Lucio Dalla (; 4 March 1943 – 1 March 2012) was an Italian singer-songwriter, musician and actor. He also played
clarinet and keyboards.
Dalla was the composer of "
Caruso" (1986), a song dedicated to Italian opera tenor
Enrico Caruso, and "L'anno che verrà" (1979).
Beginnings
Dalla was born in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, Italy. He began to play the
clarinet at an early age, in a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
band in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
, and became a member of a local jazz band called Rheno Dixieland Band, together with future film director
Pupi Avati
Giuseppe Avati, better known as Pupi Avati (born 3 November 1938), is an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known to horror film fans for his two giallo masterpieces, '' The House with Laughing Windows'' (1976) and ''Zeder' ...
. 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.
In the 1960s the band participated in the first Jazz Festival at
Antibes
Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France, on the Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice.
The town of Juan-les-Pins is in the commune of Antibes and the Sop ...
, France. The Rheno Dixieland Band won the first prize in the
traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
jazz band category and was noticed by a
Roman band called Second Roman New Orleans Jazz Band, with whom Dalla recorded his first record in 1961 and had the first contacts with
RCA records
RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...
, his future music publisher.
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.
With Roberto Roversi
Dalla's recording debut as a soloist took place in 1964, with the release of the 45
rpm-single "Lei (non è per me)" (B-side: "Ma questa sera"). In the 1970s, Dalla started 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'' (''Sulphur dioxide'') (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, along with the latter's sometimes experimental twists and composition 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.
Solo career

Affected by the end of the collaboration, Dalla decided to write the lyrics of his next albums himself. The first album of this new phase was ''
Com'è profondo il mare'' (1977), in which Dalla was accompanied by members of future pop band Stadio.
In 1979, his popularity was confirmed by the success of the ''
Banana Republic'' album and the first of two self-titled albums, ''Lucio Dalla'', followed by ''Dalla'' in 1980.
The song "
Caruso", released in 1986, has been covered by numerous international artists such as
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 ...
and
Julio Iglesias
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (; born 23 September 1943) is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer. Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record ...
. The version sung by Pavarotti sold over 9 million copies, and another version was a track on
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor and multi-instrumentalist. He was born visually impaired, with congenital glaucoma, and at the age of 12, Bocelli became completely blind, following a brain hemorrhage resulting fro ...
's first international album, ''
Romanza
''Romanza'' is the first compilation album by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli, released internationally in 1997.
Although a compilation, ''Romanza'' is considered Bocelli's breakthrough album and remains his most commercially successful to date, ...
'', which sold over 20 million copies worldwide.
[Crossover superstar Andrea Bocelli finds beauty in wide range of music](_blank)
The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since '' The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 1 ...
, 27 November 2011. Maynard Ferguson
Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often serv ...
also covered the song on his album "Brass Attitude", after having previously paid tribute to Caruso with his rendition of "
Vesti la giubba
"" (, "Put on the costume", often referred to as "On With the Motley", from the original 1893 translation by Frederic Edward Weatherly) is a tenor aria from Ruggero Leoncavallo's 1892 opera ''Pagliacci''. "" is sung at the conclusion of the ...
" (titled as "Pagliacci") on the album ''Primal Scream''.
The 1990 hit single "Attenti al lupo" gave Dalla wider success in Europe. He was invited to duet on ''Pavarotti and friends'', singing his hit "Caruso" with Pavarotti.
In 2010, Dalla came back to work with
Francesco De Gregori during the "Work in Progress" tour and album. Dalla's main influences were to be found in
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
, but his songs ranged from
folk ("Attenti al lupo") and pop ("Lunedì"), from
Italian singer-songwriters (the albums from ''Com'è profondo il mare'' to ''Dalla'') to classical and opera ("Caruso").
Discography

Dalla's discography includes twenty-two studio albums for the Italian market, a
Q Disc, nine live albums, various collections and several albums for the foreign market. Here is the list of Lucio Dalla albums:
*''1999'' (1966)
*''Terra di Gaibola'' (1970)
*''Storie di casa mia'' (1970)
*''Il giorno aveva cinque teste'' (1973)
*''Anidride solforosa'' (1975)
*''
Automobili'' (1976)
*''4 Marzo 1943'' (1976)
*''
Com'è profondo il mare'' (1977)
*''
Lucio Dalla'' (1979)
*''Quel fenomeno di Lucio Dalla'' (1979)
*''
Banana Republic'' (1979, with
Francesco De Gregori and
Rosalino Cellamare)
*''Dalla'' (1980)
*''Lucio Dalla (Q Disc)'' (1981)
*''Torino, Milano e dintorni'' (1981)
*''Gli anni Settanta'' (1981)
*''1983'' (1983)
*''L'album di Lucio Dalla'' (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)
*''Le origini'' (1996)
*''
Canzoni
Literally "song" in Italian, a ''canzone'' (, plural: ''canzoni''; cognate with English ''to chant'') is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition ...
'' (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)
Filmography
Dalla featured as an actor in seventeen films and was musical director for seventeen others. This is a list of DVDs of music concerts.
*''Live@RTSI – 20 dicembre 1978'' (2001)
*''Retrospettiva'' (2003)
*''In concerto'' (2004)
*''Banana Republic'' (2006)
*''Tu Non Basti Mai'' (2009)
Personal life
Lucio Dalla was outed as gay after his funeral (at which his longterm associate and partner Marco Alemanno, with whom he had shared a house, spoke), although he had not publicly acknowledged this during his life, saying in a 1979 interview "Non mi sento omosessuale" ("I do not feel gay").
This outing sparked debate about Italian society's attitudes towards homosexuality.
Honors
*
Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking ...
, "On a proposal from the
Presidency of the Council of Ministers" – 27 December
1986
*
Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, "By the initiative of the
President of the Republic" – 3 November 2003
* Degree
honoris causa in Disciplines of the Arts, Music and Entertainment at the Faculty of Letters and philosophy, the
Alma Mater Studiorum –
University of Bologna
The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...
.
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
Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxi ...
,
Switzerland, having performed in the city the night before. He was in the company of Marco Alemanno when he died. An estimated 50,000 people attended his funeral in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
.
Dalla's 1986 song "
Caruso", dedicated to Italian
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...
Enrico Caruso, entered the Italian Singles Chart after his creator's death, peaking at number two for two consecutive weeks. The single was also certified platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalla, Lucio
1943 births
2012 deaths
Burials at Certosa cemetery
Musicians from Bologna
Gay musicians
Italian tenors
Italian male singer-songwriters
Italian male composers
LGBT musicians from Italy
Nastro d'Argento winners
David di Donatello winners
20th-century Italian male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people