Biography
Ricchi e Poveri (Rich and Poor) is an Italian pop group founded in Genua. The group was originally a four-member group. Their original cast included Franco Gatti, Angela Brambati and the Sardinian Angelo Sotgiu as well as Marina Occhiena. Sotgiu and Gatti previously belonged to the group Jet. Ricchi e Poveri made their debut at the Cantagiro music contest in 1968 with “L’ultimo amore”. In 1970 they reached the second place at the Festival di SanRemo with their song “La prima cosa bella”, together with Nicola Di Bari. Also in 1971 they reached the second place, with “Che sarà”. This time they teamed up with José Feliciano. For their 1976 album “I Musicanti”, Sergio Bardotti and Luis Bacalov composed two stories about musicians and a song presented at the 25th Sanremo Festival of the same year. Both in 1976 and 1977 they undertook a theatre tour. In 1978 Ricchi e Poveri took part in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Questo amore”. Their song “Come vorrei” was the closing song for the popular television program Portobello. In 1981, Marina Occhiena had to leave the group because she was in a relationship with the husband of Angela Brambati. She went to sing solo. Ricchi e Poveri also remained successful as a trio, for example with “Sarà perché ti amo”, which they presented in 1981 in Sanremo. The single was at the top of the Italian chartsfor seven weeks . Other successes followed, such as “Mamma Maria”, “Voulez vous danser” and “Ciao Italy, ciao amore”.
In 1985 they won the Festival di Sanremo with “Se m’innamoro”. In 1988 they also participated with “Nascerà Gesù”, which addresses the dangers of genetic engineering and was written by Umberto Balsamo. In 2002, Ricchi e Poveri released another album, “Parla col cuore”. In 2012 they published a comeback album “Perdutamente amore”. In 2016, Franco Gatti resigned.
