Lelio Luttazzi has been also an orchestra director, an actor and an Italian Television showman. He was born of Sidoria Semani (teacher in Prosecco, a small town near Trieste) and Mario Luttazzi; his first musical education has come thanks to Don Crisman, Prosecco's parson, who teached piano lessons. After primary school, he enrolled in Liceo Petrarca of Trieste; there he has established an important friendship with a classmate of his, Sergio Fonda Savio, Italo Svevo's grandson. Student of law at Università di Trieste during war, he started to play piano at Radio Trieste and to compose his first songs. In 1943 there was the encounter that will have changed his life: he performed at Politeama theatre with some college mates in a musical show, opening Ernesto Bonino's concert, a singer from Torino very famous at the time, who was struck by Luttazzi, to the point of asking him, at the end of the show, to compose a song for him. Lelio cracked and sent him it, with a few belief, but in 1944 Bonino recorded it: it's the notable "Il giovanotto matto", that became a big success. After war's end, he learnt from SIAE that, thanks to royalty, he had gained 350.000 liras of that time, so he decided to become a musician; in 1948 he moved to Milan and began to work with his countryman Teddy Reno with CGD record company, with the role of music director; for Teddy Reno he also wrote, in 1948, "Muleta mia". In 1950, in Torino, he undertook the role of orchestra director and he has directed RAI Strings Orchestra; since that moment has started a brilliant career as an artist all-accomplished. He used to write plainly jazzy songs, full of swing, interpreting them at the piano and singing them with a very individual style: among the most famous are remarkable songs like "Senza cerini", "Legata ad uno scoglio", "Timido twist" ,"Chiedimi tutto" etc. He has composed pieces like Una zebra a pois, sung by Mina, Vecchia America for Quartetto Cetra, "Eccezionalmente, sì" for Jula De Palma "You'll say to-morrow" recorded in Italian language by Sophia Loren, "Souvenir d'Italie" with its elegant jazz technique; he also has launched into the divertissement "El can de Trieste", sung in dialect. He presented TV shows like Studio 1 with Mina, Doppia Coppia with Sylvie Vartan, Teatro 10. He was an actor, too, in "L'avventura" by Michelangelo Antonioni and "L'ombrellone" by Dino Risi, as well as he composed the soundtracks for "Totò, Peppino e la malafemmina", "Totò lascia o raddoppia?" and "Venezia, la luna e tu". But, for sure, the show that has given him more prestige was the radiophonic "Hit Parade", the weekly showcase of top seller records, gone on the air nonstop since 1966 until 1976: at friday launch time (with a repetition on mondays) motto "Lelio Luttazzi presenta... Hit Parade!" was an appointment watched by a very big audience. On June 1970, just while he was on the summit of his career, Luttazzi's life was overwhelmed: in fact he was arrested together with Walter Chiari with a charge for detention and traffic of drugs. The arrest happened because of a wiretap between them. After 27 days in jail, he was released and completely exculpated for one of the most sensational miscarriages of justice of the Republic. In the following years, even still working periodically on television - in 1982 for the show "Cipria" by Enzo Tortora; in 1991 at Telemontecarlo for "Festa di compleanno" - he prefered to retire, embittered for media lapidation to what he was submitted, and for the low regard RAI had had for him. On October 8th 2006 night he was guest of honor for Fiorello's show "Viva Radio2" which, for the occasion, went on the air at the same time as on the radio as on TV.