “Come le viole” and in 1972 with “Come un ragazzino.”

His music declined in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. His last entry at the Sanremo Music Festival was “L’alba” in 1993. One of his songs, “Che vuole questa musica stasera”, is part of the original soundtrack of Scent of a Woman, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Ruthless and Welcome Home.

The powerful voice and song Who Wants This Music Tonight forms the background for the clip of the above French film Trois chambres à Manhattan (Three Rooms in Manhattan) 1965 With Annie Girardot and Maurice Ronet , Directed by Marcel Carné. It is based on the 1946 novel “Trois Chambres à Manhattan” by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, about a romance between François, a French actor, and Kay, an American woman. It marked Robert De Niro’s film debut.

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Thanks to my good friend Rich for introducing me to Peppino. As Rich writes “Another great loss in the music world. I know he was not well known or is not well known today. But the passion and strength he sings with is stunning. It is too bad he is not known and there are no big sweeping accolades from the mainstream media. Meanwhile people like Astud Giberto who literally changed the landscape of music with her voice (in concert with A.C. Jobim of course) and heavyweights like Peppino Gagliardi get ignored completely. But those of us who know music know just how important and good these giants were and are.”