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),[1]
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.[2]
This piece is also on
Josh Groban's album Closer,[3]
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".[4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
"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.[7]
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,[citation
needed] and he soon emerged as one of the most
intelligent and musically cultured of the Italian singer-songwriters.[citation
needed] 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.[8]
Death
On the morning of 1 March 2012, three days before 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. He was in
the company of his partner of 10 years, Marco Alemanno when he died.[9][10]
An estimated 50,000 people attended his funeral in
Bologna.[11]
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)