Remembering Franco Novaro: A Tribute from Claudio Baglioni

Not even a year ago, the conductor Danilo Minotti, arranger for Claudio Baglioni, had passed away. Today, the highly popular singer loses another invaluable collaborator: Franco Novaro, also known as Franco among friends and fans. He was a historic collaborator of Baglioni who speaks about him on Facebook, dedicating verses: “Francesco Novaro has left in the night, leaving darkness, pain, and sadness in the hearts of his loved ones and his many friends. Now he walks with a light step on a road of light and colors towards a new horizon. Have a good journey, Franco. You leave us beautiful memories. Claudio.” Claudio Baglioni, after Pesaro announces his retirement and takes a victory lap: “My last thousand days.” Danilo Minotti died at 61, participated several times in Sanremo as conductor. Baglioni: “Goodbye friend.” Mr Rain and Sangiovanni, when songwriters take a break. The precedents: from Calcutta to Frank Ocean. The singer often spoke of Novaro. In an interview with the newspaper "La Repubblica" he had mentioned him to explain the details of the composition of the album "Oltre": “I remember that at the end of the recording in London I returned to Rome, and in the car on the way home I listened to it on tape. I said to Franco Novaro, who was accompanying me: "It will be a total flop. There is no chorus, there are too many words. We got everything wrong" and instead that album turned out to be a success also thanks to a single like "Mille giorni di te e di me"...” Fiorello: “Claudio Baglioni is retiring? He can't play a joke like this on us.” Novaro also faced legal problems, related to a villa in Lampedusa: it was seized for an alleged building abuse. Novaro was able to prove his innocence and was acquitted of all charges at the last instance. The Roman singer stayed by his friend's side the whole time without doubting his innocence.