Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Eurovisionaries: Domenico Modugno

I know what your thinking.  "Who is Domenico Modungo?"



But just take a listen to the song he performed for Italy in 1958 and you can figure out why his is most assuredly "Eurovisionary".


Domenico Modugno  "Nel blu dipinto di blu"

Yes, that's right, Domenico Modugno sand the song most people know as "Volare", and is arguably the most successful Eurovision song in the United States. 
It was released in the US after the performance of the song contest hitting the top of the Billboard charts in August of that year of 1958, becoming the first foreign language song ever to do so.

What's even more impressive is that "Nel blu dipinto di blu" won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the very first Grammy Awards, and has become something of a standard among American singers, with covers done by diverse artists as Dean Martin, Barry White, and Ella Fitzgerald.

The most amazing thing is that "Volare" didn't win the Song Contest that year, coming in third losing to both the French and Swiss entrants, perhaps one of the most egregious discrepancies in the Song Contest.

But because of his success internationally, combined with the fact it's a standard is most every Italian restaurant I've been in, definitely makes Modugno a "Eurovisionary".


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