Leo Matteo Chiosso (; 8 August 1920 – 26 November 2006) was an Italian

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

mostly known for his work with

Fred Buscaglione Ferdinando "Fred" Buscaglione (; 23 November 1921 – 3 February 1960) was an Italian singer and actor who became very popular in the late 1950s. His public persona – the character he played both in his songs and his movies – was of a humoro ...

. They formed a

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

duo who produced about forty songs and created Buscaglione's public persona, a humorous tough guy with a penchant for

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

and women.

Career

Chiosso and Buscaglione met in 1938 in the night-club scene of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, hometown to both of them. At that time, Chiosso was a university student, while Buscaglione made a living as 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer and musician in the clubs. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Chiosso was deported to Poland, while Buscaglione ended up in a US internment camp in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. Chiosso received news of his friend's fate thanks to the radio; Buscaglione had joined the allied radio station orchestra in

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, and Chiosso knew he was still alive when he heard him playing. Chiosso and Buscaglione reunited in Turin after the end of the war, and started writing songs together. Chiosso's lyrics were inspired by the American

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

of which he was an avid reader, as well as by current news. They were humorous stories about gangsters and their babes,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

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, tough men who were ruthless with enemies but easily fell victims to a woman's charms. The duo's songs matched Buscaglione's carefully constructed image of an amiable braggart. The first Buscaglione-Chiosso hit was "Che bambola" of 1956, which brought Buscaglione to nationwide celebrity. It was followed by many other hits, including "Che notte", "Criminalmente bella", "Il dritto di Chicago", "Eri piccola così", '"Lontano da te", " Love in Portofino", "Porfirio Villarosa", "Sgancia e pedala", "Teresa non sparare", and "Whisky facile". Their last work together was the movie '' Noi duri'' of 1960, featuring Buscaglione and the Italian actor

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il principe della risat ...

. Chiosso wrote both the story and the

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

for the movie, as well as the lyrics for two songs of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

, "Noi duri" and "Ninna nanna del duro". The making of the movie was still in progress when Buscaglione died in a car crash. Chiosso's career continued, writing lyrics for famous songs such as " Parole, parole", "Torpedo blu", and "Montecarlo". He was also a prolific television author, with his credits including the popular music show ''

Canzonissima (; ) was an Italian musical variety show broadcast by Rai 1 from 1958 to 1975, aired on Saturday evenings except for the last two editions, which were aired on Sunday afternoon. The program has been referred to as "the synthesis and paradigm of ...

''. He also wrote stories and scripts for cinema.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiosso, Leo 1920 births 2006 deaths Writers from Turin 20th-century Italian screenwriters Italian male songwriters Italian songwriters 20th-century Italian musicians Italian male screenwriters 20th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century Italian male writers