Gian Franco, son of a Merchant Marine radio operator, had a passion for the sea (which often happens to those born in a city where the waves crash against the shore), and from a young age he went to sea until a severe rheumatic disorder forced him ashore. After that, he did a bit of everything, from errand boy to lumberjack, from salesman to becoming a farmer. His mother was a pianist, and he composed music as a hobby. At 33, he participated as a singer in the film "Berlinguer ti voglio bene," where Roberto Benigni also made his debut.

In this piece he presented at Sanremo in '79 Sanremo 1979 Franco Fanigliulo * A me mi piace viver alla grande there’s a line that says, "I have a dwarf in my brain, a cerebral stroke," and sometimes you see the irony of fate; he would die about ten years later from a cerebral hemorrhage at just forty-four years old.