- In 2004, during his eleventh appearance at the Olympia, he sang in English for the first time in his career, Elvis Presley's song, "Love Me Tender", to a standing ovation.
- He released in 1969 the single, "Les Orgues de Saint Michel" [The Organ of Saint Michael], which was not at all successful, then another one, "Marian," accompanied by a second title "Comme tous les amoureux," [Like all people in love], which was written especially to represent Belgium at the Eurovision contest in 1970, but was not selected.
- His record sales have exceeded 35 million copies, ranking him number three in number of records sold among singers with Belgian nationality, behind Salvatore Adamo and Jacques Brel.
- His mother was a seamstress in Lercara and his father was initially a miner in a sulfur mine in Lercara. He emigrated to Belgium in the coal basin of Liège, where he signed a three-year contract as a mine. In 1951, Nina and her two sons joined Giuseppe in Tilleur in a Red Cross Convoy.
- Francesco Barracato grew up in a family of eight children. Peppino used to sing Neapolitan songs and opera arias for pleasure and accompanied himself on the guitar.
- In 1963, he turned semi-professional as a singer-guitarist in a group called "Les Eperviers" [The Sparrow hawks]. He left the technical college in 1965 for the Liège conservatoire to study violin, where he took courses particularly in diction, declamation and voice.
- He has sung 350 songs in four languages.
- He has had 85 gold records, singles and albums together, 15 gold awards for his sales of videos and DVDs.
- In 1969, his meeting with the Belgian producer Constant Defourny led to his first contract with a record company: Barclay-Belgique. He recorded "Sylvie" in July 1969, and released his first single under the name of Frédéric François, in homage to the composer Chopin, whose real first name was Frédéric-François.
- In 1966, he joined a new group called "Les Tigres Sauvages" [Wild Tigers] and won the "Microsillon d'Argent" [Silver Microgroove Record] at the Festival of Châtelet in Belgium - a prize that included the recording of a single. He recorded two titles: "Petite fille" [Little Girl] and ""Ne pleure pas" [Don't cry], under the pseudonym of François Bara. His father bought the 500 records that were pressed and managed to sell them for jukeboxes. The winner also got to perform as a warm-up act for three confirmed artists: Johnny Hallyday, Pascal Danel and Michel Polnareff, his idol.
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