Francesco Luigi Simone (born 21 July 1949) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer and television host, known as "il poeta con la chitarra" ("the poet with the guitar") for the poetical value of his lyrics.

[1] In 1976, with the LP Il poeta con la chitarra, Simone got his main success in Italy with the song "Tu e così sia", which peaked fourth in the Italian hit parade.

[4] In 2013-2014 he composed the symphonic-rock opera "Stabat Mater" (on the 13th century Latin text by Jacopone da Todi) sung together with the rocker Michele Cortese end the Anglo-Italian tenor Gianluca Paganelli.

In 2020 he began his collaboration with Andrea Morricone with whom he wrote 2 songs (Azzurri gli Oceani and Cambia la città) included in the album Franco è il nome (first of a trilogy) released in 2021 which contains, in addition to his hits (Respiro, Cara Droga, A quest'ora, Tentazione, Gocce, Tu per me) revisited and rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, the cover of Lucio Dalla's Caruso and the translation of Hello (Solo se mi vuoi) by Lionel Richie, together with the duets with Rita Pavone and Paolo Belli, and other unpublished pieces, including those sung in duet with Cinzia Marzo (by Officina Zoè) and with Zeta (Benedetta Zuccaro).

In 2022 he celebrated his 50 years of career with the nomination of Mario Draghi as Cavaliere, a triumphal tour in Chile and the release of a new album, Simone è il cognome (second in the trilogy), which contains, in addition to his successes (Paesaggio, La casa in via del Campo, Ritratto, Capitano, L'infinito tra le dita, Sogno della Galleria, Sono nato cantando, Notte di San Lorenzo and Totò) rearranged by Alex Zuccaro, covers of Povera Patria by Franco Battiato and Mina's L'ultima occasione and other new songs such as Figlia, Acqua e Luce, and duets with Paola Arnesano and Antonio Amato.