Albano Carrisi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albano Carrisi (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 sang 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. 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.
[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.
