Albano Carrisi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albano Carrisi (Al Bano) (born May 20, 1943) is an Italian singer. His stage name is Al Bano or Al Bano Carrisi.
[edit] Biography
He was born in the town of Cellino San Marco (province of Brindisi, Apulia 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.
He married Romina Power (daughter of the American actor Tyrone Power), the woman who had already started to share her musical career with him, on July 26, 1970. That year, Al Bano and Romina Power also recorded Storia di due innamorati.
Together they have sung as the duo Al Bano & Romina Power for almost thirty years and are 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. In 2000, Al Bano returned to the Eurovision stage, providing backing vocals for the Swiss entry (performed in Italian) La Vita Cos'e performed by Jane Bogaert. This song placed 20th out of 24 in the contest. Other hits of 1987 include: "Nostalgia canaglia" (awarded 3th 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.
Although he divorced Romina 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 had one son and one daughter from ex-girlfriend and showgirl Loredana Lecciso.
He also starred in the Italian reality show L'isola dei Famosi (Italian version of Celebrity Survivor) with his daughter, Romina Carrisi in 2005.AL Bano returned to Sanremo in 2007. He sang Nel Perdono which came in second place but many felt it should have placed first. Al bano still tours all over the world and AL Bano and his music are to this day still loved throughout the world. He is a constent on Italian television and has millions of fans who still follow his career very closely. AL bano had a great repect for Pope John Paul II and was requested by the Pope several times to perform at the Vatican in front of hundreads of thousands visiting the Vatican from across the globe. At one point AL Bano performed before Pope John Paul II death in 2005. Being as close as he was to the Pope, Al Bano was in attendance of the Pope's funeral; there were an estimated 4 million people in Rome for the funeral. In 2008 Al Bano plans on releasing a new album and will continue to tour. To date Al Bano has sold 165 million albums around the world. Al Bano is one of the most popular and best selling artist in Italy's history. He admired older singers who paved the way for him such as Domenico Modugno, Adriano Celentano, Claudio Villa, Luciano Pavarotti and Enrico Caruso. Al Bano grew up listening and had a great passion for opera. He has released several opera albums and is a great tenor as well as pop music that he sang well still with Romina. His greatest 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 great 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 sings these songs and hits the high notes perfectly all the time. He also performed in place of Luciano Pavarotti alongside 2 other great tenors Plácido Domingo and Jose Carreras. He is very well respected among other great tenors and is loved, and gets standing ovations at the end of his performances. He is called a conductor's dream and being known as having a universal voice. He will always be followed by his fans with passion and love for his extraordinary and very powerful voice for years to come.
[edit] Trivia
- The Songs Sharazan and Felicità of Al Bano & Romina Power are covered in German in 1982. The German version of Felicità was sung by Conny & Jean.
- 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.
