Beloved Argentine singer-songwriter Piero dies at 81

Argentine-Italian singer-songwriter Piero, whose 1969 hit ‘Mi viejo’ became a Latin American classic, has died at the age of 81, his family have announced.

Piero Antonio Franco De Benedictis, one of the defining voices of Latin American protest music and the singer-songwriter tradition known as trova, died Wednesday after a career spanning more than five decades, during which he recorded songs about love, peace and social issues. 

He had been receiving treatment at Buenos Aires’ Hospital Italiano, his family confirmed.

“His voice, his songs and his message of peace will remain with us forever. His light will continue to shine in every corner where his music reaches ... safe travels, dear Piero,” his family and friends said in a statement posted on social media.

Born in Galatina, in Italy’s southern Puglia region, in 1945, Piero moved to Argentina with his family at the age of three. They settled in the Alto Valle region of Río Negro Province, where he began a career that would make him one of Argentina’s best-known singer-songwriters.

In 1968, he met writer José Tcherkaski, with whom he formed the ‘Piero-José’songwriting partnership. ‘Mi viejo,’ released in 1969, became an intergenerational hit and has been recorded in more than 500 versions, according to Argentina’s Fundación Konex cultural foundation.

His repertoire of popular and socially conscious songs included ‘Coplas de mi país,’ ‘Pedro nadie,’ ‘Llegando, llegaste’ and ‘Para el pueblo lo que es del pueblo,’ alongside more than 25 albums.

His career was marked by political exile in Spain in 1976, as Argentina entered the final and bloodiest phase of the military dictatorship that ruled the country until 1983. 

After returning to Argentina, following a period living in Colombia where he obtained citizenship, Piero resumed recording and performing, maintaining a close connection with an audience that saw its own stories reflected in his songs.

In 1982, he performed ‘Soy pan, soy paz, soy más’ with Mercedes Sosa at the Teatro Ópera in Buenos Aires. The song was based on a poem by Luis Ramón Igarzábal that Piero set to music.

Piero also worked on initiatives outside music, founding the Fundación Buenas Ondas, which focused on projects related to children.

In 1985, he received the Diploma al Mérito from the Fundación Konex. 

In 2007, ‘Mi viejo’ was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame, while in 2016 the Latin Recording Academy awarded Piero its ‘Musical Excellence Award,’ in recognition of his career.

– TIMES/AFP/NA/PERFIL