"Grande, grande, grande" is a 1972 Italian song, written and composed by Alberto Testa and

Tony Renis Elio Cesari (born 13 May 1938), known by his stage name Tony Renis, is an Italian singer, composer, music producer, and film actor. Life and career Renis was born in Milan. In the mid-1950s he met with Adriano Celentano, and the two started pe ...

. It was a No. 1 hit for Mina in Italy and for

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 ...

released as " Never Never Never" in the U.K., U.S. and Australia. The 1973 Shirley Bassey single achieved sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia, being eligible for the award of a Gold Disc.

Mina version

"Grande, grande, grande" was a No. 1 hit on the

Italian Singles Chart The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) or the Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when ...

for Mina in 1972, from her No. 1 self-titled album. The single was released in early 1972 and entered the Top 10 the week of 26 February. After a steady climb to No. 2 (behind " Imagine" by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

) the week of 11 March, the song seemed to have run out of steam after falling 2 places to No. 4 to new hits by Delirium,

Nicola Di Bari Nicola Di Bari (born 29 September 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter and actor. He is considered one of the "sacred monsters" of Italian pop music. Life and career Born in Zapponeta, Apulia, Di Bari was the youngest of ten children from a ...

and Nada ("Imagine" had dropped to No. 5). By 1 April the song had once again climbed to its peak No. 2 position where it remained the whole month of April before finally reaching No. 1 on 29 April. "Grande, grande, grande", arranged by

Pino Presti Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta (born 23 August 1943), professionally known by his pseudonym Pino Presti, is an Italian conductor, arranger, bassist, composer and record producer from Milan. He is a 5th-dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. Pres ...

, ruled the charts the first three weeks of May until " I giardini di marzo" by her collaborator

Lucio Battisti Lucio Battisti (5 March 1943 – 9 September 1998) was an Italian singer-songwriter and composer. He is widely recognized for songs that defined the late 1960s and 1970s era of Italian songwriting. Battisti released 18 studio albums from 1969 ...

, and her own hit "

Parole parole "Parole parole" (; ) is a duet song originally performed by Italian singer Mina and actor Alberto Lupo. It was released in April 1972, by PDU and later was included on Minas's twenty-first studio album '' Cinquemilaquarantatre'' (1972). The son ...

" knocked it out of the top spot down to No. 3 the week of 27 May. "Grande, grande, grande" remained in the top 10 until the week of 8 July, often trading places with "Parole parole". By the year's end, only "Il Padrino" by Santo and Johnny had enjoyed a longer life on the charts and Mina had to settle for the runner up position for 1972's biggest hit on the Italian singles chart. Mina also recorded the song in English and Spanish. A French cover of this song, with lyrics written by Charles Aznavour has been recorded in 1974 by French singer Mireille Mathieu.

Personnel

* Mina – vocals *

– arrangement, orchestra conductor, bass *

Dario Baldan Bembo Dario Baldan Bembo (born 15 May 1948) is an Italian composer, singer-songwriter, music arranger and musician, best known for the songs "Aria (song), Aria" and "Amico è". Background Born in Milan, Baldan Bembo started his music career as a keyb ...

– organ * Andrea Sacchi – electric and acoustic guitar * Massimo Verardi – electric guitar * – harmonica * – drums * Mario Lamberti – congas * Gianni Bedori –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

* Al Korvin, Oscar Valdambrini, Fermo Lini, Giuliano Bernicchi – trumpets * Sergio Almangano, –

first violin The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the most significant ...

s * Nuccio Rinaldis - sound engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Shirley Bassey version

had a No. 8 hit in the UK with "Never Never Never", an English version with lyrics by

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer and lyricist, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicia ...

. It was also No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in South Africa, No. 3 in Singapore, and her only single to make three US charts: No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, No. 8 on the

Adult Contemporary Chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stati ...

, and No. 67 on the

R&B Chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

Charts

Other cover versions

* Orietta Berti * Mary Byrne for album ...with Love. *

Vikki Carr Florencia Vicenta de Casillas-Martínez Cardona (born July 19, 1940), known by her stage name Vikki Carr, is an American vocalist. She has a singing career that spans more than five decades. Born in El Paso, Texas, to Mexican parents, she has ...

* Chiara Civello covered this song for his album '' Canzoni'' as "Never Never Never" (2014) *

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

with

Luciano Pavarotti Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...

1997 (Released as " I Hate You Then I Love You") *

Sergio Franchi Sergio Franchi ( , ; born Sergio Franci Galli; April 6, 1926 – May 1, 1990) was an Italian-American tenor and actor who enjoyed success in the United States and internationally after gaining notice in Britain in the early 1960s. In 1962, RCA ...

covered this song in English ("Never Never Never") on his 1976 DynaHouse Album ''20 Magnificent Songs.'' Sergio Franchi * John Holt ("Never Never Never") *

Julio Iglesias Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top List of best-selling music artists, reco ...

with

Nana Mouskouri Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( ; born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career, she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek language, Greek, French language, French, ...

. Iglesias also sang covers in languages such as Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese and French. *

Mireille Mathieu Mireille Mathieu (; born July 22, 1946) is a French singer. She has recorded over 1,200 songs in eleven languages, with more than 122 million records sold worldwide. Biography and career Early years Mireille Mathieu was born on July 22, 1946, ...

Folle, follement heureuse *

David McAlmont David Irving McAlmont (born 2 May 1967) is an English vocalist, essayist and art historian. He came to prominence in the 1990s as a singer, particularly through his collaboration with Bernard Butler. In the 2010s he returned to academia, workin ...

covered this song for his album '' Set One: You Go To My Head'' *

Erlend Øye Erlend Otre Øye (born 21 November 1975) is a Norwegian composer, musician, producer, singer and songwriter from Bergen, best known for being one half of the indie folk duo Kings of Convenience, along with Eirik Glambek Bøe. Among other music ...

Pimpinela Pimpinela are an Argentine Musical ensemble, duo formed by brother and sister :es:Joaquín Galán, Joaquín Galán and :es:Lucía Galán, Lucía Galán. Since 1981, the group is famous for singing Intimate relationship, romantic musical pieces a ...

Zizi Possi Maria Izildinha "Zizi" Possi (, born March 28, 1956) is a Brazilian singer from São Paulo, the daughter of Italian immigrants. She sings in Portuguese, English, and Italian. In 2007, she sang at the opening of the Military World Games, alongside ...

for the album "Passione". *

Conny Vandenbos Jacoba Adriana Hollestelle (16 January 1937 – 7 April 2002), known professionally as Conny Vandenbos, was a popular Dutch singer. She had her first radio hit in 1966 and continued to make hit recordings throughout the 1970s. She represented th ...

as "Waarom waarom waarom" on her album ''Een vrouw van deze tijd'' (1974) *

Wolter Kroes Wolter Kroes (born in Wormerveer, Netherlands on 24 December 1968) is a Dutch singer. He is best known for his hits ''Ik heb de hele nacht liggen dromen'', ''Niet normaal'' and his hit single ''Viva Hollandia'' that reached #1 in the Dutch Top 4 ...

as "Niemand Anders" on his album ''Niemand Anders'' (2000) * Dana Winner & Frank Galan

References

{{Authority control 1972 songs 1972 singles Songs in Italian Mina (Italian singer) songs Shirley Bassey songs Songs with music by Tony Renis Songs with lyrics by Alberto Testa (lyricist) Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Italy PDU singles United Artists Records singles Songs written by Norman Newell Songs arranged by Pino Presti