Salvatore Knight Adamo (November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual citizenship. By 1964, he was the world's best-selling artist behind The Beatles.[2] Through his career, he sold more than 80 million albums and 20 million singles worldwide, making him the best-selling Belgian artist of all time, and one of the most commercially successful musicians in the world.[3]
He first gained popularity throughout Europe and later in the Middle East, Latin America, Japan, and the United States. Adamo mainly performs in French but has also sung in Italian, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Turkish. "Tombe la neige", "La nuit", "Vous permettez, Monsieur?", "Inch'Allah" and "C'est ma vie" remain his best known songs.
Since 2001 Adamo holds the Belgian noble title of Ridder, similar to the English title of "Knight".[4]
Early life
The father of Adamo, Antonio, emigrated to Belgium in February 1947 to work as a colliery worker in the mines of Marcinelle. Four months later his wife, Concetta, and their son, Salvatore, joined him in the town of Ghlin, before moving to Jemappes (Mons).
In 1956, Salvatore was bedridden for a year with meningitis.[citation needed]
Salvatore's parents did not want their son to become a miner, so he went to a Catholic school run by the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes. By 1960, the family of Antonio and Concetta Adamo had seven children overall. Salvatore was a dedicated student at school and distinguished himself in music and the arts.[5]
Career
Salvatore Adamo, 1964
Adamo's early influences were the poetry of Victor Hugo and Jacques Prévert, the music of French singer-songwriters like Georges Brassens, and the Italiancanzonette. He started singing and composing his own songs from an early age. His debut was in a Radio Luxembourg competition, where he participated as singer and composer of the song "Si j'osais" ("If I dared"), winning the competition's final held in Paris on 14 February 1960.[citation needed]
Adamo's first hit was "Sans toi, ma mie", in 1963, from his debut album 63/64. He followed this with a series of hits, the most famous being "Tombe la neige" ("The snow falls") in 1963, "La nuit" ("The Night") in 1964, "Mes mains sur tes hanches" ("My hands on your hips") in 1965 and "Inch'Allah". The self-penned "Petit bonheur" ("Little Happiness") sold over one million copies by April 1970, and was awarded a gold disc.[6]
Adamo has sold over 100 million copies of recordings worldwide. He has recorded in many languages and, besides France and Belgium, had hits in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Turkey and also in Japan, where he toured repeatedly. He has had hits and toured also in Latin America and throughout the Middle East.
In Chile, the audience awarded him an appreciation prize known as the "Antorcha" (Gold and Silver Torch) at the "Festival de Viña del Mar" held yearly in the "Quinta Vergara", at the seaside resort of Viña del Mar, where he once had to sing in three different, sold-out venues in the same night. In the 1980s, Adamo's career faltered, as the style of his music was no longer fashionable. Since the 1990s, however, and on the crest of a nostalgia wave, he has successfully resumed composing, issuing records and touring, starting with a full season at the Casino de Paris venue in April 1990.[7]
In 2003, he released the album Zanzibar, in collaboration with his friend the singer Arno, whose repertoire already included a famous cover of the song Les Filles du Bord de Mer. During a 2004 tour, Adamo was admitted to a Paris hospital because he had become unwell during a performance. Consequently, a number of performances were cancelled.[8] Even later in life, Adamo proved to still have a lot of fans in Latin America. In 2018, during a tour, 50,000 people gathered at Santiago airport in Chile to see their idol. [9]
Adamo performing in 2012
In 2023, he produced an album of French adaptations of English language hits by Elton John, Pearl Jam and 10cc. The album is entitled In French Please![10] A concert tour in 2023, celebrating his 60 year career was jeopardized due to the ongoing health problems of the 79-year-old Adamo.[11] In the end, the first concerts went ahead as planned.
Filmography
Adamo acted in a few French-language movies. He made his film debut in Les Arnaud (1967), which starred Bourvil. He acted in L'ardoise (1970) of Claude Bernard-Aubert, together with Michel Constantin and Jess Hahn. Adamo himself co-wrote, directed and acted in L'île au coquelicot (1972).[12]
Amália Rodrigues recorded "Inch'Allah" in French. More than five hundred different versions of his chanson "Tombe la neige", one of his many international hits worldwide, exist. It has been covered in Bulgarian, Turkish ("Her Yerde Kar Var"), Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Chinese (Cantopop).
