"Cara Mia" is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

published in 1954 that became a UK number 1, and US number 10 hit and

Gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

for English singer David Whitfield in 1954, and a number 4 hit for the American rock group Jay and the Americans in 1965. The title means "my beloved" in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Background

The English

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

David Whitfield first recorded the song with the Mantovani Orchestra in 1954. It made the

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in the United States, and in the UK was the first record to spend ten consecutive weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. Whitfield's version was one of the biggest selling British records in the pre- rock days. It sold more than three and a half million copies worldwide and was a Top 10 hit in America.

Writers

Authorship of the song was credited to Tulio Trapani (the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of the song's co-writer and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

Mantovani) and Lee Lange ( Bunny Lewis, Whitfield's producer).

Jay and the Americans cover

Jay and the Americans recorded "Cara Mia" on their 1965 LP ''Blockbusters''. It became an international Top 5 hit, reaching number 1 in Canada. Their version was re-released in 1980, and went into the charts in the Netherlands.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other notable remakes

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Richard Clayderman Richard Clayderman (; born Philippe Pagès , 28 December 1953 in Paris) is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint and Marc Minier, instrumental renditions of popu ...

- included in his album ''Love Songs of the World'' (1986). *

Helen Forrest Helen Forrest (born Helen Fogel, April 12, 1917 – July 11, 1999) was an American singer of traditional pop and swing music. She served as the "girl singer" for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Good ...

- a single release in 1954. * Mario del Monaco (with Mantovani and His Orchestra) * Gordon MacRae - a single release in 1954. * The Johnny Mann Singers * Josef Locke * Jaime Morey * Frank Patterson *

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 h ...

- included in his album ''Golden Greats'' (1967). * Jack Pleis * The Raes *

Nikolai Volkoff Josip Hrvoje Peruzović (October 14, 1947 – July 29, 2018), better known by his ring name Nikolai Volkoff, was a Croatian-Americans, Croatian-American professional wrestling, professional wrestler from Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, ...

* Slim Whitman - for his album ''

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'' (1977) *Paul Delicato, a disco cover (1976) - U.S. AC #5, Canada AC #15 *

Gene Ammons Eugene "Jug" Ammons (April 14, 1925 – August 6, 1974), also known as "The Boss", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. The son of boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons is remembered for his accessible music, steeped in soul and R ...

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* * 1954 singles 1965 singles David Whitfield songs Jay and the Americans songs Gene Pitney songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles UK singles chart number-one singles United Artists Records singles 1954 songs 1950s ballads {{pop-standard-stub