Many know him for his 1972 masterpiece Questo Piccolo Grande Amore, a song that was crowned Song of the Century in Italy.

But there is more to Claudio Baglioni than this particular song, with which he exploded onto the Italian scene after previous efforts had not been well-received, and which the singer, years later, seemed to want to distance himself from.

It’s not that this romantic melody had passed its time or that the singer wants to discard the song that, after all, shot him to fame. This song is still being played regularly on Italian radio stations, and sometimes on local ones too, because it is still considered as an extraordinary interpretation.

But Baglioni has moved on since then, and wants to be remembered for other, probably better, contributions he has made to music over a career now spanning nearly 40 years.

Naturally, his earlier interpretations – those of the 1970s and early 1980s, are still the most popular. It was the time when a young Baglioni, still in his 20s, was at his peak.

When he recently took part in a Domenica In programme conducted by Pippo Baudo, all his contributions came from the earlier albums, and one could see the audience present in the studio accompanying him all throughout.

The same Pippo Baudo had once remarked that he was fascinated by the fact that during a Baglioni concert he had seen, most of the crowd of fans were singing along with Baglioni, “and this in spite of the fact that the lyrics are not easy to remember and sometimes quite complicated”.

In those early years, after Questo Piccolo Grande Amore was issued, Baglioni was quite a regular producer of songs, issuing albums almost every year until E tu come stai? in 1978. In those years, he came up with great songs like Sabato Pomeriggio, E tu… (with which he won the Festival Bar in 1974), Amore Bello and Solo.

Even at that time, Baglioni was not a singer who only wrote love-songs, although these made up quite a good chunk of his albums. His very famous Poster, for example, deals with solitude and the wish for a better life.

Such interpretations became more regular in the albums that followed in the 1980s – a time when the second part of the Baglioni career started. Love songs were still included, but his lifting of excerpts from every day life and putting them into his interpretations, became more frequent.

For example, his Strada Facendo (1981) narrates his younger days in short pieces all throughout, and the song which gives the album its title is an encouragement for people not to give up on life. In this album, another song which still remains popular is I vecchi, which speaks of the difficulties of the older generations.

After this, in 1982 Baglioni issued another masterpiece – a single called Avrai which was dedicated to his newly-born (and only) son Giovanni.

His appearances grew further apart and his fans had to wait till 1985 for La vita e’ adesso to be published, and again it was another effort to move to another dimension – love-songs, yes, but also songs which dealt with daily issues and problems. Uomini persi, for example, speaks of men who are “lost” to crime.

Baglioni’s sporadic appearances continued with albums like Oltre and Io Sono Qui, to be followed up with the more recent publications of Viaggiatore sulla Coda del Tempo and Sono io, l’uomo della storia accanto.

Viaggiatore coincided with Baglioni’s taking part in a series of television programmes with presenter Fabio Fazio.

Most of these latter songs might not be as popular as the ones issued in the 1970s, but with regard to the themes chosen and the type of music played, Baglioni’s metamorphosis continued.

Mille Giorni di Te e Di Me, Fammi Andar Via and Tutto in un Abbraccio are not simply love-songs, but express the bitter-sweet feeling of relationships that is so hard to understand and, more so, to write songs about.

All through this time, Baglioni has issued other albums by and large taken from live interpretations during his many concerts. Starting off with Ale oo, he repeated the exercise in other occasions, including Assolo, which followed a series of solo concerts similar to the one he will be performing in Malta on Saturday.

His latest effort, called Tutti Qui 1967-2005, is a collection of all his famous songs, covering nearly 40 years of a career that is still riding high.

Claudio Baglioni’s concert will be held on Saturday at the Mediterreanean Conference Centre in Valletta at 8.30pm. Tickets may be bought from the MCC.