Honours and awards
In 2001, Adamo was raised into the Belgian nobility (with motto Humblement mais dignement) by King Albert II and given for life the Belgian noble title Ridder.[13] He was appointed an Officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown in 2002.[14] In 2014, Adamo was honored at Victoires de la Musique in France.[15] For his 38 visits to Japan and over 500 concerts, his influence on Japanese popular music, and his work as UNICEF goodwill ambassador, Adamo was honored Order of the Rising Sun in 2016.[16]
Doctorat honoris causa University of Mons: 2014[27]
27 Golden albums, of which some with more than 1 million copies
Sold more than 130 million discs worldwide
Personal life
At the end of the 1960s, Adamo married Nicole. Their children were Anthony (born in 1969), Benjamin, and then Amélie. At the height of his stardom, his own father died by drowning on 7 August 1966.[citation needed] His younger sister Délizia was also a recording artist. He wrote a number of songs for his sister, including her debut hit "Prends le chien" in 1974. She also joined him in his tour in 1975.[citation needed] Adamo has two sons (1969 and 1981) and a daughter (1980). He has two granddaughters.[28]
In 1984, Adamo had heart problems which necessitated a heart bypass operation and a temporary though total withdrawal from work. Since 1993, he has been an honorary UNICEF ambassador from Belgium and, in this capacity, has visited countries such as Vietnam, Lebanon, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Afghanistan and others. In 2004, health problems forced him to cancel a scheduled tour but, since 2007, he started touring again. In December 2011, he performed in Espinho, Portugal and Bucharest, Romania.[citation needed]
Trivia
In Dolce Paola, he sang about Paola, the later queen of Belgium. In the press, rumors spread that Adamo had an affair with the princess.[29] He later received a request from Prince Philippe to also compose a song for his wife Mathilde, the Duchess of Brabant.
Since 1994, there has been a Dutch tulip named Adamo.
Vous permettez, monsieur? was at No 1 on the 1964 annual list.
In the commune of Sin-le-Noble in France, there is a Rue Salvatore Adamo.
Discography
Studio albums
1962: Sans Toi Ma mie (Pathé-Marconi Records – France)
1963: Chansons non-commerciales (Belgium)
1964: Tombe la neige
1964: Vous Permettez Monsieur (Canada)
1964: Mes 21 ans (Canada)
1965: La Nuit, vol. 2
1967: Notre roman (Canada)
1967: Ton nom (Canada)
1968: J'ai tant de rêves dans mes bagages
1968: Chansons pour l'été (Canada)
1969: Petit Bonheur
1971: Chansons de mes seize ans (Rerelease Emidisc)
1972: Quand tu reviendras
1973: A ceux qui rêvent encore
1975: Mademoiselle attendez (Canada) (with 7 unpublished titles in France)
1975: Jusqu'à l'amour
1976: Voyage jusqu'à toi
1977: Et on chantait
1979: Pauvre Liberté
1981: " Printemps sous la neige" (Japan, disques "Victor" with 6 unpublished titles in France)
1982: Puzzle
1986: Autre chose (Double album Belgium RCA Ariola/Charles TALAR)
1987: Avec des si
1989: Sur la route des étoiles
1992: Rêveur de fond
1995: La Vie comme elle passe
1997: Regards
2001: Par les temps qui courent
2003: Zanzibar
2007: La Part de l'ange
2008: Le Bal des gens bien (Remake of Adamo songs as duos with 18 other singers)
Recherches techniques sur la poésie de Salvatore Adamo by Maryse Tessonneau. Namur. 1985
Adamo – C'est sa vie by Thierry Coljon, éditions du Félin (France), 2003
Adamo 50 ans de succès by Thierry Coljon. Renaissance, 2013
Salvatore Adamo, une Etoile pas comme les autres by Michèle Hazana et Martine Margot, 2021
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↑ "ADAMO – BIOGRAPHY". 11 February 2005. Archived from the original on 11 February 2005. Retrieved 28 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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