Ranieri never married. However, in 1971, he fathered a daughter, Cristiana, out of wedlock with Franca Sebastiani. He didn’t have anything to do with the raising of his daughter, saying that he was too young and inexperienced for fatherhood and that it would be damaging to his career. He was never linked with any other woman thereafter. He didn’t have any contact with his daughter until they met when she was about 20 years old.

At the start of 2007, he decided to publicly acknowledge his long-estranged daughter and embraced her for the first time on live TV. It was a tearful reunion between father and daughter. He also became a grandfather in July 2011.

Ranieri was born in Naples (at Santa Lucia), the fifth of eight children in the family. When he was 10, young Giovanni would sing at restaurants, wedding receptions, etc. He was discovered by a music producer about four years later and was flown to New York to record an EP under the name of Gianni Rock.

Ranieri recorded four songs in 1964: Tanti auguri signora, Se mi aspetti stasera, Non chiudere la porta, and La Prima Volta. None of the records was successful, primarily because young Gianni’s voice was changing. Two years later, he would re-emerge under his new stage name, Massimo Ranieri. In 1966, he made his TV debut singing “Bene Mio”. A year later, he made another TV appearance singing, “Pietà per chi ti ama”. In 1968, he recorded two more songs: “Da Bambino”, Ma L’amore cos’è” and “Preghiera”.

It was not until 1969 when he achieved success and became a teen idol when he sang “O Sole Mio” on live TV. That same year, he had a string of hits: “Rita”, “Se bruciasse la citta”, “Quando l’amore diventa poesia”, “Il mio amore resta sempre”, “Rose rosse” and “Zingara”. In 1970, “Vent’anni”, “Sogno d’amore”, “Sei l’amore mio”, “Aranjuez Amore Mio” and “Candida”.

In 1971, Ranieri recorded the songs “Adagio Veneziano”, “Via del Conservatorio”, and “Io e Te”. He represented Italy in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, Ireland, where he placed 5th with the song “L’Amore E’ Un Attimo. ” In 1972, he released the songs “Ti Ruberei”, “O Surdato ‘nnamurato”, and “Erba di Casa Mia”; in 1973, “Amo Ancora Lei”. He returned to the Eurovision Song Contest that year, in Luxembourg, to represent Italy with “Chi sarà con te”, where he placed 13th. In 1974, came the singles “Te Voglio Bene Assaie”, “Immagina”, and “Per Una Donna”.

In 1988, he made a comeback to his singing career with the song, “Perdere l’amore”, which won the Sanremo Festival, that year. In 1997, he made another comeback with “Ti parlerò d’amore”.

In February 2007, he started a concert tour of Italy, titled “Canto perché non-so nuotare…da 40 anni” which lasted for more than two years, with more than 500 shows, was made into a CD and a DVD, which went platinum.

In 2022, he won the Mia Martini critics award at Sanremo Festival.

In 1970, Ranieri decided to venture into acting. His screen debut, Metello received rave reviews from critics and won him the David di Donatello award for best actor for portraying the title character. He co-starred with Anna Magnani in the television film La Sciantosa later that year. Ranieri had hundreds of number 1 hits, made over 40 feature films, on the 16 October 2002, Massimo Ranieri was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Ranieri had and has a great # Singing career. #Acting career. #Discography. #Filmography #Films & Television # Theatre (actor) #mDirecting (Theatre and Opera) published several Books. # many Awards and the list goes on.