Cherubini was born on 27 September 1966 in Rome to Tuscan parents, Mario and Viola Cardinali, but he spent part of his childhood in his parents’ hometown, Cortona, in the province of Arezzo (Tuscany).

After completing his high-school studies, he started working as a disc jockey in several discothèques and radio stations in the province of Rome. In 1985 he moved to Milan. Two years later, during the summer of 1987, while he was playing a DJ set in Palinuro, he met the record producer and talent scout Claudio Cecchetto, who proposed they begin working together. That same year Jovanotti released his first single, “Walking,” and started working as a DJ for one of the most prominent national radio stations, Radio DeeJay, which was founded by Cecchetto five years earlier.

His first studio album, Jovanotti for President, was released in 1988 and became the symbol of the Italian youth of the eighties, without any interest in ideologies and politics. Despite receiving strongly negative criticism, the album became a big commercial success, reaching the third position on the Italian Musica e dischi Albums Chart and selling over 400,000 copies in Italy. Moreover, the album spawned five singles, including the number-one hits, “Gimme Five” (also the name of his British TV show for Janet Street Porter’s DEF II youth TV block on BBC Two) and “Gimme Five (Rasta Five)” and the songs “Go Jovanotti Go” and “Mix, Remix & The singers,” which entered the Italian top 5.

In 1998, Jovanotti played a brief role in the movie I Giardini dell’Eden, directed by Alessandro D’Alatri.

His 2005 CD, Buon Sangue, was influenced by both rock and old school hip hop. It is one of his most innovative works to date. Edoardo Bennato collaborated on one track, while bass player Saturnino co-wrote two of the songs.

In 2007 he was featured at the end of Negramaro’s song, “Cade la Pioggia,” of their CD, La Finestra, and in 2008 he released the new album Safari.

In 2008 he performed as guest artist on the track “Lugar Comum” from the album Encanto. At the end of 2009, he collaborated with Claudio Baglioni and Fabrizio Bosso, along with 70 other artists, in the song “Con tutto il mio cuore (with All My Heart).” On 1 January 2010 the group released “Baciami Ancora (Kiss Me Again)” for the soundtrack of a film by Gabriele Muccino.

On 6 September 2008, Jovanotti married Francesca Valiani at Cortona, in the Church of Santa Maria Nuova. Their daughter Teresa was born in 1998. He dedicated the lullaby “Per te” to Teresa, one of the hits of the album Capo Horn (1999), and the song “Libera” from the album Lorenzo 2015 cc.

In December 2010 he achieved a number one hit on the Italian Top 20 charts with “Tutto l’amore che ho.” On 25 January 2011, he released his eighteenth album Ora. Later in 2011 he played at the Bonnaroo Music Festival.

In 2020 he released exclusively for RaiPlay the documentary in sixteen episodes “Non voglio cambiare Pianeta” (I don’t want to change Planet) which he filmed whilst travelling from Chile to Argentina on his bicycle, between January and February 2020.