Cesare Siepi was born in Milan (sources give a birth date of 10 February, with some ambiguity between 1919 and 1923) and was largely self-taught as a singer, briefly attending the Milan conservatory and starting out in a madrigal group. He made his operatic debut in 1941 as Sparafucile in Rigoletto and rose quickly at La Fenice and La Scala after World War II. He died on 5 July 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Siepi became one of the leading operatic basses of the postwar era, serving as principal bass at the Metropolitan Opera from his 1950 debut until 1974, and was celebrated above all for the title role in Don Giovanni, which he sang 43 times at the Vienna State Opera and performed at his famous 1953 Salzburg Festival debut under Wilhelm Furtwängler. He was equally respected as a recitalist and interpreter of German Lieder, performing until 1989.