He was born at Viggiù in Lombardy. His career began in
1957 when, having been part of some jazz orchestras, began playing with the
group “I Campioni” (The Champions), which at the time was accompanying on disk
and in concert the singer Tony Dallara.
He left the group in 1959, signing a contract for the
Durium as a session man, then playing in disks of various artists of that
recording house. One day, however, the director of the big orchestra, of which
he was part, did not want to record the B side of a single (45 rpm) record
because the piece chosen, "Estate violenta" (Violent summer) from
film Homonymous, had not a satisfactory arrangement. The producer, eager to
finish, then decided to do without the orchestra and to convene immediately the
rhythm section of the same formation, which consisted of four parts: bass,
drums, guitar and sax. 
The young saxophonist to whom the song of the film was
entrusted, was indeed Fausto Papetti who during the tests improvises a personal
elaboration of the melody, which the rhythm section highlighted with perfect
intuition. After the test Papetti claims to be ready to start but the
registration had already been made, without the four boys knowing it, during
the test itself.
The single "Estate violenta" was published in
1960 under the name "Fausto Papetti Sax and rhythms", and had such a
successful sale, exceeding that of the original soundtrack of the film,
convinced Durium to let him record, in the same year, his first album, simply
titled "Raccolta" (Collection). Starting with this disk, all his
other ones will have the same title, changing only the numeration. Among the
musicians accompanying him there was the famous drummer Pupo De Luca, who, in
the years following, will play with Adriano Celentano and Enzo Jannacci.
Here's "Intermezzo" from above album.
Papetti became well known for all the 1960s and 1970s,
and all his new albums reached the top of the hit parade; he was also popular
in the Latin American market. During the 70's Papetti also produced two
collections a year, the best-selling being the 20th one, which was released in
1975. His recordings, sometimes under the pseudonym "Fausto Danieli",
are also characterized for the sexy covers on which girls posed rather scantily
clothed or nude.
He became a founder of a genre, and in the 70s had many
imitators, like Johnny Sax and Piergiorgio Farina. As well as his famed
Collections, he recorded many other albums including "Old America",
"Evergreen", "Bonjour France", "Made in Italy",
"Rhythms of Latin America", "Cinema anni '60","Cinema
anni '70". His performance of the song "Love's Theme"
(originally by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra) was featured on the break
beat compilation "Ultimate Breaks and Beats".In 1985, after 25 years, he left the Durium to go to CBS, which from 1988 onwards was acquired by Sony Music; since 1989 he recorded for the Fonit Cetra. Fausto continued working until his death in San Remo (Italy) on Jun.15th 1999, at the age of 76. He is buried in Ospedaletti, where he lived for over twenty-five years. (Info edited from various sources mainly www.keros.it)
