Albano Carrisi
(born May 20 1943) is an Italian singer. His stage name is Al Bano
or Al Bano Carrisi.
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Biography and career
He was born in the town of
Cellino San Marco (
province of Brindisi,
Puglia in Southern
Italy), where he still lives.
His mother named him Albano because, when he was born, his father was fighting in
Albania for the
Italian Army during
World War II.
He made his debute in 1966 both as a singer, at the Festival delle Rose, and on television.
He won the Disco per l'Estate, an Italian song contest, with "Pensando a te" in 1968. He recorded some major hits such as "La siepe" and "Nel sole" at that time.
Soon afterwards, he started a musical collaboration with
Romina Power (daughter of the American actor
Tyrone Power), whom he married in 1970. After their marriage, they recorded
Storia di due innamorati
. They sang as the duo
Al Bano & Romina Power for almost thirty years; their work has been especially popular in
Italy and
Germany. They released
Dialogo
in 1975 and took part in the
1976 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "
We'll Live It All Again" ("Io lo rivivrei"). They sang "Sharazan" in 1981 and the following year they took part in the
Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Felicità", which came second. They won first prize in 1984 singing "Ci sarà" and again took part in the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 with
Magic Oh Magic
. Both their Eurovision entries placed 7th. Other hits of 1987 include: "Nostalgia canaglia" (awarded 3rd prize at Festival di Sanremo) and "Libertà". Those successful songs were followed by "Cara Terra mia", which came in third once more at the Sanremo Music Festival. The album
Oggi sposi
went out in 1991.
Al Bano returned to his solo career in 1996 with
È la mia vita
which was followed by
Verso il sole
in 1997 and
Ancora in volo
in 1999 (that year, his duo - and his marriage - with Romina broke up). In 2000,
Al Bano returned to the Eurovision stage, providing backing vocals for the Swiss entry (performed in Italian)
La vita cos'è?
performed by
Jane Bogaert. This song placed 20th out of 24 in the contest.
In 2005, he starred in the
Italian reality show L'isola dei Famosi
(Italian version of
Celebrity Survivor) with his daughter,
Romina Carrisi. Al Bano returned to
Sanremo in 2007, where he sang
Nel Perdono
which came in second place.
Al Bano still tours all over the world. He is a constant on Italian television and has a large number of fans who follow his career very closely. To date Al Bano has sold 165 million albums around the world.
Opera
Al Bano grew up listening and had a great passion for opera. He has released several opera albums and is a tenor as well as pop music that he sang still with Romina. His best known solo album perhaps was done in 1997 and was called Concerto Classico. The album went double platinum in a short time. Some of the songs he sang on that album are very well known in Italy. Such as
Una Furtiva Lagrima,
Va Pensiero,
La Nostra Serenata,
E Lucevan Le Stelle, and
Ave Maria. He also sings other famous arias such as
Nessun Dorma,
O Sole Mio,
Torna a Sorriento,
O' Marinarello,
Addio Alla Madre,
Core 'Ngrato,
O Paese D'o Sole,
Marechiare, and
La Donna E' Mobile. He also performed in place of
Luciano Pavarotti alongside 2 other renowned terons
Plácido Domingo and
Jose Carreras.
Personal life
On
July 26,
1970, Al Bano married
Romina Power (daughter of the American actor
Tyrone Power), who had already started to share her musical career with him, and remained his stage partner for about 30 years.
Although Al Bano and Romina divorced in 1999, they have a son,
Yari, and three daughters
Ylenia (who went missing in
New Orleans in 1994),
Cristel (starred in the
Reality TV show
La Fattoria
, an
Italian version of
The Farm
) and Romina Jr. He has one son and one daughter from ex-girlfriend and showgirl
Loredana Lecciso.
Al Bano had a great respect for Pope
John Paul II and was requested by the Pope several times to perform at the Vatican in front of hundreds of thousands visiting the Vatican from across the globe. He was in attendance at the Pope's funeral.
Trivia
- The Songs "Sharazan" and "Felicità," sung with Romina Power, were covered in German in 1982. The German version of "Felicità" was sung by Conny & Jean. Albano also sang an Italian/German version of this song with Swiss singer Francine Jordi in 2005.
- He sued Michael Jackson considering the song "Will You Be There" to be a plagiarism of his "I cigni di Balaka." Italian judges stated that the two songs, both being very similar, are inspired by a traditional Indian song.
- The song "Fragile" was originally recorded by Greek singer Vicky Leandros in 1983.
- The song "Abbandonati" was a cover of Miyuki Nakajima's 1982 single "Akujo."