Lucio Dalla

Lucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla in 2008
Born	Lucio Dalla (1943-03-04)4 March 1943 Bologna, Italy
Died	1 March 2012(2012-03-01) (aged 68) Montreux, Switzerland
Nationality	Italian
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1966–2012 (his death)
Website	Official website

Lucio Dalla Grand Officer OMRI (4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was a popular Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played clarinet and keyboards.

Dalla was the composer of Caruso (1986), which has been covered by numerous international artists. A version of Caruso sung by Luciano Pavarotti sold over 9 million copies, and another version was a track on Andrea Bocelli's first international album Romanza, which later sold over 20 million copies worldwide. This piece is also on Josh Groban's album Closer, which sold over 5,000,000 copies in the United States. The song is a tribute to the emblematic opera tenor Enrico Caruso. Maynard Ferguson also covered the song on his album "Brass Attitude", after having previously paid tribute to Caruso with his rendition of Vesti la giubba (titled as Pagliacci) on the album "Primal Scream".

Biography

Beginnings

Dalla was born in Bologna, Italy. He began to play the clarinet at an early age, in a jazz band in Bologna, and became member of a local jazz band called Rheno Dixieland Band, together with the future film director Pupi Avati. Avati said that he decided to leave the band after feeling overwhelmed by Dalla's talent. He also acknowledged that his film, Ma quando arrivano le ragazze? (2005), was inspired by his friendship with Dalla. In the 1960s the band participated in the first Jazz Festival at Antibes, France. The Rheno Dixieland Band won the first prize in the traditional jazz band category and was noticed by a Roman band called Second Roman New Orleans Jazz Band: with them Dalla performed his first record in 1961, and had the first contacts with RCA records, his future music publisher.

The singer-songwriter Gino Paoli hearing Dalla's vocal qualities, suggested that he attempt a soloist career as a soul singer. However, Dalla's debut at the Cantagiro music festival in 1965 was not successful probably due to both his physical appearance as well as his music, which was considered too experimental for the time. His first single, a rendition in Italian of the American traditional standard Careless Love was a failure, as it was his first album, 1999, that was released the following year. His next album, Terra di Gaibola (from the name of a suburb of Bologna), was released in 1970 and contained some early Dalla classics. His first hit was "4 Marzo 1943", which achieved some success due to the Sanremo Festival. The original title of the song was supposed to be "Gesù bambino", however in those years there was still stiff censorial control over the content of songs, and the title was changed to Dalla's birth date.. "Piazza grande", which Dalla would sing at another Sanremo Festival, was also a success.

Albums with Roversi

At this point, Dalla made a decisive move in his career, starting a collaboration with the Bolognese poet Roberto Roversi. Roversi wrote the lyrics to Dalla's next three albums Il giorno aveva cinque teste (The Day Had Five Heads) (1973), Anidride solforosa (1975) and Automobili (Automobiles) (1976). Although these albums did not sell in large numbers, they were noted by critics for the unusual mix of Roversi's lyrics with Dalla's improvisations, his sometimes experimental twists and compositional abilities. The duo had already broken up by the time the concept album Automobili was released. Roversi, who had been against the album's release, chose the pseudonym "Norisso" when it was time to register the songs. The album, however, included one of Dalla's most popular songs, "Nuvolari", named after the famous 1930s Italian racer.

Singer-songwriter

Affected by the end of the collaboration, Dalla decided to write the lyrics of his next albums himself. This decision proved to be surprisingly good, and he soon emerged as one of the most intelligent and musically cultured of the Italian singer-songwriters. The first album of this new phase was Com'è profondo il mare (1977), in which Dalla was accompanied by members of the future pop band Stadio. The title track was a hit called Quale allegria. In 1979, his popularity was confirmed by the success of the Banana Republic tour and album together with singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori, his band, and his friend Ron. The hit single Attenti al Lupo (1990) gave him wider success in Europe. He was invited to duet on Pavarotti and friends, singing his own hit Caruso with Pavarotti.

Death

On the morning of 1 March 2012, three days shy his 69th birthday, Dalla died of a heart attack, shortly after having breakfast at the hotel where he was staying in Montreux, having performed in the city the night before.

Albums

• 1999 (1966)
• Terra di Gaibola (1970)
• Storie di casa mia (1970)
• Il giorno aveva cinque teste (1973)
• Quel fenomeno di Lucio Dalla (1973)
• L'album di... Lucio Dalla (1974)
• Anidride solforosa (1975)
• Automobili (1976)
• 4 Marzo 1943 (1976)
• Come è profondo il mare (1977)
• Lucio Dalla (1979)
• Banana Republic (1979, with Francesco De Gregori and Ron)
• Dalla (1980)
• Lucio Dalla (Q Disc) (1981)
• Torino, Milano e dintorni (1981)
• Gli anni Settanta (1981)
• 1983 (1983)
• Viaggi organizzati (1984)
• Bugie (1985)
• The best of Lucio Dalla (1985)
• DallameriCaruso (1986)
• Dalla/Morandi (1988)
• Cambio (1990)
• Il motore del 2000 (1990)
• Il primo Lucio Dalla (1990)
• Amen (1992)
• Henna (1993)
• Maria Farantouri sings Lucio Dalla (1995,with Maria Farantouri)
• Le origini (1996)
• Canzoni (1996)
• Ciao (1999)
• Luna Matana (2001)
• Live@RTSI – 20 dicembre 1978 (2001)
• Dal vivo – Bologna 2 settembre 1974 (2001)
• Caro amico ti scrivo... (Best of) (2002)
• Tosca. Amore disperato (2003)
• Lucio (2003)
• 12000 Lune (Best of/Box Set) (2003)
• Il contrario di me (2007)
• Angoli nel cielo (2010)
• Questo è amore (2011)

DVD

• Live@RTSI – 20 dicembre 1978 (2001)
• Retrospettiva (2003)
• In concerto (2004)
• Banana Republic (2006)