Salvatore Adamo
Salvatore, Knight Adamo, simply known as Adamo, is an Italian-Belgian composer and singer of ballads, mainly in French but also in other languages. He had commercial success during the sixties and seventies, mostly in continental Europe, and also in Japan and Latin America. Adamo has sold 100 million albums worldwide. He now lives in Belgium near the city of Mons, and is still touring.
Biography
Salvatore Adamo was born 1 November, 1943 in Comiso, Sicily, Italy. His father Antonio, a well digger, emigrated to Belgium in February 1947 to work in the mines of Marcinelle, and in June of the same year, his wife, Concetta, a housewife, and their son Salvatore joined him in the town of Ghlin before moving to Jemappes. In 1950, Salvatore was bedridden for a year with meningitis. Salvatore's parents did not want their son to become a miner, so Salvatore went to a Catholic school run by the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes. By 1960 the family of Antonio and Concetta Adamo had seven children overall. Adamo grew up in Jemappes where he was a dedicated student at school and distinguished himself in Music and the arts, in general, from an early age, making an impression with his singing abilities. Although Adamo has spent most of his life in Belgium, he remains a citizen of Italy and a permanent resident of Belgium.
At the end of the sixties, Adamo married his wife, Nicole. Their son, Anthony, was born in 1969 , while in the eighties Benjamin and then Amélie were born. At the height of Adamo's stardom, his father died by drowning on 7 August 1966.
In 1984, Adamo had heart problems which necessitated a heart bypass operation and a temporary though total withdrawal from work. Since 1993, he is a honorary UNICEF ambassador from Belgium and, in this capacity, has visited countries such as Vietnam, Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and others. In 2001, Adamo was named a chevalier by Albert II, King of the Belgians. In 2004, health problems forced Adamo to cancel a scheduled tour but, since 2007, he is touring again.
Career
Adamo's early influences were the poetry of Victor Hugo, the music of French crooners such as Jacques Prévert or Georges Brassens, and the Italian canzonette. He started singing and composing his own songs from an early age. His debut was in a Radio Luxembourg competition, where he participated as singer and composer of the song "Si j'osais" ("If I dared") winning the competition's final held in Paris, in 14 February 1960.
Adamo's first hit was "Sans toi, ma mie", in 1963, from his debut album 63/64. He followed this with a series of hits, "Tombe la neige" ("Falls the snow"), "Vous permettez Monsieur" ("May I, Sir"), "La Nuit" (The Night) (1964), "Dolce Paola" ("Sweet Paola"), "Les Filles du bord de mer" ("The girls at the beach"), and "Mes mains sur tes hanches" ("My hands on your hips") (1965), "Ton Nom ("Your Name") (1966), "Inch'Allah" (1967), "L'amour te ressemble" ("The love resembles to you") (1968), "Petit bonheur" ("Small happiness") (1969), "Va mon bateau" ("My boat goes") (1970), "J'avais oublié que les roses sont roses" ("I had forgotten that the pinks are pink") (1971) and "C'est ma vie" ("It's my life") (1975).
Adamo briefly attempted movie acting when he was cast in the film Les Arnaud (1967), which starred Bourvil.
He has recorded in many languages and, besides France and Belgium, had hits in Italy, Holland, Germany, Spain and also in Japan, countries where he toured repeatedly. Adamo has had hits and toured also in Latin American countries, such as Chile, where the audience awarded him the Antorcha de Plata appreciation prize in the yearly Quinta Vergara festival, and Argentina, where he once had to sing in three different, sold-out venues in the same night. [1]
In the eighties, Adamo's career faltered, as the style of his music was no longer fashionable. Since the nineties, however, and on the crest of a nostalgia wave, Adamo has successfully resumed composing, issuing records and touring, starting with a full season at the Casino de Paris venue in April 1990.
Albums CD
- 1992 Rêveur de fond
- 1994 C’est ma vie (compilation Live)
- 1995 La vie comme elle passe
- 1998 Regards
- 2001 Par les temps qui courent
- 2002 Les mots de l’âme (compilation)
- 2003 Zanzibar
- 2004 Un soir au Zanzibar (CD/DVD compilation Live)
- 2007 La part de l'ange
References
External links
- Official website
- RFI biography
- Adamo fansite, in Italian