He released his first single in 1962 as 'Fausto Denis', for the magazine Nuova Enigmistica Tascabile. Then, he joined a group from Alessandria, the Novelty, which had already released an EP in 1961. With the group he managed to obtain a recording contract with the Music record label, and began to release singles, including two covers of Beatles songs, "Please Please Me" and "Lei ti ama". Leali's big opportunity came in 1966 when A&R executiveEzio Leoni moved from Music record label to Ri-Fi, bringing Leali and the band Novelty with him. Leali's first success was "A chi", in 1967, an Italian version of a 1954 American song "Hurt", written by Roy Hamilton, also a track released years later by singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori. "A chi" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. In the same year, Leali took part for the first time in the television festival Un disco per l'estate, with the song "Senza di te", but did not progress beyond the first round. In 1969, 1971, and 1974, he appeared again in Un disco per l'estate with the songs "Tu non-meritavi una canzone", "Si chiama Maria", and "Solo lei". He returned to the hit parade in 1976 with the single "Io camminero", which reached the top of charts, and in 1980 with a performance of Totò's song "Malafemmena". In the late 1980s, he made several appearances at the Sanremo festival; in 1987, with "Io amo", that came in 4th; in 1988, with "Mi manchi" at 5th; and in 1989, in the duet with Anna Oxa "Ti lascerò" that won 1st place. The same year, Oxa and Leali represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest with "Avrei voluto". The song was voted in the 9th place. Leali returned to Sanremo in 2002, with "Ora che ho bisogno di te", a duet with Luisa Corna, and the next year with "Eri tu", which eventually went platinum. After taking part in 2006 in the Rai Duereality show, Music Farm, where he reached the finals, Leali released a new album, Profumo e Kerosene, with ten new songs, all in a new for him musical style. Due to his naturally hoarse singing style, Leali was nicknamed by the Italian media Il negro bianco, "the white negro", also the title of his 1968 album.
Personal life
Ιn 1968, Leali married the singer Milena Cantù, who was with the record company founded by Adriano Celentano. They had a daughter, Deborah, so named after the success of the eponymous song of that year's Festival di Sanremo, sung at the competition in a duet with Wilson Pickett.
