Gianfranco Manfredi

Gianfranco Manfredi (born 26 November 1948) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, author, screenwriter, actor and cartoonist.

Born in Senigallia, Manfredi graduated in History of Philosophy at the University of Milan with a thesis on Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

He debuted as a singer-songwriter in 1972 with La crisi, an album filled with political and social themes. In 1973 he started working at the Italian Institute of History of Philosophy. Since 1974 he was also active as a songwriter for other artists, including Mia Martini, Mina, PFM, Wess & Dori Ghezzi, Drupi, Heather Parisi, Donatello.

Starting from the early 1980s Manfredi almost completely abandoned the music to focus on writing. He has then published over a dozen novels and short stories, collaborated in various roles to several films, TV-series and plays, and created several comic series. He is also active as a musical critic, and wrote essays on Adriano Celentano, Lucio Battisti, Enzo Jannacci and other Italian music artists.

He lives with his wife Mirella in Italy. His first daughter Diana Manfredi is a film director.