Alfredo Cohen was born in Lanciano, in the province of Chieti, on October 8, 1942 and died in Tunis on December 3, 2014.
In addition to being an Italian singer, director and actor, he was also one of the first activists and editors of F.U.O.R.I.! (Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano, Italian Revolutionary Homosexual United Front).
He distinguished himself by making use of his artistic career to promote political activism. In fact, he was one of the founders of homosexual political theater, with whom he aspired to open the debate on the issues of the fight against moralism and sexism, inconceivable in the 60s and especially in the 70s. The most famous of his shows was «Dove vai stasera amico?» [«Where Are You Going Tonight Friend?»], in which he played a variety of homosexual characters.
As musician, he achieved notoriety with the LP «Come barchette dentro un tram» [«like boats in a tram»], where he treated the theme of homosexuality with an innovative perspective. In fact, Cohen, through this LP, managed to describe the homosexual pride, moving away from the sad and troubled image usually used by many artists before and after him to depict this theme. Two of his most significant songs were «Valery», dedicated to Valerie Taccarelli, a transsexual girl, and «Roma» in which he talks about Pier Paolo Pasolini and his novel «Ragazzi di vita» [«The Street Kids»] .