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 Campobasso (, ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Molise and of the province of Campobasso. It is located in the high basin of the Biferno river, surrounded by Sannio and Matese mountains. Campobas ...

in southern Italy, but grew up 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 ...

. After working as barman and clerk, he began his musical career in the band Rocky Mountains (the future group I Campioni); his singing style was inspired, in particular, by American singers such as

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

and Tony Williams. In 1957, he signed a contract as singer with the Italian label Music, where he was working as delivery man. His first single " Come prima", although refused for admission to the Sanremo Festival, was published in December 1957 and sold 300,000 copies, becoming the biggest selling single in Italy up to that point. In 1960 Dallara won the

Sanremo Music 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 ...

and the '' Canzonissima'' competition with the song "Romantica"; the following year he won again ''Canzonissima'' with the song "Bambina bambina".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dallara, Tony 1936 births Living people People from Campobasso Italian male singers Italian television personalities Sanremo Music Festival winners