Giorgio Faletti

Giorgio Faletti (25 November 1950 - 4 July 2014) was an Italian writer, musician, actor and comedian. Born in Asti, Piedmont, he lived on Elba Island. His books were translated into 25 languages and published with great success in Europe, South America, China, Japan, Russia and the United States. After graduating from law school, Faletti began his career as a comedian during the 1970s at the Milanese club "Derby," sharing the stage with the local circle of actors including Diego Abatantuono, Teo Teocoli, Massimo Boldi, Paolo Rossi and Francesco Salvi. In 1985, he was cast as a comedian in Antonio Ricci's successful variety show Drive In.

Approaching the world of music, in 1988 he released the mini-album Colletti bianchi. In 1994, Faletti achieved his main success as a singer-songwriter with the song "Signor Tenente," inspired by the massacres of Capaci and Via D'Amelio, ranking second at the Sanremo Music Festival and winning the Critics' Award; the subsequent album, Come un cartone animato, was a platinum album. He returned to Sanremo several times, including in 1995 with "L'assurdo mestiere," and wrote songs for artists such as Mina, Angelo Branduardi and Milva.

Faletti's debut as an author was the 1994 humorous book Porco il mondo che ciò sotto i piedi!, which recounted the exploits of his most famous character, Vito Catozzo. In 2002, he surprised critics and audiences with his first thriller novel, I Kill (Io uccido), which sold more than four million copies. His second novel, The Killer In My Eyes (2004), sold three and a half million copies, and other works followed including I Am God (2009). The author Jeffery Deaver said of Faletti: "In my neck of the woods, people like Faletti are called larger than life, living legends." In November 2005, Faletti received the De Sica Prize for Literature from the President of the Italian Republic. He died of lung cancer on 4 July 2014, aged 63.