Albano Carrisi

Infobox musical artist
Name = Al Bano


Img_capt = Albano Carrisi
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Albano Carrisi
Born = birth date and age|1943|5|20
Died =
Origin = Cellino San Marco, Italy
Genre = Pop
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 1965–present
Label = La voce del padrone, EMI Italiana
URL = [http://www.albanocarrisi.it/ www.albanocarrisi.it]

Albano Carrisi (Al Bano) (born May 20 1943) is an Italian singer. His stage name is Al Bano or Al Bano Carrisi.

Biography and career

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.

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 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 (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'e" 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 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.Fact|date=September 2008

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 tenors 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 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.

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. He was in attendance of the Pope's funeral.Fact|date=September 2008

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.

External links

* [http://www.albanocarrisi.it Albano Carrisi - Official site] (in Italian)
*imdb name|id=0052452|name=Albano
* [http://www.geocities.com/angela79at/index.html Al Bano & Romina Power fansite]
* [http://film.spettacolo.virgilio.it/cinema/scheda.php?persona=1756 Filmography and photo gallery]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Cw0JZuP7AU "Ci Sarà" and other videos of Al Bano and Romina Power on YouTube]