Domenico Modugno was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu dipinto di blu", for which he received the first Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He is considered the first Italian cantautore.
Mina Anna Maria Mazzini or Mina Anna Quaini, known mononymously as Mina, is an Italian singer and actress. She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an emancipated woman.
"This Is My Song" is a song written by Charlie Chaplin in 1966, and performed by Petula Clark.
"Nel blu, dipinto di blu", popularly known as "Volare", is a song originally recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno, with music composed by himself and Italian lyrics written by himself and Franco Migliacci. It was released as a single on 1 February 1958.
"Help Me Make It Through the Night" is a country ballad written and composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album Kristofferson. It was covered later in 1970 by Sammi Smith, on the album Help Me Make It Through the Night. It has been covered since by many other artists from Tammy Wynette and Johnny Cash to Elvis Presley and Joan Baez.
"Piove " is a song with music composed by Domenico Modugno and Italian lyrics written by Eduardo Verde. It won first prize at the 1959 Sanremo Music Festival, where it was performed by both Modugno and Johnny Dorelli. It represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 held in Cannes, performed by Modugno and placing sixth.
"I treni di Tozeur" is an Italian song, written by Franco Battiato, Rosario "Saro" Cosentino and Giusto Pio. It was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984, performed in Italian by Alice and Battiato.
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is a 1966 hit recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield that proved to be her most successful single, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It is the cover of a 1965 Italian song by Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini, titled "Io che non vivo (senza te)". Elvis Presley recorded another cover version in 1970 which was a hit in both the US and the UK. Other covers have charted in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Finland.
Carla Bissi, known professionally as Alice or Alice Visconti, is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist who began her career in the early 1970s. After releasing three albums by the end of the decade, her breakthrough came in 1981 when she won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Per Elisa". This was followed by European hit singles like "Una notte speciale", "Messaggio", "Chan-son Egocentrique", "Prospettiva Nevski" and "Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Hotel, Elisir, and Il sole nella pioggia which charted in Continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Japan.
Giuseppa Marcella Bella, known as just Marcella Bella or simply Marcella, is an Italian pop singer with a career spanning six decades. Her repertoire includes several songs composed by her brother Gianni.
"Almeno tu nell'universo" is a song written by Bruno Lauzi and Maurizio Fabrizio and recorded by Italian singer Mia Martini, who released it as a single in 1989 and included the track in her self-titled album Martini Mia. Martini performed the song for the first time at the Sanremo Music Festival 1989, where it placed 9th in a field of 24, but received the Critics' Award, which would be named after Martini herself after her death. The song later became a commercial success, being certified platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry, and is now considered a classic of Italian popular music.
"La novia" is a popular song by Chilean songwriter Joaquín Prieto, first recorded by his brother Antonio Prieto. Recorded in Mexico, it became an instant hit in that country and the brothers' native Chile.
"Kiss Me Goodbye" is a Les Reed/ Barry Mason composition recorded in 1968 by Petula Clark.
This Is My Life is a 1968 album by Shirley Bassey. The mid to late sixties was a period of declining popularity for traditional pop. How much the changing tastes in popular music directly affected Bassey's record sales is difficult to quantify; but her record sales had been faltering since the latter part of the mid 1960s, and the album failed to chart.
The Many Sides Of Neil Sedaka is a 1978 compilation album released by RCA Victor Records containing the works of pop singer Neil Sedaka. The album contains some of Sedaka's lesser-known works in the period from 1958-1965, although three of the songs on the album were charting hits at the time of their original release.
"Come prima" is an Italian song, with lyrics by Mario Panzeri and music by Vincenzo Di Paola and Sandro Taccani. First made popular by Tony Dallara in Italy in 1957, a version by the Marino Marini Quartet was a hit in the United Kingdom in 1958.
Dino Verde was an Italian author, lyricist, playwright and screenwriter.
"Lazzarella" is a song composed by Domenico Modugno and Riccardo Pazzaglia. The song, with a performance by Aurelio Fierro, ranked second at the fifth edition of the Festival di Napoli. It also got an immediate commercial success, peaking at second place on the Italian hit parade.
Love Me, Please Love Me is the 1966 debut album by French singer-songwriter Michel Polnareff. It was known originally as the self-titled album Michel Polnareff, but was identified later by the title song "Love Me, Please Love Me".
"Born to Be Abramo" is a disco medley/mashup by Italian comedy rock band Elio e le Storie Tese, originally released in 1990 as a 12" maxi-single.
