Renato Carosone

Renato Carosone (Naples, 3 January 1920 – 20 May 2001 in Rome) was among the greatest figures of Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples' song tradition.

Top success

In 1949 he was asked to put together a group for a club's opening night. After some auditions, he signed the Dutch guitarist Peter Van Wood and the Neapolitan drummer Gegè Di Giacomo: so the Trio Carosone was born.

Related Topics:
1949 - Guitarist - Peter Van Wood - Drummer - Gegè Di Giacomo - Trio Carosone

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Afterwards Van Wood left the group to pursue a solo career. Gegè Di Giacomo remained with Carosone, who contacted other musicians to finally form a real band.

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During 1950s Carosone became more and more popular, his orchestra was on high demand both in Italy and abroad, and records sales were soaring high.

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A hint of his world-wide success: his song Torero - specially composed for a Spain tour - remained for 14 weeks at number 1 on the US hit parade, was translated into 12 languages and no less than thirty cover versions were recorded in the USA alone.

Related Topics:
Spain - Hit parade - USA

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On 5 January 1957 Carosone and his band started off a successful American tour with a concert in Cuba. The last tour concert was a triumph at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York.

Related Topics:
5 January - 1957 - Cuba - Carnegie Hall - New York

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