Renato Carosone !

Buongiorno !
Ok folks, I promised a friend ! No actually, a lotta friends !

Carosone was born in Naples and he studied piano at his hometown's Conservatory and obtained his diploma in 1937, when he was just 17. He soon signed a contract as a band leader for a tour of Africa.
In 1949 he was asked to put together a group for a club's opening night. After some auditions, he signed the Dutch guitarist Peter Van Wood and the Neapolitan drummer Gegè Di Giacomo: so the Trio Carosone was born. The trio became quartet with the Hungarian Gypsy musician Elek Bacsik on bass, guitar and violin.
During 1950s Carosone became more and more popular, his orchestra was on high demand both in Italy and abroad, and records sales were soaring high.
A hint of his worldwide success: some of his songs were translated into 12 languages and no fewer than thirty cover versions were recorded in the United States alone ! On 5 January 1957 Carosone and his band started off a successful American tour with a concert in Cuba. The last tour concert was a triumph at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York !
Fr the records, several of his hits were the result of this long and fruitful cooperation with the lyricist Nicola Salerno, who used the pseudonym Nisa. They could understand each other perfectly: just one hint by Carosone, and Nisa wrote a funny, witty little story about it.
Anyway, Carosone surprisingly announced his retirement in 1960, when he was still at the top of his success. His decision caused an uproar. Some even suspected obscure criminal threats. Away from the spotlight, Carosone turned to other interests, mainly painting.
He died in Rome in 2001.

Renato Carosone :
* Mambo Italiano *
* Tu Vuò Fà L'Americano *
* Ehi, Cumpari! *