Lucio Dalla
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Lucio Dalla (born March 4, 1943) is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He plays clarinet and keyboards.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Beginnings
Lucio Dalla was born in Bologna.
He began very early to play clarinet in a jazz band in Rome. The singer-songwriter Gino Paoli noticed his vocal qualities and invited him to try a solo career. However, Dalla's debut at the Cantagiro festival in 1965 was unsuccessful, probably due to his style and perhaps his music was considered too experimental for the time. His first album, 1999, was released the following year. Terra di Gaibola (from the name of a suburb of Bologna) was released in 1970, and contained some early Dalla classics.
His first hit was "4 Marzo 1943", who scored some success at the Sanremo Festival. Also successful was "Piazza grande", which Dalla would again sing at Sanremo.
[edit] Albums with Roversi
At this point Dalla gave a decisive move to his career, starting a collaboration the Bolognese poet Roberto Roversi. Roversi wrote the lyrics of his following three albums Il giorno aveva cinque teste (1973), Anidride solforosa (1975) and Automobili (1976): although again not hitting the box office, they were noted by critics for the unusual meddle of Roversi's weird lyrics with the improving, and sometimes experimental, composing qualities of Dalla.
The duo had already broke out before the concept-album Automobili ("Cars"), which Roversi signed with the pseudonym of Norisso. The album contained one of Dalla's most popular songs, "Nuvolari", entitled to the famous 1930s Italian racer.
[edit] Singer-songwriter
Touched by the end of the collaboration, Dalla decided to write himself the lyrics of his next albums. This choose revealed surprisingly good, and he imposed soon as one of the most intelligent and musically acculturated Italian singer-songwriters. The first album of this new phase was Com'è profondo il mare (1977), in which Dalla was accompanied by some members of the future pop band Stadio. Songs like the title track or "Quale allegria" were today ranked among italian best songs.
Dalla's poetic inspiration was confirmed by the following albums, all entitled Lucio Dalla or Dalla and all best-sellers. They contains classics like "Anna e Marco", "L'anno che verrà", "Futura", "Cara".
In 1979 his popularity was confirmed by the success of the Banana Republic tour and album of 1979, together with the other singer-songwriter Francesco De Gregori, his faithful band and his friend Ron.
[edit] "Caruso" and the pop
The early 1980s confirmed Dalla's popularity and qualities, but started to mark a changement in inspiration. DallAmeriCaruso (1986), although containing the famous "Caruso" song, is generally regarded by critics as the beginning of decise move towards easier, even if more successful, themes.
In 1988 he collaborated with Gianni Morandi to a pop album entitled DallaMorandi containing new and old songs by both Dalla and Morandi, and by other songwriters like Franco Battiato, Mogol and Francesco Guccini. The single "Vita" was also Dalla's first international hit.
Cambio of 1990 is the most sold Italian album of ever, with the single "Attenti al lupo" reaching an unprecedented popularity even for Dalla. However, the autobiographical and sometimes melanchonical inspiration of the late 1970s and early 1980s albums was completely lost at this time.
His latest albums, like Ciao of 1999 and Lucio of 2003, confirm this tendence.
[edit] Albums
- 1999 (1966)
- Terra di Gaibola (1970)
- Storie di casa mia (1970)
- Il giorno aveva cinque teste (1973)
- Quel fenomeno di Lucio Dalla (1973)
- L'album di... Lucio Dalla (1974)
- Anidride solforosa (1975)
- Automobili (1976)
- 4 Marzo 1943 (1976)
- Come è profondo il mare (1977)
- Lucio Dalla (1978)
- Banana Republic (1979, with Francesco De Gregori and Ron)
- Lucio Dalla (1980)
- Dalla (1980)
- Torino, Milano e dintorni (1981)
- Gli anni Settanta (1981)
- 1983 (1983)
- Viaggi organizzati (1984)
- Bugie (1985)
- The best of Lucio Dalla (1985)
- DallameriCaruso (1986)
- Dalla/Morandi (1988)
- Cambio (1990)
- Il motore del 2000 (1990)
- Il primo Lucio Dalla (1990)
- Amen (1992)
- Henna (1993)
- Le origini (1996)
- Canzoni (1996)
- Ciao (1999)
- Luna Matana (2001)
- Live@RTSI - 20 dicembre 1978 (2001)
- Dal vivo - Bologna 2 settembre 1974 (2001)
- Caro amico ti scrivo... (Best of) (2002)
- Tosca. Amore disperato (2003)
- Lucio (2003)
- 12000 Lune (Best of/Box Set) (2003)
