Piero, Known as a Leader of Latin American Songwriting, Dead at 81

Piero, the artist who defined a generation of Latin American songwriting with classics like “Mi Viejo” and “Soy Pan, Soy Paz, Soy Más,” died on Oct. 7 at Hospital Italiano in Buenos Aires. He was 81.

His family confirmed the news via their Instagram account: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved Piero at the age of 81. 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 is heard. His family and friends thank you for your condolences. Farewell, dear Piero,” they wrote.

Piero Antonio Franco De Benedictis was born in Gallipoli, Apulia, Italy, in 1945. His family emigrated to Argentina when he was three. By the early 1970s, Piero was already a celebrity. He co-starred in the film El Profesor Patagónico alongside Luis Sandrini, directed by Fernando Ayala.

As he released albums — especially the trilogy Pedro Nadie (1970), Coplas De Mi País (1972), and Para El Pueblo Lo Que Es Del Pueblo (1974) — he became a political figure. A committed singer-songwriter who spoke out on social issues, he found an inseparable songwriting partner in José Tcherkasky, the Argentine journalist and poet.

Associated with protest songs, Piero and Tcherkasky painted social portraits and crafted short stories with universal appeal, often accompanied by the great Jorge López Ruiz orchestrations. Songs such as “Valdemar, El Brasilero” and “Los Americanos,” featuring the musical group Cuarteto Zupay, were part of that seminal repertoire that influenced, for example, the Panamanian salsa singer Rubén Blades.

Para El Pueblo Lo Que Es Del Pueblo, he collaborated with Marilina Ross (“Canción De Una Para Despertar Un Hijo”), depicted the hardships of urban life (“Así Es La Ciudad”), and covered “Te Recuerdo, Amanda” by the Chilean Víctor Jara, who was assassinated by Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile in September of the previous year.

Following the coup d’état of March 24, he went into exile in 1976 and lived in Italy and Spain, where he settled near Madrid, and worked on a farm. He maintained strong ties to Colombia. His children’s album, Sinfonía Inconclusa En La Mar (1975), is an iconic album for several generations of Colombians.

In 1981, with the end of the civil-military dictatorship on the near horizon, Piero planned his return to Argentina, stopping in Uruguay first. Alongside musicians he’d met during his exile in Spain — including guitarists Amadeo Álvarez and Daniel Manzini — he began to shape his new band, Prema. Over the next five years, Prema’s lineup included, among others, pianist Babu Cerviño (a member of the band Tantor), drummer Juan Carlos “El Negro” Tordó (who had played in the band Raíces with Uruguayan musician Beto Satragni and a very young Andrés Calamaro), and more.

Piero reached his peak of popularity during those years. He performed in several plays and formed a deep bond with Mercedes Sosa, participating in the legendary concerts at the Ópera Theater. These popularized her cry of gratitude, “¡Gracias, Piero!” He took part in the historic concerts by Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés in Buenos Aires. In the mid-1980s, he moved away from protest music. He founded an organic farm in Campana alongside teenagers from vulnerable families. From then on, during the mid-1990s, he built a network of 200 organic farms, and his social activism went hand in hand with an artistic career that included a collaborative album with Milanés.

Music became a family legacy. His son Juan led the band Mulan and currently plays guitar for the Uruguayan singer Ana Prada. In 2022, his daughter Fiorel released an EP featuring Piero himself, with covers of classic Argentine folk songs.