Carlo Donida Labati (30 October 1920 in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

– 22 April 1998 in Porto Valtravaglia) was an Italian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. Carlo Donida Labati was born in Milan on 30 October 1920. He graduated in piano and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan.Enzo Giannelli. "Donida, Carlo". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990. Carlo Donida began his musical career as a pianist of the musical group "The Dandies". He was then hired as an

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 ...

Casa Ricordi Casa Ricordi is a publisher of primarily European classical music, classical music and opera. Its classical repertoire represents one of the important sources in the world through its publishing of the work of the major 19th-century Italian com ...

, which at that time had just created a

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

section. Entered into the "songbooks", he decided to put on paper his first songs, with the assistance of Gian Carlo Testoni wherein the songs "Dimmi t'amo" ("Tell Me I Love You") and "Sotto il mandorlo" ("Under the Almond Tree") debuted on the radio and received a warm reception from the public. Then came the binomial Donida–Pinchi that gave rise to such hits as "Vecchio scarpone" ("Old Boot") and "Canzone da due soldi" ("Twopenny Song"), which had international success. The long association with Giulio Rapetti Mogol, which eventually created 126 songs, began in 1960 with the song "Briciole di baci" ("Crumbs of Kisses") starring Mina and "Diavolo" ("Devil") sung by

Jimmy Fontana Enrico Sbriccoli (13 November 1934 – 11 September 2013), known professionally as Jimmy Fontana, was an Italian actor, composer and singer-songwriter. Two of his most famous songs are " Che sarà", performed also by José Feliciano with Ricch ...

. "Uno dei tanti" ("One of the Many"), sung by

Tony Dallara Antonio Lardera (born 30 June 1936), better known by his stage name Tony Dallara, is an Italian former singer, actor and television personality. Biography Dallara was born in Campobasso in southern Italy, but grew up in Milan. After working as ba ...

and Joe Paths, was brought to international success by

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...

under the title "

I (Who Have Nothing) "I (Who Have Nothing)" (sometimes billed as "I Who Have Nothing") is an English-language cover of the Italian song "''Uno dei tanti''" (English: "One of Many"), with music by Carlo Donida and lyrics by Giulio "Mogol" Rapetti. The original vers ...

". Jones also sang "Gli occhi miei" as "

Help Yourself Help may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film * ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film * ''Help'' (2021 TV film), a TV film about the COVID-19 pand ...

". His songs had great success abroad. Well known singers such as Tom Jones, Ben E. King, Shirley Bassey,

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

, and

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...

have interpreted many of Donida's songs. Donida participated in twelve editions of the

Sanremo Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria, organized and broadcast by (RAI). It is the longest-running ...

. His debut in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

coincided with the first edition of the Festival with the song "Sotto il mandorlo" performed by

Duo Fasano Duo Fasano were an Italian pop musical and vocal duo, mainly active in the 1950s. Career The duo consisted of the twin sisters Secondina "Dina" Fasano (21 September 1924 – 24 November 1996) and Terzina "Delfina" Fasano (21 September 1924 – 1 ...

. In

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

, he participated with "Vecchio scarpone" starring

Gino Latilla Gennaro "Gino" Latilla (7 November 1924 – 11 September 2011) was an Italian singer. In 1954, he won the Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival ( ), officially the Italian Song Festival (), is the most popular Italian song contes ...

; a vocal quintet with

Giorgio Consolini Giorgio Consolini (28 August 1920 – 28 April 2012) was an Italian singer. Biography Consolini was born on 28 August 1920, in Bologna. In 1954, he won the Sanremo Music Festival in partnership with Gino Latilla, with the song "Tutte le mamme ...

, it won third place. In

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, he participated with "Canzone da due soldi" starring Katyna Ranieri and

Achille Togliani Achille Togliani (; 16 January 1924 in Pomponesco – 12 August 1995) was an Italian singer and actor. He was a participant in the first Sanremo Music Festival in 1951. Togliani's version of the song "" was used in the commercial of the per ...

, that ranked second. One of his largest successes came in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

with "

Al di là "Al di là" ("Beyond") is a song written by Italian composer Carlo Donida and lyricist Mogol, and recorded by Betty Curtis. The English lyrics were written by Ervin Drake. The song was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, perf ...

" on lyrics by Mogol, performed by

Betty Curtis Roberta Corti (21 March 1936 – 15 June 2006), better known by her stage name Betty Curtis, was an Italian singer active from 1957 to 2004. Curtis grew up in the Zone 8 of Milan's borough Cagnola. She started singing in night clubs at an early a ...

and

Luciano Tajoli Luciano Tajoli (17 April 1920 – 3 August 1996) was an Italian singer and actor. Music festival Luciano Tajoli participated several times (1961, 1962, 1963, and 1970) in the Sanremo Music Festival, winning in 1961 with the song Al di là.Ma ...

, a song that rose to fame in 26 countries around the world. His career in Sanremo continued with "Abbracciami forte" ("Hug Me Tight",

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, Udo Jurgens –

Ornella Vanoni Ornella Vanoni (; born 22 September 1934) is an Italian singer. She is one of the longest-standing Italian artists, having started performing in 1956. She has released about 112 works between LP, EPs and greatest hits albums, and is considered ...

), "Gli occhi miei" ("My Eyes",

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

Wilma Burgess Wilma Charlene Burgess (born June 11, 1939 – August 26, 2003) was an American country music singer. She rose to fame in the mid-1960s and charted fifteen singles on the ''Billboard'' C&W charts between 1965 and 1975. Background Burgess was ...

–

Dino Dino may refer to: Prefix * dino-, a common prefix in taxonomy, meaning "terrible", "formidable" **Dinosaur ** Dinosaurus People * Dino (given name), a masculine given name and a nickname * Dino (surname), a surname found in Albania and Turkey ...

), "La spada nel cuore" ("The Sword in the Heart",

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Patty Pravo Nicoletta Strambelli (born 9 April 1948), known professionally as Patty Pravo, is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in p ...

– Little Tony) and "La folle corsa" ("The Mad Race",

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, Little Tony –

Formula 3 Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

). During his career, Carlo Donida composed musics and scores for documentaries, commercials, and movies. Donida established itself as a composer of songs on texts in

Milanese dialect Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ) is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

as "Mi no, ghe vegni no", "Cingh ghei de pu, ma ross" and "Quand el coeur el s'innamora" that participated and won several editions of the Milanese Song Festival.

Luigi Tenco Luigi Tenco (21 March 1938 – 27 January 1967) was an Italian singer-songwriter. He died on the night of 27 January 1967 after a performance at the Sanremo Music Festival. His death was ruled to be the result of suicide, but even decades later, ...

played the following songs by Donida: "Serenella", "Quasi sera" ("Almost Evening"), "Sempre la stessa storia" ("Always the Same Story") and "Più mi innamoro di te" ("The More I Fall in Love with You").

References

External links

Discography at Discogs.comPremiodonida.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donida, Carlo Italian male composers Italian male pianists 1920 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Italian pianists 20th-century Italian composers 20th-century male composers 20th-century Italian male musicians